Adobe has announced that it will dump its Creative Suite product line-up in June, switching instead to a subscription-only Creative Cloud model. Rather than purchasing products such as Photoshop CS, InDesign CS and Illustrator CS outright, users will sign up for a monthly subscription to gain access to products like Photoshop CC, InDesign CC and Illustrator CC.
Adobe launched the Creative Cloud last year, but until now has offered it alongside its standalone CS software products. By switching to a subscription-only model, Adobe hopes to minimise piracy and ensure a more regular revenue stream.
As well as software, Creative Cloud packages offer at least 20GB of cloud storage (where users can store documents, images and movie files) and the ability to sync several devices (including computers, tablets and phones) to the same account.
The boxed CS versions of the software will no longer be updated, though customers can continue to use them.
Pricing for the Creative Cloud is the same in Australia as it is in the US, with prices starting at $19.99 per month for a single application and 20GB of storage space. Access to the complete Creative Cloud suite (including Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Dreamweaver CC, Adobe Premiere Pro CC, etc) costs $49.99 per month. Discounts are available for existing Creative Suite owners, students and teachers.
While Adobe Lightroom is one of the applications available to users of the Creative Cloud, Adobe has told dpreview.com it does not have plans to make Lightroom a subscription-only option, though the company does envision "added functionality for CC members using Lightroom CC".
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