I love my local library — I love browsing and adoption books that I want to register . I even get it on gibe out e - playscript for my iPad indication pleasure . But when I find a Koran I really care , one I require to use as a reference , or read multiple time , or even just have on my bookshelf to cue me of the time I read it , the library is of no use to me . I want to own it .
So when Adobe offers me a opportunity to borrow Adobe InDesign , or Photoshop , or even the entire Creative Suite , I cringe a lilliputian . certain , they call it a subscription exemplar , and guarantee me that it ’s the future , but at last it ’s a lender in which I give them some money and they permit me use the software for for a while . I ’m not saying they should n’t pop the question — like I say , a lending program library is a great path to test the waters , or take advantage of a short - term use of goods and services . But if you ’re serious about publishing with these tool , you ’re get going to choose for ownership . After all , when it amount to renting software system , you have to ask yourself some crucial questions .
For example , what would you do if you no longer had access code to the software you had rented ? How would you unfold the files you had create ? While it ’s unbelievable that Adobe will go out of concern anytime before long , we all know that the unexpected can happen . If Adobe exclude its doors one day , and the subscription armed service come to an closing , you ’re the proverbial scat out of luck .
Or , less drastic , what to do if Adobe simply changes its mind about the subscription servicing as a whole — radically changing its terms or settle it ’s not profitable enough , and so discontinues it . After all , while I ’m sure Adobe ’s spunk is in the proper place , I ’m candidly nervous about its ability to stick with a SaaS ( Software as a Service ) model . The company has been less than consistent in this regard in the past tense : It has shut down whole serving , such as the stock pic service ; and did not back others very well , such as the anemic and developing Buzzword online word C.P.U. .
When you own your software ( or have what is sometimes called a never-ending license ) you do n’t vex about it disappearing . I know plenty of folks who go so far as to use honest-to-god data processor and operating systems just so they can keep using dear software from 1997 that has either changed or disappeared . The software boxful on the shelf , or the support of an one-time version — just in showcase — is like insurance in a quickly change earth .
These days , when many multitude witness the tools in CS3 or CS4 tolerable to get their business done , Adobe would like nothing better than to rope users into “ rent - a - bit”—the business model that just keeps on giving . There ’s no doubt that CS5.5 helps users be more effective and productive , and I have no qualms encouraging masses to upgrade . But when CS6 ( and 7 … ) come out , who do you desire to make the decision of whether and when to elevate ? Adobe or you ?
think of too , that subscriptions call for a dependable Internet connection . As much as we in the U.S. wish to think this is becoming ubiquitous , for many multitude around the humanity , this just is n’t the event . Many , many people in Africa , Asia , Eastern Europe , and South America ( not to mention our own North American rural areas ) have to get by with orbiter or other less - than - reliable connexion . Relying on a subscription under those context would not be optimal .
I applaud Adobe ’s decision to volunteer subscription to some of their software because it offers extra options to customers . I do n’t doubt I ’ll enjoy visiting Adobe ’s “ subroutine library ” from fourth dimension to time ; but when it issue forth to using the software I hump , I want to own it , not work on adopt time .
[ David Blatner is the co - server ofInDesignSecrets.comand The Print and ePublishing Conference , and the writer of 15 books , include The Joy of Pi and Real World InDesign CS5 . ]
