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Bug Graphics Software IT

Adobe Creative Cloud Is Back 74

As reported by TheNextWeb, the extended outage of the authentication mechanism of Adobe's Creative Cloud service has been resolved. From the story: 'According to a series of tweets: 'Adobe ID issue is resolved. We are bringing services back online. We will share more details once we confirm everything is working.' Adobe said further, 'We have restored Adobe login services and all services are now online. We will be sharing a complete update on the outage soon.' and 'We know we let you down. We apologize and are working to ensure it doesn't happen again."' A good time to revisit this prediction from last year about how going to an all-cloud, all-subscription model might hurt customers.
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Adobe Creative Cloud Is Back

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    yay

  • by MindStalker ( 22827 ) <mindstalker.gmail@com> on Friday May 16, 2014 @11:59AM (#47018167) Journal

    So what happens when they no longer sell their products and you have no choice but to have the Creative Cloud. Should the entire design industry shut down when Adobe has an issue?

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This is going to open the doors to other company's to take the top spot from Adobe.

      Offer a similar product, charge 1/4 what they charged for the full CS 6 suite, and don't link it to any cloud authentication. Just a simple serial # system.

      Will people pirate it? Sure, there will always be pirating, no way around it. But I bet you enough people will pay for a legitimate copy that you will still turn a huge profit.

      • The problem is, Adobe has bought up so much of the industry that they have a huge warchest of patents.

        They also aren't terribly nice about sharing information to competitors --- look at how poorly FreeHand handled .pdfs for one example --- the devs complained that Adobe was _not_ forthcoming about aspects of the format which were needed to improve it.

    • No, you are responsible for your own cloud. Every designer has to have a diesel-driven cloud generator in the basement and fire it on every time there is a cloud outage. Its just like with energy in developing countries. Welcome to the third world, designers!

    • sudo apt-get install gimp
      • sudo apt-get install gimp

        Fail. Gimp just doesn't cut it. It's very good, but it's not Photoshop. And Photoshop is the 900 lb gorilla in Adobeland.

        Now that Apple blew its own dick off by ruining Final Cut Pro, Adobe is in the cat-bird seat. Unfortunately a cloud based Premiere and AfterEffects is bullshit. So sad...

        • by jedidiah ( 1196 )

          > Fail. Gimp just doesn't cut it.

          Fine. Continue enjoying your outtages. This is exactly what you get for brand fixated mentality. Gimp is but one example. It's the tip of the iceberg. The fanboys always should down anything that isn't Brand X. It doesn't matter what the license is.

          • No, it's more like Photoshop CS2 was given away (accidentally?) by Adobe some time ago, the downloads and regkeys might even still be up for all I know. They made them available publicly. Even photoshop CS2 beats the living shit out of the gimp for actual usability. Granted, there's no context-aware fill in photoshop that old, so that will send me back to the gimp to use the resynthesizer. I sure wish someone would port the resynthesizer to [ye olde] Photoshop.

      • Windows says that's an invalid command. ;>

        More seriously, pointing people to much less capable software is not going to help them do their jobs. If Adobe moving to a subscription model actually causes ongoing hardship, it'll open the way for a real competitor.
      • Gimp is only comparable to Photoshop if you don't know the extent of Photoshop's capabilities or wouldn't push it to its limits if you did. Gimp is closer in capability to Photoshop Elements or Pixelmator.

        • I don't think that many people who use photoshop require the entirety of it's functionality.

          It's like microsoft word vs openoffice, there are some fairly commonly required features that are catered for that handle the overwhelming majority of the population, but each person has their own little outlier function that only word handles.

          gimp is becoming viable for more types of work by the day, it may not ever do everything photoshop does, but it doesn't have to. All it has to do is enough to "get the job done

          • You're arguing my position. If your needs are relatively simple, you can use Gimp, Elements, or Pixelmator roughly interchangeably. If you need to do anything tricky, you'll probably run into a wall with all three.

          • The problem with that logic is that those people, like me, over time gradually learn more and more features, and ask others for tips and help, and look online for support etc. And when they do, all the pros are using Photoshop. So there's more to it than just features v features, all that soft stuff like incumbency and existing user base are real advantages that like insurance, most people are willing to pay for (even if your insurance company is an evil empire that never pays any claims).
    • Should the entire design industry shut down when Adobe has an issue?

      Sure, that's a predictable consequence of any monoculture - the agile will survive. Or does somebody actually expect Adobe to be around in 100 years?

    • by Rinikusu ( 28164 ) on Friday May 16, 2014 @12:41PM (#47018613)

      Well, I'm a film guy, not a photog, so my options are: Avid (industry standard), or switch to a mac and use FCP, not to mention work with prosumer software such as Vegas. Editing is editing and there's not a whole lot of differences between the suites that don't have workarounds, etc. I particularly enjoy the Premiere->After Effects workflow, and while Audition is no ProTools, it's good enough for my purposes. The most exciting thing for me lately is reading that Speedgrade CC 7.1 has a better roundtrip workflow, but I haven't tested that out yet.

      Anyway, "creative cloud" is to "cloud" as "javascript" is to "java". Unless you're using Adobe's cloud storage program. But why the fuck would you do that? I generated over 250gb in footage (non-raw) for a 6 minute short recently.. How long would that take to upload to cloud storage and how long would it take to pull it back down? No thanks, I've got local storage and I like it that way.. maybe if we ever get ubiquitous fiber connections and $10/month/terabyte cloud storage options I might consider using it for archival, but yeah, no thanks... I did not even know Adobe's shit was down until I read about it here. That's how much it affected me.

      • Anyway, "creative cloud" is to "cloud" as "javascript" is to "java". Unless you're using Adobe's cloud storage program. But why the fuck would you do that?

        \

        Doesn't it have sharing? If so, it would be an effective way to deliver samples to clients, or for collaborative work on images (though as you point out later, not video.)

    • That's why the cloud is not always the best option for people despite what all these company's are pushing.
    • They did that very thing on the day that it crashed actually.
    • well in my case, im still just using CS6 - it has everything *I* need for what I do with it, I dont care about the online only model for tools that i NEED at any given time.

      If I had a deadline and was unable to access my stuff, is adobe going to pay for it? I doubt it
  • it only happens when pork prices are lowest.

  • by sandbagger ( 654585 ) on Friday May 16, 2014 @12:10PM (#47018283)

    Seriously.

    The major advances in tools in Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver et cetera have flattened. I love the perspective drawing tools in Illustrator and some of the improved tools in Photoshop but really the major changes in CS have been in workflow, lifecycle and preflighting.

    That latter stuff is great but largely a) is for technically advanced production users can talk to other technically advanced production users and b) locks you in to Adobe.

    That stuff serves no other function for anyone else. People have figured that out and so to keep revenues up, Adobe switched to the cloud model. That's it. There's absolutely no benefit for most users to switch to the cloud model given that most companies skip two or three versions of Creative Suite. My prediction is that CS 6 will be around for a long, long time.

    • I completely agree. Photoshop is starting to lose its place as a tool for designing websites, a lot of newer tools are coming out for building more interactive prototypes so that the client can see functionality far earlier than what they used to, and some places are even doing hybrid design/dev where they just build the site rapidly as a simple HTML5/CSS/Js mockup. I'm not even sure I know of anyone using Dreamweaver anymore, despite so many job listings "requiring" knowledge of it. Everyone is using Subl
    • by Smerta ( 1855348 )
      Totally agree. Still chugging away on my 7 year old copy of CS3, bought back when I qualified for the student discount. (Actually if I want to find CS6, I should probably start looking now. Just did some poking around, looks like slim pickings already. Even Fry's, which I normally avoid, is only selling Cloud now, sigh...)
    • by lurker412 ( 706164 ) on Friday May 16, 2014 @01:18PM (#47018965)
      For me personally, you're quite right, though I'm on CS5 and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I'm an amateur photographer and have no need to keep up with the latest and greatest effects for graphic artists. There are a lot of Adobe customers like me, and many of us preferred the old model, where we could pay to upgrade when the new features seemed worth it. The new model makes sense for companies and design pros who (think they) always need the latest. They probably will save money. I'm not interested in the lock-in the new model imposes.

      There is a lot of misunderstanding about the "cloudiness" of CC. The recent outage didn't take all the subscribers down, at least as long as they are using local storage for their work. The software runs locally. It would actually be a step forward if, say, they came up with some killer algorithms that require super-computer power to run and gave subscribers access to those cycles in the cloud. But currently, the cloud is mainly used for license validation (periodically) and software updates.

      Adobe is leaving money on the table by not accommodating the customers who used to go for every other or every third update. I expect that within a couple of years they will realize this and come up with some sort of hybrid subscription/perpetual license scheme.
      • There is a lot of misunderstanding about the "cloudiness" of CC. The recent outage didn't take all the subscribers down, at least as long as they are using local storage for their work.

        A lot of people have reported problems with using their locally installed applications at all, or with features like the Typekit integration even if the software would start. It seems to be a much wider problem than just the on-line storage and activation for new licences.

    • Don't overlook Flash--the development tool, not the plugin environment. Flash CC now does a decent job of exporting timeline animations to HTML5 without the overhead of converting to video. It's quirky, and there's still a lot more they can do there, but I suspect Flash-the-authoring-environment will continue to be the 800-pound gorilla in the web animation department for some time to come.
  • by gaspyy ( 514539 ) on Friday May 16, 2014 @12:16PM (#47018327)

    While I agree in principle that "cloud"-based services are overrated for reasons we are all aware, the issue with Creative Cloud was a minor one.
    I use Adobe software every day and I noticed the error just because I tried make a change in the subscription plan.

    The apps run locally and the license is checked every 90 days. Yes, some people could not activate their licenses or they couldn't download an application. This is a DRM issue, like Microsoft's or EA licensing servers being down. This could have happened regardless of Creative Cloud.

    The only cloud services are their Typekit and Edgefont font distribution and Behance portfolios.

    So let's make this clear: Creative Cloud is a fancy way of saying "rented software". Compared to the traditional model, it may cost more or less, depending on the upgrading habits (personally I used to always upgrade and use the newest version, other users upgrade to every other version)

    • Some sites such as the daily mail missed publication because of the outage, so it obviously wasn't minor to everyone.

      This could have happened regardless of Creative Cloud.

      Of course I don't think people would be very excited about any such DRM scheme. In the professional environment, software vendors take particular care to enable privately hosted license management servers *precisely* because of this risk. EA is a steaming pile in general, so that's not setting the bar high. MS has KMS servers for enterprises to deploy and even failing that, their activatio

      • >Some sites such as the daily mail missed publication because of the outage, so it obviously wasn't minor to everyone.

        Isn't the Daily Fail missing publication a huge win for anyone who cares about honesty? Are you asserting that it wasn't minor for right-wing liars, and we should somehow be upset that the absurd propaganda didn't get out to the rubes on-time?
        • by Junta ( 36770 )

          I think it being the Daily Mail is secondary to the issue that it could have been *any* client of the cloud based offerings to be afflicted You can be completely dismissive of the Daily Mail but still appreciate that the problem could have hit a more valuable publication. Daily Mail I just new about because a story about their woes popped up in my reader.

        • this has nothing to do with politics and the parent made a good point. If someone is dependant on someone else, who pays when a deadline is missed? Should adobe be paying all the fees that people got charged for not delivering ontime? Should adobe be paying for those who mayhave lost their jobs due to adobes outage?
          • and the corollary point, if adobe isn't going to pay those fees (which they aren't) then can people in fact afford to depend on adobe software? for anyone who has close deadlines, the answer will become no, if it isn't already

            • pretty much this, this is why I stuck with CS6, I dont have deadlines per se, but i dont want to risk it if i get a chance
  • That is what happens when a company realizes they don't know what to do to get new creative apps out to a larger base of customers.\

    Sad but true. Definite limitation of the Adobe Board of Directors.

  • I can only hope the mad rush to get everything to the cloud continues so as more and more of these incidents occur people will see the folly of letting someone else manage their data.

    Further, if someone is able to get into a cloud service, it's not just your information that is compromised, it is the thousands of other people as well. Imagine a company having its internal documents about an upcoming product being made available to its competitors.*

    * To those who might cheer this scenario, image if it's your

    • One would hope that any company relying on cloud services would also be smart enough to use either A) encrypted storage like Dropbox or B) pre-encrypt their sensitive and confidential information before putting it into the cloud. All said and done, more companies need to read Mitnick's 'Art of Deception' anyway.
  • FUCK YOU.
    • HI! I'm Joe Beats.

      Say, what chance does a deceased returning war veteran have for that good payin' job, more sugar, and that free Mule we've all been dreaming of?

  • No Problem Here (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The $20 / month price is for the first year of the student-teacher pricing. Second year goes to $29.95. It's a better deal than purchasing the software at the outlandish prices. Adobe is not making software for the casual user. It's all professional stuff and I'm quite happy with my subscription. I don't store my files in their cloud, I keep them locally and on a backup elsewhere that costs me very little.

    As for the outage, the software is loaded onto your machine and continues to function for 30 days even

  • by xanthos ( 73578 ) <<xanthos> <at> <toke.com>> on Friday May 16, 2014 @01:10PM (#47018895)

    If one of our sites was down for as long as Adobe's was, heads would roll.

    What took so long to restore? Crappy process for restoring server images or recovering a database?

    Or, as others have speculated, was there a security breach and they couldn't bring it back up until all the evidence was gathered and the vulnerability was closed.

    Oh wait, this is Adobe we are talking about. Their code doesn't have vulnerabilities.

  • by pubwvj ( 1045960 ) on Friday May 16, 2014 @01:43PM (#47019197)

    I wanted to upgrade.
    I had the cash in hand.
    But Adobe destroying file compatibility (can't write CS4 files), forcing the subscription model, cloud and 30 to 90 day reauthorizations on me make it not something I'll do.

    So I just keep using CS4.
    It works.
    Adobe loses money they would have gotten as upgrades by tens of thousands of users like me.
    If another program comes out that I can afford that will read and write all the Adobe formats I need (Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat) then I would switch to it in a heart beat.

  • Old way.

    1. Buy Photoshop CC, create thousands of editable images using CS6 proprietary features and saved in CS6 proprietary format. Cool.
    2. Loved CC, but Acme Studios has finally released a superior product that will improve my images and workflow. It's incompatible with PS CC, but that's ok.
    3. Buy Acme Studios to edit my new images; continue to use CS6 in parallel to edit my old images.

    New way

    1. Buy Photoshop CC, create thousands of editable images using CC only proprietary features and saved in CC

  • The sad thing is that now that everything's back up, it'll be business as usual.

    I grudgingly subscribed to Adobe Creative cloud when I found that buying Illustrator would have cost me $750 for a legal copy, or $30/month and also include the rest of the CC package. I already own a legal copy of Photoshop CS5, which is good enough for me, so I haven't downloaded that, but I've had two projects that required video editing (so I downloaded Premier) and extracting difficult text from a PDF (so I downloaded Acrob

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