Maybe someone has mentioned this, but one of my biggest problems with all of the Adobe and Macromedia (Macrobe?) products is the pricing/bundling and licensing issues.
Adobe tries to sell you the Creative Suite when you really just want Photoshop and Illustrator most of the time. Why not make this one of the bundling options?
The licensing scheme is a nightmare. I can spend around $900 for 5 or 6 apps (when I only want the 2 most popular) but I can only install it on 2 computers at a time (and the laptop counts as one of those computers)?
All of this leads to the real issue and that's pricing. Sell me the full Photoshop (and supporting apps like ImageReady or Fireworks) and Illustrator for at most $200. Allow me to install it on at most 5 computers (including laptops) or better yet remove the licensing spyware altogether.
Adobe is worried about people pirating their software (as all developers should be), yet they price it so high that people who would like to start learning the industry standard in image manipulation (but aren't planning on becoming professional graphic designers) are put off by that price tag. Bring the price down so that dabblers can afford it and you'll see a ton of more legitimate registered users.
I agree with your post though, I'd love to see a Photoshop and Illustrator competitor that meets the requirements I have above. It doesn't have to be Apple, either. But whoever it is, they'll have to be able to read and write current Photoshop and Illustrator files if they want people to truly switch.
by Michael James — Jun 20
Adobe tries to sell you the Creative Suite when you really just want Photoshop and Illustrator most of the time. Why not make this one of the bundling options?
The licensing scheme is a nightmare. I can spend around $900 for 5 or 6 apps (when I only want the 2 most popular) but I can only install it on 2 computers at a time (and the laptop counts as one of those computers)?
All of this leads to the real issue and that's pricing. Sell me the full Photoshop (and supporting apps like ImageReady or Fireworks) and Illustrator for at most $200. Allow me to install it on at most 5 computers (including laptops) or better yet remove the licensing spyware altogether.
Adobe is worried about people pirating their software (as all developers should be), yet they price it so high that people who would like to start learning the industry standard in image manipulation (but aren't planning on becoming professional graphic designers) are put off by that price tag. Bring the price down so that dabblers can afford it and you'll see a ton of more legitimate registered users.
I agree with your post though, I'd love to see a Photoshop and Illustrator competitor that meets the requirements I have above. It doesn't have to be Apple, either. But whoever it is, they'll have to be able to read and write current Photoshop and Illustrator files if they want people to truly switch.