Adobe cloud-only model comes under fire

Vendor accused by online campaign of milking SMBs as it pursues cloud-only model on future Creative products

Adobe is "robbing small businesses" with its new cloud-only model, according to a campaign which is lobbying the firm to scrap its plans.

Last week, Adobe announced at its MAX Creativity Conference that it will only bring out new products via the cloud as part of its Creative Cloud (CC) licensing programme, instead of its boxed Creative Suite (CS) products. While its current CS6 product will continue to be available to physically purchase, future releases will be cloud-only.

Adobe claims that focusing on cloud-based CC products will "not only accelerate the rate at which Adobe can innovate, but also broaden the type of innovation the company can offer the creative community".

In response to the announcement, which will affect both consumer and business customers, one user took to online petition site Change.org in an attempt to get Adobe to change its mind, claiming that the subscription model is too expensive for users and small businesses alike.

Campaigner Derek Schoffstall of US town Harrisburg, who has gathered support from more than 13,000 supporters who have signed the petition, claims Adobe is only listening to big corporations.

He said: "Adobe is making [its] already expensive products even more expensive in the long run. Adobe is robbing small businesses, freelancers, and the average consumer. They do not seem to understand that every company is a not multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation that has an infinite amount of resources.

"In the end it comes down to this: all of Adobe's consumers will not be able to make such a large payment every month on the CC subscription model. In the short term, the subscription model looks to be okay, but over time the only entity that is benefitting from this is Adobe. The (no longer) current model: paying a one-time fee for infinite access is a much better business model."

Mixed bag

Adobe was unavailable to comment on the petition at the time of publication, but in a statement, the firm said since CC's launch a year ago, it had been a runaway success, with more than two million users having signed up since last April's launch.

Reseller Becthle's software manager Richard Gibbons said he had received a mixed response from customers since the announcement.

"It has been 50-50 so far. I was talking to one customer who likes to keep up-to-date, so [the cloud-only model] is easier and cheaper for them and they are happy. But another customer is happy using CS4, and for them, they plan on buying [the new versions] and not upgrading for a few years," he added.

"With the cloud, it is an annual cost so they cannot do this and they feel as though they are being milked for money. There is nothing that can be done about it, they have changed it so we have to look on the bright side."

Computacenter's software solutions sales manager Jon McKellar said that while customers should not be surprised that Adobe is heading to the cloud, he can see why SMB customers would worry, and added that Adobe has the challenge of keeping both ends of the market happy when making its decisions.