The change from perpetual licenses to a subscription model was met with significant criticism. Although Adobe's
cloud-based model caused disagreement and uncertainty, and conflict, a survey by
CNET and
Jefferies revealed that despite complaints most of its 1.4 million subscribers plan to renew.
Subscription-based licensing in the cloud Shifting to a subscription-based licensing model using
cloud computing, Adobe announced more frequent feature updates to its products and the eschewing of their traditional
release cycles. Customers must pay a monthly subscription fee. Consequently, if subscribers cancel or stop paying, they will lose access to all or some of the software as well as the ability to open work saved in its
proprietary file formats. Creative Cloud has been described as an example of
enshittification. Although investors applauded the move, many customers reacted negatively. This shift has been met with mixed reviews by both corporations and independent designers, with many people expressing their displeasure on the web and through multiple
Internet petitions. Among these was a
Change.org petition which reached over 30,000 signatures within a few weeks of the announcement. Creative Cloud has been criticized for broken file syncing, one of its core features. In May 2013 Adobe announced that it was suspending the file-sync desktop preview "for the next couple of weeks". and were "far from convinced by Adobe's subscription model". Some users were concerned that they would be forced to upgrade their computer hardware when it is no longer supported by the current version of the Creative Cloud software. Some of their customers experienced a loss of trust in Adobe as a company and an attendant rise in anxiety. Despite significant customer criticism over Adobe's move to subscription-only pricing, the company announced that it would not sell perpetual licenses to its software alongside the subscriptions: "We understand this is a big change, but we are so focused on the vision we shared for Creative Cloud, and we plan to focus all our new innovation on the Creative Cloud". In May 2014 the service was interrupted for over a day due to a login outage leaving graphics professionals locked out of Creative Cloud. Adobe apologized for this global Creative Cloud failure. When initially asked whether customers would be compensated, the company's Customer Service responded: "We cannot offer compensation for the outage. I'm so sorry again for the frustration." Adobe later announced that it would review compensation on "a case by case basis". The outage was heavily criticized, as was Adobe's subscription-based licensing model in general. Online articles began offering examples of replacements for Adobe products, with competing products directly offering alternatives, and launching promotions for dissatisfied Adobe customers. Adobe, however, claimed that Creative Cloud is its "highest customer satisfaction product in the creative space" and that even prior to Adobe's move to a pure subscription model, "more than 80 percent of customers who bought products from Adobe's Web site picked CC over CS." which is one of the most pirated pieces of software, Creative Cloud was hacked and its applications were made available via unauthorized means a day after it officially launched. Adobe claimed that the subscription payment plan would make its software more accessible to users who previously pirated it. On May 14, 2019, some Creative Cloud users received emails from Adobe stating that licenses to previous versions of Creative Cloud applications had been terminated and that users could face civil action from third parties if they did not update the software on their personal computers. A representative from Adobe confirmed the letter's authenticity. The situation prompted renewed criticism of Adobe's subscription-only business model. Adobe users who sign
NDAs could be in trouble after Adobe updated its terms of service to force users to share their content with Adobe, a clause that will compromise any NDA. ==See also==