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Adobe drops the gauntlet - going forward it's cloud - or nothing.

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40hz:
To a certain extent, the whole "cloud" part of the announcement is a red herring. And about as substantial as a cloud - so it's an apt term in this context.

However, as CWuestefeld so neatly pointed out in an earlier post, it's a minor change in the delivery method and authorization mechanism for CS. But it's a seismic shift in the sales/pricing model. And that is what is really significant here.

What Adobe is saying is that their CS lineup is now only available as a monthly or annual rental.

Adobe can split hairs over definitions and terminology ("no, it's not a rental - it's software as a service") but what it basically comes down to is that the Creative Suite has now been put behind a paywall. And what makes this newsworthy is that Adobe is the first major vendor to do this with a de facto industry standard, non-enterprise, software title.

And if this move is accepted by Adobe's customer base, you'll see more and more software publishers follow in their footsteps.

Right now, Adobe has implemented this is a benign fashion. But down the road , who can guess what they might decide to do in the name of anti-piracy or whatever.



At the very least, Adobe now has complete control of all CS sales. And the only price available is now list price. There will be no more hunting for bargains on E-Bay or sales outside of Adobe's absolute control. And more importantly, there will be no more used software titles sold - something software publishers have been looking to stop for many years - even though the US courts have generally not been receptive to non-transferable license clauses attached to packaged products. So perhaps price control and eliminating the used software market was also part of the strategy behind this move.

Ready for a nightmare scenario? Far fetched though it may sound, consider what might happen if a patent dispute breaks out, and someone like Adobe gets a court order to partially or fully disable certain features - or possibly an entire product? This could become a whole new opportunity for patent trolls to have a field day with. And one more thing for software customers to worry about.

The more I think about the possibilities this move by Adobe opens up, the less I like what I'm thinking.

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