Two changes for a saner Creative Cloud
I saw the announcement of the Creative Cloud only Adobe suite yesterday, and I'm a little ambivalent.
For me, personally, it's great. I'm starting a documentary and will have a use for most of the apps in the CC suite, but couldn't afford to spend $2500 upfront for the Ultimate Edition. $50 per month, on the other hand, I can find.
But I can also see why a lot of people are upset. Especially people that used to buy a version of the suite and stick to it through several Adobe updates.
And I think I found a way so everybody can be happy.
Unlocking
One of the concerns is that with the subscription model, after paying for several years, you have nothing to show for it, the moment your subscription ends.
My idea is that Adobe could designate some period (say 2 years) of CC use, after which you are entitled to using an old "archived" version of CC even without subscription. That is, you'll be "unlocking" older versions as you go along with your CC subscription.
(If piracy is a concern, those would still be tied to your CC account, you just wont have to fork $50 each month to use them).
And when you're tired of using the old version, you can renew your subscription and jump to the latest CC offerings again.
This scheme maintains all the benefits of CC (less money upfront, monthly instalments always up to date, everything available) but still lets you have something in your hands after your subscription ends.
More selections
My second idea is more obvious: the "access to everything for $50" or "just one app for $20" is too binary a choice.
A lot of people don't care for everything, but DO use more than one app. Say, Premiere, AE and Audition.
So how about an intermediate option to use 3-4 apps of your choice for a similarly discounted price, say $30?
Or Adobe could still with the per app fee, but make it less than $20 --since $50 gives access to everything, $20 is too much for a single app, and essentially makes even picking two apps look worse than going the full way for $50.
