When did Adobe kill perpetual licence?
Discussion
I have Lightroom, photoshop with perpetual licences, the last versions you could do this with. Quite happy to run with these old versions
I fired up photoshop yesterday, the first time in ages and it popped up a warning saying my licence was no longer valid and I had 5 days to upgrade to a subscription based version before they disabled it.
These are proper purchased versions... When did Adobe decide perpetual didn't mean that?
I fired up photoshop yesterday, the first time in ages and it popped up a warning saying my licence was no longer valid and I had 5 days to upgrade to a subscription based version before they disabled it.
These are proper purchased versions... When did Adobe decide perpetual didn't mean that?
Byker28i said:
I have Lightroom, photoshop with perpetual licences, the last versions you could do this with. Quite happy to run with these old versions
I fired up photoshop yesterday, the first time in ages and it popped up a warning saying my licence was no longer valid and I had 5 days to upgrade to a subscription based version before they disabled it.
These are proper purchased versions... When did Adobe decide perpetual didn't mean that?
I’m now dreading opening up Lightroom. I know they changed to the cloud / subscription years ago, but like you didn’t expect them to switch off perpetuals. I’ll report back with what mine (4.1) does over the next few weeks. I fired up photoshop yesterday, the first time in ages and it popped up a warning saying my licence was no longer valid and I had 5 days to upgrade to a subscription based version before they disabled it.
These are proper purchased versions... When did Adobe decide perpetual didn't mean that?
I have the whole CS5 Design Premium package which cost over £1,000 back in the day, currently installed on a 2017 MacBook Pro which I deliberately didn't upgrade beyond High Sierra as they'd stop working if I did. I still make quite a bit of use of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Just checked and they still work.
Derek Smith said:
Don't worry. You can always make a one-off purchase of Affinity. At least until their new boss, Canva, do the same.
Bought Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher for my 2023 M2 MacBook Pro as I didn't want to be reamed for Adobe Creative Cloud. Fingers crossed!Derek Smith said:
Don't worry. You can always make a one-off purchase of Affinity. At least until their new boss, Canva, do the same.
(I'm very bitter about the takeover.)
They sent another email today:(I'm very bitter about the takeover.)
"1. We are committed to fair, transparent and affordable pricing, including the perpetual licenses that have made Affinity special.
We share a commitment to making design fairer and more accessible. For Canva, this has meant making our core product available for free to millions of people across the globe, and for Affinity, this has meant a fairly priced perpetual license model. We know this model has been a key part of the Affinity offering and we are committed to continue to offer perpetual licenses in the future."
I only use Affinity Publisher, stuck with Adobe for Photoshop and LR. Less than a tenner a month is a bargain I think.
Byker28i said:
These are proper purchased versions... When did Adobe decide perpetual didn't mean that?
2022.The company wanted to move much more towards the pro-market. 'Light' versions of pro software seldom make money in themselves but act as foundation product that is hoped will lead to users upgrading to the pro-versions which is where long term profits are made; these profits funding further product development. Many products were emerging that targeted the amateur and enthusiast markets and Adobe had a crack at competing with products like Adobe Rush but their heart wasn't in it and nor was any meaningful profit.
Walk into any creative media type business anywhere in the world and the default combo you'll find is Mac + Adobe CC. And for good reason.
If it helps at all, you can get occasionally-discounted subscription licences off Amazon. And you can 'stack' them in your account.
I switched to subscription Lightroom Classic + Ps (but without cloud storage) last year, and purchased two annual licences in reasonably quick succession off Amazon for £70-80 each from memory (vs the £120 it should have been). So I still have nearly 18mths of licence left and a CamelCamelCamel price alert set up.
Yes it's a PITA, but if you're a Lightroom user there's not a lot out there that gives you the same flexibility. If it's just Ps then there's more competition.
I switched to subscription Lightroom Classic + Ps (but without cloud storage) last year, and purchased two annual licences in reasonably quick succession off Amazon for £70-80 each from memory (vs the £120 it should have been). So I still have nearly 18mths of licence left and a CamelCamelCamel price alert set up.
Yes it's a PITA, but if you're a Lightroom user there's not a lot out there that gives you the same flexibility. If it's just Ps then there's more competition.
MitchT said:
I have the whole CS5 Design Premium package which cost over £1,000 back in the day, currently installed on a 2017 MacBook Pro which I deliberately didn't upgrade beyond High Sierra as they'd stop working if I did. I still make quite a bit of use of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Just checked and they still work.
I am using Adobe CS6 - and as I was more than a little concerned about the OP's post, I have just opened Photoshop CS6 v13.0.6 x64 which is running on my old Mac Pro (2009) on High Sierra (OSX 10.13.2). The computer is connected to the internet, and it still runs fine with no licence warning.I've also just checked Adobe Bridge CS6 (v5.9.2.4) on the same machine and that also appears to be running ok.
Hopefully it will stay that way...
tog said:
Derek Smith said:
Don't worry. You can always make a one-off purchase of Affinity. At least until their new boss, Canva, do the same.
(I'm very bitter about the takeover.)
They sent another email today:(I'm very bitter about the takeover.)
"1. We are committed to fair, transparent and affordable pricing, including the perpetual licenses that have made Affinity special.
We share a commitment to making design fairer and more accessible. For Canva, this has meant making our core product available for free to millions of people across the globe, and for Affinity, this has meant a fairly priced perpetual license model. We know this model has been a key part of the Affinity offering and we are committed to continue to offer perpetual licenses in the future."
I only use Affinity Publisher, stuck with Adobe for Photoshop and LR. Less than a tenner a month is a bargain I think.
I used Cyberlink video editor, Director. Had it for years, buying the upgrade every other year. They then went subscription for the Luxe version but still ran an 'outright' purchase at the old price for a stripped down version. I went with DaVinci Resolve, a freebie. After six months I bought their Studio version, a one-off version with perpetual updates. While it was expensive at, I think, £260, it included a Speed Editor, which retailed at £230, or I might have got it round the other way. Come September, I would have paid more for Cyberlink Director than I have for either the Speed Editor or the upgrade to Studio. From then on, it's free, plus the free Editor.
I always think of long term costs. It's the only way. So not 'only' £10, but £120 pa.
I had a play with darktable which has come on loads, not quite as slick as LR but close enough to replace it. If Adobe break my old LR system then I’ll just swap fully to that.
I go for quite long periods without taking any photos, so a subscription service is not really suitable for me.
I go for quite long periods without taking any photos, so a subscription service is not really suitable for me.
It is bloody annoying.
I just don’t do subscription if I can possibly help it. On my old windows computer I had a cracked version of the Adobe suite. More because it came with the machine I inherited and it just worked. When I bought a Mac a few years back I decided to do the right thing and buy the software outright. But not possible! A subscription, for something u might use a few times a year. Not happening.
If I knew how to find and install cracked software on a Mac then I probably would seeing as I’ve not much choice. But I don’t do I’ve been looking at the alternatives.
I just don’t do subscription if I can possibly help it. On my old windows computer I had a cracked version of the Adobe suite. More because it came with the machine I inherited and it just worked. When I bought a Mac a few years back I decided to do the right thing and buy the software outright. But not possible! A subscription, for something u might use a few times a year. Not happening.
If I knew how to find and install cracked software on a Mac then I probably would seeing as I’ve not much choice. But I don’t do I’ve been looking at the alternatives.
Derek Smith said:
That's £120 pa. For that price you can buy the two remaining of the Affinity set, and enjoy Studio. The following year it is free. From memory, Affinity1 lasted five years - I got mine on launch - with no extra charge and all the updates. I've now got Aff2. I still have both. 5 x 120 is the real way to think of PS. Bargain?
Maybe I could have phrased that differently. I think a £120/pa for the Adobe photo plan is a bargain for what it is, irrespective of what else is available. PS and LR together is an astonishingly capable and full-featured package well worth the money for me. I stuck with Adobe out of choice. I use LR far more than PS, and Affinity don't offer a LR equivalent yet. I have not used Affinity Photo beyond a quick play, but I routinely recommend it to people who want a PS alternative. I think Affinity make great software at a much lower cost than Adobe, especially when you compare to the cost of the full Creative Cloud versions of PS, Illustrator and InDesign. For many people I would suspect Affinity is a the better choice. I am a big fan of Publisher. I use photo software professionally but Publisher is purely amateur use for a car club magazine - for my use I cannot justify the cost of InDesign, and Publisher does all I need (and far more) at a bargain price. I hope Canva stick to their promise and leave sit as a standalone licence.BTW I am not a fan of all subscription software. The other software I use every day is Photo Mechanic, from Camera Bits. It was always specialist, slightly niche software, but I have used it for well over twenty years and cannot imagine being without it. The last version upgrades I paid for were $95 in 2020 and $75 in 2018. They have this month moved to a subscription price, which is £245/yr! I am not convinced that is a bargain!
Edited by tog on Saturday 30th March 17:20
Derek Smith said:
That's £120 pa. For that price you can buy the two remaining of the Affinity set, and enjoy Studio. The following year it is free. From memory, Affinity1 lasted five years - I got mine on launch - with no extra charge and all the updates. I've now got Aff2. I still have both. 5 x 120 is the real way to think of PS. Bargain?
I used Cyberlink video editor, Director. Had it for years, buying the upgrade every other year. They then went subscription for the Luxe version but still ran an 'outright' purchase at the old price for a stripped down version. I went with DaVinci Resolve, a freebie. After six months I bought their Studio version, a one-off version with perpetual updates. While it was expensive at, I think, £260, it included a Speed Editor, which retailed at £230, or I might have got it round the other way. Come September, I would have paid more for Cyberlink Director than I have for either the Speed Editor or the upgrade to Studio. From then on, it's free, plus the free Editor.
I always think of long term costs. It's the only way. So not 'only' £10, but £120 pa.
And don't forget, you opted to upgrade to Affinity 2 ... Affinity 1 still works and will continue to do so.I used Cyberlink video editor, Director. Had it for years, buying the upgrade every other year. They then went subscription for the Luxe version but still ran an 'outright' purchase at the old price for a stripped down version. I went with DaVinci Resolve, a freebie. After six months I bought their Studio version, a one-off version with perpetual updates. While it was expensive at, I think, £260, it included a Speed Editor, which retailed at £230, or I might have got it round the other way. Come September, I would have paid more for Cyberlink Director than I have for either the Speed Editor or the upgrade to Studio. From then on, it's free, plus the free Editor.
I always think of long term costs. It's the only way. So not 'only' £10, but £120 pa.
sgrimshaw said:
Derek Smith said:
That's £120 pa. For that price you can buy the two remaining of the Affinity set, and enjoy Studio. The following year it is free. From memory, Affinity1 lasted five years - I got mine on launch - with no extra charge and all the updates. I've now got Aff2. I still have both. 5 x 120 is the real way to think of PS. Bargain?
I used Cyberlink video editor, Director. Had it for years, buying the upgrade every other year. They then went subscription for the Luxe version but still ran an 'outright' purchase at the old price for a stripped down version. I went with DaVinci Resolve, a freebie. After six months I bought their Studio version, a one-off version with perpetual updates. While it was expensive at, I think, £260, it included a Speed Editor, which retailed at £230, or I might have got it round the other way. Come September, I would have paid more for Cyberlink Director than I have for either the Speed Editor or the upgrade to Studio. From then on, it's free, plus the free Editor.
I always think of long term costs. It's the only way. So not 'only' £10, but £120 pa.
And don't forget, you opted to upgrade to Affinity 2 ... Affinity 1 still works and will continue to do so.I used Cyberlink video editor, Director. Had it for years, buying the upgrade every other year. They then went subscription for the Luxe version but still ran an 'outright' purchase at the old price for a stripped down version. I went with DaVinci Resolve, a freebie. After six months I bought their Studio version, a one-off version with perpetual updates. While it was expensive at, I think, £260, it included a Speed Editor, which retailed at £230, or I might have got it round the other way. Come September, I would have paid more for Cyberlink Director than I have for either the Speed Editor or the upgrade to Studio. From then on, it's free, plus the free Editor.
I always think of long term costs. It's the only way. So not 'only' £10, but £120 pa.
Had an upgrade today, 2.4.1. The problem with having all three is that you have to upgrade all three. I did suggest them having a feature that did all three at once. They probably thought, 'Lazy sob.'
havoc said:
If it helps at all, you can get occasionally-discounted subscription licences off Amazon. And you can 'stack' them in your account.
I switched to subscription Lightroom Classic + Ps (but without cloud storage) last year, and purchased two annual licences in reasonably quick succession off Amazon for £70-80 each from memory (vs the £120 it should have been). So I still have nearly 18mths of licence left and a CamelCamelCamel price alert set up.
Yes it's a PITA, but if you're a Lightroom user there's not a lot out there that gives you the same flexibility. If it's just Ps then there's more competition.
Yup I used Lightroom and Photoshop lots, not so much now as I don't use the DSLR so much now. Hence when Adobe moved to subscription I made sure I bought the last perpetual licenced version of both Lightroom and Photoshop. I have 6.14 Lightroom and Photoshop CS5.1 both bought and paid for full licence. Starting photoshop now givesI switched to subscription Lightroom Classic + Ps (but without cloud storage) last year, and purchased two annual licences in reasonably quick succession off Amazon for £70-80 each from memory (vs the £120 it should have been). So I still have nearly 18mths of licence left and a CamelCamelCamel price alert set up.
Yes it's a PITA, but if you're a Lightroom user there's not a lot out there that gives you the same flexibility. If it's just Ps then there's more competition.
Edited by Byker28i on Tuesday 2nd April 11:45
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