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“Adobe Says No CS6 Upgrade Discounts from Older CS2, CS3, or CS4”
News: Adobe to Offer CS6 Upgrade Discount for CS5 Versions Only
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Oh Adobe. Even more people will love you…
So, sadly, I’ve to say:
Goodbye, Adobe. It was very nice to work using your products.
I bet the additional revenue generated by move this will be more than offset by the customers Adobe drives away, and the people who turn to piracy to save a few bucks.
Bad move, Adobe.
Thank you for your feedback. The change is definitely generating some controversy, and most sentiment thus far appears unfavorable – though conceivably it could be worse, like when Microsoft killed upgrades entirely starting with Office 2010.
So it remains to be seen how it all plays out – but in any event Adobe piracy is a bad and dangerous idea.
Considering the lousy service and tech help I have gotten for problems with Photoshop and especially Lightroom, this is not surprising. Charge more, give worse service and expect people to buy into it. So what else is new.
My income is very limited on Social Security, so I have only been upgrading every two upgrades. This is a big blow to me as just a personal user. I do have Photoshop CS5 Extended now, by saving for it…
I always get disgusted with the HUGE break Adobe says they give to students and teachers; that sucks because the ones I know who get this NEVER use it for studies, only themselves, The price should be the same for everyone! You could keep me as a happy customer if I knew that I was paying the same as everyone else, students are some of the biggest offenders of the use of the product. JMO and sadly this will probably be my last version if I have to pay full price now… either that or not eat for a few months !
Hi dtk, you’re right that Adobe does offer up to 80% off the regular price for students and teachers… But, like you, there are actually a lot of students who find it hard to afford more.
On the other hand, some companies (like Autodesk) offer their software for free to students – while others (like Microsoft) offer smaller price breaks than Adobe does.
In any event, if you can’t beat them, maybe you could join them… There is no age restriction on the education versions – so you could perhaps enroll for a good course at your local community college, and then qualify for the student edition pricing yourself. Just a thought.
If you’re interested you can learn more here.
Ahhhh. I know many people that buy this product. Many of them would definitely move to another option. Oh well, a loss to Adobe.
@ ejal
The rise of PaintShop Pro. They can now really take off. We love Adobe. But no more.
@ProDesignTools
<<>> and there are individuals who have supported Adobe with full payment for years who CAN’T afford more. I don’t see that students and teachers are any better than anyone else, I can name many who aren’t… We aren’t talking about other companies, we are talking about Adobe… and I don’t want to “join them”… I already said it isn’t right so why would I want to do that ??? Adobe is NOT very loyal to individuals who have footed most of the bill IMO.
Well, we don’t make the rules, just reporting them – so please don’t blame the messenger! Just trying to help here.
It appears the Adobe is not offering the 20% discount for standalone to suite upgrades.
For example, Photoshop CS4 to CS5.5 Production Premium Suite. That upgrade has been $1099 USD. It is not available for the 20% discount.
Thank you for bringing that to our attention Dave – that is very strange… The discount should definitely be available for that upgrade.
The terms for the 20%-off offer are very clear on that:
“Customers with valid licenses to use one of the following … are eligible to upgrade to any current suite edition with this offer:
Adobe Photoshop® CS4, CS3, or CS2
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, CS3, or CS2
Adobe Illustrator® CS4, CS3, or CS2
etc.”
So, you should certainly be able to receive the savings. We have just been in touch with Adobe on this issue and it appears to be a bug, something broken on their site as to why it isn’t reflected there yet.
Fortunately, there is a workaround on this. You can just use Adobe’s online “Business Store” to get the upgrade instead – the products and prices are the same, and you don’t need to be a business at all. And the software will run fine on your same two computers as usual.
So, if you go there to that link above, make sure your geography is correct, select your upgrade configuration, and you should see the 20% discount reflected – and can then complete your purchase, using either instant download or via disc in the mail.
This is a really bad move, and a betrayal to people who’ve been using Adobe’s products for years and upgrading every couple of versions. If like me you use Photoshop and Illustrator, this is expensive enough, but to upgrade both every version is more than I can reasonably afford. Big thumbs down. I’m really disappointed.
So lately there has been huge news from Adobe. First Flash Player on mobile discontinues (bad decision), then the details of Creative Cloud come out – and this.
Coupled with some of the bold moves Adobe made lately (like acquiring Typekit, Nitobi and Auditude – while Adobe acquisitions are normal, these three were bought within a month), I’m actually a tad worried about if it can handle all these changes. I’m sure semi-frequent upgraders will see this negatively, and Adobe’s plan could backfire.
I upgrade every other version so my chances to upgrade to CS6 is now NIL since I’m still using CS4. Well, I’m going back to Paintshop Pro!
Does any of this negative feedback get back to Adobe? Can they see that they may be shooting themselves in the foot with this decision????
As longtime partners of Adobe, we have regular conference calls with them and always share what we see out there.
We’ll also probably be writing another article about the issue, reflecting customer response.
good bye adobe.
Adobe loyalty to the little guys is nil. It’s the little guys that have got Adobe there with the milions of licences that have been bought. Little thought to those small business struggling to keep up with the updates…
Adobe did a masterful job of marketing Photoshop… Up to and including Version 7, people could share the disc… After everyone–amateur through professional–was hooked on the program… The one-user license came into play… FYI… Unless you do commercial work 24/7, one can–if one is talented enough–do everything necessary on CS3… In the end folks, it is all about money… Just like everything else…
I have no choice but to buy the upgrade now since I’m a one-person design studio and have to work with Adobe programs. But I really hate Adobe for their monopolist decisions. First they killed Freehand and now they are on a good way to kill my small business. Unfortunately Corel stopped developing for the Mac, but probably they should give it a new try, they will have a lot of new customers – and they would not even have to advertise. It seems the Adobe marketing is living on an entirely different planet and have no idea how hard the rest of us on planet earth struggle to earn a few bucks.
This might not be as bad as it sounds. If part of this change is a drop in the upgrade price then we may all be much happier. That is what Apple have done with OSX. I currently upgrade every other version but would happily upgrade every time if the price was appealing enough. Likewise with the cloud/subscription system: if it were priced reasonably it could be more appealing than one-off licenses – but not if it is going to cost us more. I would love to be able to only pay for what I needed rather than buying a full suite with items I don’t need.
What would you switch to anyways?? Do you really need to upgrade?? It’s better they do this now rather than later. I don’t see the issue. Enlist in your local CC for a course and buy as a student.
I’ve got Design Premium CS5.5. Is it possible to upgrade it to the Master Collection, or will I have to wait until CS6 to purchase an upgrade, considering this isn’t really a version upgrade?
Hi Roy, thanks for your question. This policy change doesn’t really affect you, since you already own some version of Creative Suite 5 (either CS5 or CS5.5).
So, it’s your choice – you could upgrade now to CS5.5 Master Collection, or wait until CS6 eventually comes out.
People who are not in Education should realize that there are no Education discounts for upgrades. That is, if you want Design Premium, you pay $450 (a good price, but not exactly inexpensive). If Adobe then releases a new version a month or two later, then you pay another $450 to get that version. Historically, the Education price has been in the ballpark of the upgrade price, so this decision shouldn’t substantially change the game for Education customers.
The only change will be for those leaving Education (e.g., graduation, employment change), who have traditionally been allowed to upgrade to the non-Education version; they will be caught in this snare. I’ll be advising students to grab a copy as late as possible before they graduate for this reason.
Yes Jazzace, thank you for pointing that out – and you’re absolutely right.
Students, teachers, and staff can receive up to 80% off the regular price of most products at Adobe’s Education Store, and while there do exist some restrictions of the education editions, all the software features and functions are identical.
These academic versions aren’t upgradeable to future education editions, but they are upgradeable to the full commercial versions at the reduced price, so would be affected by the same “one-version-back” policy change that Adobe announced.
If you read the license for the education edition, you will find that it prohibits the use of that edition for commercial use. Here, again, those of us with small businesses are “legally” obligated to purchase the full version.
From a marketing perspective, this move will ultimately hurt Adobe… as well as the rest of us!
Thanks PMB. Actually that’s the way it used to be for the education editions – but Adobe relaxed that policy when Creative Suite 5 was released… Meaning, now it’s okay for educational customers to use their software for commercial purposes as needed.
Learn more about this in our article about all the differences between the student editions vs. regular.
If it is allowed to use educational editions for commercial purpose I feel even more fooled having a small business and paying for the full version. Maybe this attracts new customers, but what should those think or do who buy the expensive full versions for years now?
A clarification may be in order Silvia – only current students, teachers, and staff who meet eligibility criteria can buy the education editions – not businesses or anybody in general… Sorry if that wasn’t clear from the comments.
For more on this, read about how Adobe’s education program works.
Thank you for the clarification. But I knew that one must be eligible to obtain the educational software. It seems to me Adobe’s rule that you may not use such versions for commercial practice was kind of a figleaf for separating the different versions and justifying the big difference in prices. Not that too many people who want to use educational versions for commercial work would have cared, but that even Adobe seems to say that such use is OK means that a lot more people will feel OK providing services at prices a person buying the software at full price can hardly beat.
That was my thought because I watch this discussion about Adobe’s new policy in several channels. In some of those channels people complaining about the high prices they are not able or willing to pay for the software are getting the answer “You pay the full price stupid? Become a student at your local College and buy the educational software.”
I have no idea how easy this is in real life, but that is something I have seen quite often now in several discussions.
Bottom line is, if you can’t afford it, you can’t use it. Oh well.