End of an Era: Adobe chucks Creative Suite in favour of subscription-based Creative Cloud

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Just like Microsoft before it, Adobe has retired its flagship product offering as standalone software on discs and now offers it purely on a software as a service subscriptuion under the CC or Creative Cloud line.

Announced recently at their Adobe Max creative conference in Los Angeles, California, the benefits of subscription based software are automatic version updates and the ability to add more users and subscribers on the fly.

Coming in June 17th, the new CC cloud-based software suite brings all of Adobe's key sofware offerings for print and web to users for $49.99 a month. Also gone is the numbering that has identified versions of software. No more CS6 or CS7, the products are now just going to be called Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and so on.

According to Adobe, "Creative Cloud reimagines the creative process through a stunning set of “CC” desktop applications and sophisticated cross-device collaboration and publishing capabilities. Creative files can be stored, synced and shared, via Creative Cloud, on Mac OS, Windows, iOS and Android; and Behance, the world’s leading online creative community, is now integrated with Creative Cloud, so customers can showcase work, get feedback on projects and gain global exposure. 

A major part of the update to the Creative Cloud will be Photoshop CC. Photoshop CC pushes the boundaries of possibility, offering a powerful new creative process, legendary imaging magic, and greater creative freedom with new tools and workflows. Adobe Photoshop CC will be available, exclusively to Creative Cloud members, in June. No word on how to get the latest Adobe Photoshop as a standalone product if that's all you want.

Adobe also accelerated its shift to the cloud by focusing on its creative software development efforts on its Creative Cloud offering moving forward.  While Adobe Creative Suite 6 products will continue to be supported and available for purchase, the company has no plans for future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products.

So, it looks like there's no going back from this. It will be interesting to see how Adobe users react across the board. Creative Cloud subscribers should be fine with this change but I wonder about users such as studios who are invested in only one or two applications from the suite and who don't want the whole shebang. Some might prefer to simply own the software rather than rent it and that is no longer possible, it appears.

For more information, today’s announcements can be found at:

·         Adobe Unveils Major Update to Creative Cloud

·         Powerful New Adobe Photoshop CC Debuts at MAX

·         Adobe Accelerates Shift to the Cloud