Adobe's Creative Cloud Already Pirated

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Wow, that didn't take long, now did it? Then again, security has never been Adobe's strong point.

Adobe's new cloud-integrated image editing application Photoshop CC has been pirated within a day of its release. Photoshop CC represents a big step away from standalone software for Adobe, and is only available through a monthly or annual subscription.
 
I am in a state of shock right now, I'm sure what to say.

To believe that any Adobe product could have it's simplistic phone home and single CD-key DRM broken into. Is anything safe anymore?
 
I think the fact the went to a subscription based service almost demands that it get pirated.

and yes I'm only saying that because I don't like their business model :p
 
I am in a state of shock right now, I'm sure what to say.

To believe that any Adobe product could have it's simplistic phone home and single CD-key DRM broken into. Is anything safe anymore?

Really? As long as the software lives and processes on the users machine this was inevitable. You cannot deliver a software package on an open platform whose only method of access control is a client->server connection and expect it to not be cracked. (especially since this software package is heavily used).
 
I don't think for a minute that fighting piracy was the reason behind the move to subscription charging.

The reason to the move was to be able to gain more income per user that would have bought the software anyway.

Instead of a customer buying at say CS2 and not coming back till CS4/5 they now get their $xx every month for every year.

All companies prefer constant income stream now. They don't like it in dribs and drabs. That's why car dealers don't like you tuning up with cash anymore. They would rather you pay £80 a month for 5 years on finance than slap down $4000 in cash.
 
I don't think for a minute that fighting piracy was the reason behind the move to subscription charging.

The reason to the move was to be able to gain more income per user that would have bought the software anyway.

Instead of a customer buying at say CS2 and not coming back till CS4/5 they now get their $xx every month for every year.

All companies prefer constant income stream now. They don't like it in dribs and drabs. That's why car dealers don't like you tuning up with cash anymore. They would rather you pay £80 a month for 5 years on finance than slap down $4000 in cash.

Pretty much this. I went ahead with the CS6 Master Collection after debating whether to go CC, but decided it was going to be cheaper for me in the long run than the Creative Cloud, despite all the talk their marketing guy was giving me about how this would save me money. "But it's only $250!" Yeah, for the first year, and then I'll be spending $600 a year after that.

Everyone I know with Adobe products wait 2-3 iterations before upgrading. Sure, our upgrades cost $800, but in those 2 years I didn't upgrade, I've just saved over $1000 while having Photoshop, Premiere, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc.
 
If I ran such a business, at this point I would cut R&D on DRM and complex anti-piracy schemes and offset the finances of such R&D to lowering the prices of my products.

There are various types of pirates, in this case, ones who have no intension of paying, those who would if it were cheaper and those who would if the DRM was not so draconian. To cut DRM R&D and financing like I said above, would increase sales in two of those categories.
 
I don't think for a minute that fighting piracy was the reason behind the move to subscription charging.

The reason to the move was to be able to gain more income per user that would have bought the software anyway.

This.

Few years ago they had started restricting the versions you could upgrade from, limiting the upgrades to only 1 or 2 versions back.

This obsoleted some of our older Adobe software that we hadn’t upgraded as we didn’t need the newer features and they didn’t get used much.

We might have eventually upgraded, but now that we would have to pay full price or subscribe, we’ll stick with the old versions or look for something else.

Adobe has gotten to greedy, and it's going to effect thier bottom line.
 
+1 on subscription being cash cows. Why do you think MS wants to do that with Office? (or Windows) Because for the vast majority of people Office 95 works perfectly fine, or Office 2000, or Office XP or whatever version they happened to bought in on. Of those the only reason they're going to update is if the software no longer works with whatever OS they're using, or they're tricked into thinking they need that version with their operating system just because of the naming convention (i.e. Office XP was called that for a reason).
 
There are versions out there that are portable and completely free from any installation and just work off an exe. Very UN-restrictive and that's what we use. Of course we have an official lic for the product.
 
The thing is, what makes good business sense on paper doesn't necessarily translate into reality because one can literally not predict consumer behavior. Adobe is already backpedaling on the subscription only model: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/adobe_q2_customers_disappointed_with_no_boxed_wares/

My employer currently pays 40k/year to Adobe, the cost under the new scheme would have been closer to 250k. The solution for us was simple; start planning GIMP etc. employee training and ditch Adobe software. Unless Adobe announces that they will offer subscription alternatives soon they will lose us as customer because we will simply move ahead with other software instead.
 
Pretty much this. I went ahead with the CS6 Master Collection after debating whether to go CC, but decided it was going to be cheaper for me in the long run than the Creative Cloud, despite all the talk their marketing guy was giving me about how this would save me money. "But it's only $250!" Yeah, for the first year, and then I'll be spending $600 a year after that.

Everyone I know with Adobe products wait 2-3 iterations before upgrading. Sure, our upgrades cost $800, but in those 2 years I didn't upgrade, I've just saved over $1000 while having Photoshop, Premiere, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc.

before sub
AE CS6, ~$800
Priemere Pro CS6, ~$700
Audition, ~$300
Photoshop, ~$600
$2400
Annual CC sub $600

For an annual price of $600 you're essentially paying what it would cost to upgrade every four years. On top of this, you gain the benefit of getting the newest release as part of that annual cost.

People use different software and would have different costs, so it is somewhat relative.
 
Really? As long as the software lives and processes on the users machine this was inevitable. You cannot deliver a software package on an open platform whose only method of access control is a client->server connection and expect it to not be cracked. (especially since this software package is heavily used).

And waaaay overpriced.
 
before sub
AE CS6, ~$800
Priemere Pro CS6, ~$700
Audition, ~$300
Photoshop, ~$600
$2400
Annual CC sub $600

For an annual price of $600 you're essentially paying what it would cost to upgrade every four years. On top of this, you gain the benefit of getting the newest release as part of that annual cost.

People use different software and would have different costs, so it is somewhat relative.

That's why you buy the collection, which is $2000 and includes everything the first time around, and $800 if you are within 3 product cycles. Adobe products tend to be like Madden updates in that there's seldom anything worth the next iteration that you can't wait for.
 
Really? As long as the software lives and processes on the users machine this was inevitable. You cannot deliver a software package on an open platform whose only method of access control is a client->server connection and expect it to not be cracked. (especially since this software package is heavily used).

Yup, your sarcasm detector is broken. ;)
 
My other half bought Photoshop 6 a few weeks ago as she was on Photoshop 5 (after CS2) and was worried about losing her 'upgrade rights' as she doesn't buy the whole suite.

When it turned up all she said was "I used to look forward to buying new Adobe software (we have piles of Adobe software boxes) but more and more I now just feel like I've been mugged again!"
 
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