My video production company left Adobe 6 years ago. I and my pocket book have happily never looked back.

I canceled my Adobe subscription on the 13th, which they confirmed. Today (23rd), they attempted to bill me for another year. I'll be sending the information to the FTC, and I hope they stomp a mudhole in Adobe.

The "if you are not using adobe, you cant work in the professional world..." needs to stop. Another line is "unless you work in the professional industry, you dont need Adobe.." which implies all Pro's only use Adobe... its utter nonsense This stranglehold is the same the music industry held with "ProTools" software, if you are not using ProTools, it's not professional music...and you can't work here..BS Today hardly anyone is still using ProTools in the professional music industry.. If anyone is complaining and not finding a solution, you fit in the herd... Many users *"want"* to use Adobe because of the "fashion statement" not because its better..its become a stigma.

Though I understand the need to call out the scum that Adobe is as a company, I’m sick and tired of all the people posting their anger at what Adobe is doing. Instead of complaining, do something about it! Stop subscribing! Adobe is a green eyed money machine that is too big for it’s own good. Records show that they will not stop their bad behavior until it affects their bottom line! I was an Adobe user since PS was first introduced back in the early nineteen nineties, but once they changed pricing models, that was it for me. No more Adobe for me. But What impact did my actions have… none. Why. Because they know that one or two angry ex-users don’t matter. The only language Adobe understand is money. Want Adobe to change hit them where it hurts, stop subscribing by the masses an watch what happens. Complaining won’t change a thing! They did the math, and they know a few lawsuits will set them back a few millions but they anticipate generating billions from the continued rapping of their imprisoned user base. “Who’s your daddy, now” they will say when their stock price continue to rise in spite of the lawsuits. Remember, the users have the ultimate power to change the course. But if you do nothing, then nothing changes. They’re are alternative tools out there.

Just bought the Affinity series yesterday. Really liking them so far.

It was time to Ditch Adobe years ago and now Affinity is good as if not better. For those who need an entire Adobe suite, well there are other alternatives for everything.

I’ve never felt more vindicated in my decision to leave Adobe 5 years ago for Davinci Resolve for my post work than this shitstorm of TOS drama. Never looked back

Adobe Creative Cloud is "industry standard" because creatives keep it so. If a critical mass of creatives quit supporting Adobe and started using alternatives, Adobe would cease to be "industry standard" because the creatives themselves _are_ the industry. Would be even better if businesses made the move internally away from Adobe and toward alternatives for their workforce where possible. And they are more likely to do so if their workforce creatives asked them to do so-especially considering it would save them an incredibly amount of money, no longer having to shell out for their Adobe commercial subscription.

Ditch Adobe!

I never rent software. Renting is a mugs game.

Anyone who decides to stick with an abusive relationship should expect continuing abuse. I don't think you should expect others to feel sorry for you in getting these continue abuses from this point on since you are fully aware of the relationship and chose to continue it.🙄😬

If I pay a freelancer to create some work for me then do the new terms of service between the freelancer and Adobe mean that Adobe has rights over my purchased work? I cant take the risk. So from now I will have to insist freelancers confirm they are not using Adobe software for my😂 commissioned work.

Jeez I knew they were bad but I had no idea how creepy and unscrupuous Adobe has been. They make Welles Fargo Bank look like a charity.

Downloaded & purchased Skylum Luminar Neo to replace my Adobe Lightroom. The learning curve is not steep and the disassociation with a bully (Adobe) is liberating.

Andy, and many others here, seem to have resigned themselves to being hooked on Adobe forever. His choice to feel defeated and powerless. I left Adobe for Affinity and DV Resolve and haven't looked back. Don't miss Adobe at all. This "Adobe is the only game in town" is just defeatist and lazy! "Industry standard" talk is nonsense for those of us not "in the industry." And industries have accountants to get these subscription costs written off. You can get off Adobe . . . but it takes a little effort and willingness to change.

Adobe see a whole different level of issue. The majority of their current customers will be unemployed due to AI

When adobe started the practice of "forcing" their customer to access their "creative cloud" to access ALL the features of their software, red flags should have popped everywhere. This tactic was either , software protection, or free access to all images sent to the cloud. But no one questioned this tactic. The "big" users were complacent. It's now shown the tactic is to use customers creations to train adobe ai. So, the answer to the question, the time to ditch adobe was several years ago, and I did.

Kept using my old suite when they went subscription-only. Ditched them completely when they told me they revoked my old license. Haven't looked back once. So, no - Adobe hasn't earned a single buck from me in over a decade, and they never will again.

Affinity Photo = Photoshop Affinity Designer = Illustrator Affinity Publisher = InDesign

They really hosed those who contribute to Adobe Stock. Their reassurance is basically "Don't worry. We're not stealing your content. We're just screwing over those dumb enough to sell photos on Adobe Stock". No very reassuring at all. As far as Lightroom, Adobe's behavior is leaving a big vacuum and it is only a matter of time before before something comes along. As for Photoshop, I find it rather hypocritical that the lament is that Affinity Photo doesn't have AI tools while at the same time complaining about what Adobe is doing with it. I also find it self-limiting to be always holding out for one to one replacements for Adobe products. As far as having a cohesive group of apps that work together, that is sure to come and already there is the Affinity suite. Basically this video is just another one where Adobe is loudly complained about but where it is suggested to suck up anyway because it is the "industry standard". Reality check: An "industry standard" is whatever the industry decides it is and Adobe doesn't have a guaranteed lock on it. This latest scandal is big enough to show the cracks in their so called "impenetrable" fortress. There are examples in the past of companies that were supposed to have unquestioned dominance and seemed to be never to fail. Many of these are memories now or shells of their former selves. Sticking with Adobe only rewards their arrogance and makes it harder for competitors to develop the tools to do the same things because of Adobe sucking up all the money.

The head-teacher at my art school insisted we use adobe products, then we had a guest star teacher, this superstar-illustrator who had worked for all the big companies who shocked her when he told us he doesn't give a shit what we use as long as it can export to tiff. The internet at the school also had a tendancie to not work during the first hour in the morning for some reason, and thus we couldn't launch any adobe products because you need internet a internet connection to use that stuff. Thankfully the computers also had software such as Krita installed on it.

Several points: • The cancellation fees only apply if you try to cancel in your first year. If you've been with Adobe longer than that, you won't face these fees. • The new legal language still has lots of loopholes. One big one is they claim that they "don't" train on customer content, not that they never did. And biggest point: • It's not inevitable that corporations operate only on behalf of shareholders, to the exclusion of all other stakeholders (customers, workers, vendors, citizens of countries where they operate, etc). This is a modern development that has been reinforced by years of training for business school MBAs, but it's not the only way to run markets. If we want less sociopathic corporations, it's possible to have them. It will take political and social pressure to make it happen, but it is a thing that could come to pass. One important thing is not to see each predatory corporation in isolation. Taming capitalism is something that has to be addressed society-wide.

A good rundown on how bad Adobe have become. I ditched all Adobe software a couple years back and moved all my RAW editing to the free open source Darktable. It was a pretty steep learning curve due to a completely different workflow and "less polished" user interface. However, it was worthwhile - the image control available Darktable far exceeds what Adobe offers and my images are far better for it.

I am surprised that there is so much drama around Adobe these days. I know I'm an old fart, but come on. Am I the only one who remembers that it was the Adobe who created the concept of "you don't own anything and you'll be happy"? Am I the only one who remembers that it was Adobe who introduced the concept of "we will decide if it's ok for you to use our product, we don't care that you paid for it" ?. Nothing has changed over the last 30 years. Boil the frog a bit, ease off. Boil a bit more.. Ease off... And a bit more... Since the frog is brain dead at this point, they can do whatever... The only hope is the fact that the print is dying. Adobe was the king in late 1990s and early 2000s - you could use whatever software you wanted, as long as it was for your own needs - as soon as a printing house was required, you HAD TO parse your files through Adobe software.

I would argue that dxo PL7 has better denoise than LR PL7 does not have the library bit tho, but the thing I really miss is the ability to make presets for local adjustment brushes

Light bulb moment! We're talking a lot here about features we just can't live without. We all DID live without them back when. When tool y hadn't been developed yet, we managed just fine with tool X. (Yes, I can think of some exceptions, but very few.)

I have the best of both worlds. I’m still using PS CS6 and LR 5 desktop that I purchased when the subscription model was first announced. I didn’t want to pay to play on a continued basis. I also use the Affinity 2.x suite of desktop products as well. This combination of products allow me to do all that I need to do.

I ditched Adobe back when then moved it to the Cloud realizing this would be a bad long-term decision for me to stick to such a model where I can’t just own the software. I am perfectly comfortable with darktable, Hugin, GIMP, Krita, & Inkscape now that I can do what I need to & since I don’t follow Adobe news, I can be blissfully ignorant of any features. Embracing the free software offerings has brought a lot of benefit to me, & I have filed bugs upstream too.

Ditched Adobe when they switched to be a subscription service. Haven't looked back. That decision made it clear that Adobe no longer cared about their users, nor their product. It's been downhill ever since. Why improve a product, or customer service, when you've got a cash cow that makes money regardless of whether its good or bad, and that has an audience built on goodwill from years past? Well it seems they've nearly exhausted that goodwill from the past, but everybody should've jumped ship years ago.

Adobe are laughed at in the music industry. Our equivalent is Avid...

My Setup here: Affinity Suite (Creative Cloud), Apple Motion 5 (After Effects), Final Cut Pro (Premiere), I have the Pixelmator Pro (PSD and also AI) also, just in case, Blender, Apple Compressor (Media Encoder). I bought all of then with a lot of discount and with a one time payment. I only use Adobe when some project or agency cannot work with the alternatives (and they are who pay for it).

Affinity may be able to step up more now that they're partnered with Canva though. They're a small team on their own, so Canva would give them the power they need to start upgrading their software.

I used to buy Photoshop and illustrator regularly. When they went to a subscription base I stopped and got rid of all the old software and just quit. Never missed any of it.

Ditched them years ago and happy with Affinity and capture one

You should try krita, people used to say it is a painting program but once you explored all features of it you will find 95% of photoshop features and even 20% extra. Gimp is garbage in terms of UI/UX

We had been paying for and using many Adobe Apps since the mid 90's including creative suite 6 and when we updated our Macs to ARM we decided that the outrageous subscription fees Adobe wanted to charge were out of the question, so we switched to Affinity Photo, Design, Publisher, and DaVinci Resolve. We would never go back to Adobe.

You obviously dont know about Capture One, DXO Photolab or On1 these are all either same features and or better than LR.

I genuinely want to leave adobe. But you're right no matter what I alter for PS no one can replace or be better than PS yet. Unfortunately for PS I'm stuck with adobe for the time being. However I have already switched DaVinci for premier and after effects. And it was awesome and better than premier. Few things it can't compete with after effects entirely but close enough to replace it. For me DaVinci resolve alone is a great alternative for -Premier, AE, Audition, Media Encoder. Just waiting someone to be better than PS when someone pull that off. I'm leaving Adobe for good.

i canceled ADOBE.. purchased AFINITY, RESOLVE STUDIO, CAPTURE ONE.

After 25 years as a micromedia and adobe user I canceled my subscription 3 weeks ago when it came up for renewal...

Quick tip. If you want to bail on you Adobe plan early, without paying the penalty, just change your plan and then cancel before seven days.

I find it unfortunate that software like Gimp is still behind the curve. I consider it one of the OG open source projects because in the mid-2000s where internet became very wide spread, Gimp was one of the softwares that introduced people to the concept of open source. Gimp has such lackluster development that one of it's components, Gimp Too Kit (GTK), branched off, renamed itself Gnu Tool Kit, on it's way to releasing GTK5, and Gimp is still on GTK2. Meanwhile, Blender, which is a wildly much more complicated tool to develop, is amazing and even cutting its own corner in the industry. Inkscape is actually not bad. The biggest holdback from being used by professionals is CMYK support, but they are working hard to add. I even donated directly to the developer who is working on this feature.

A major impoetus for subscription software was that it put an end to copy piracy, but the paradigm it has created is nothing new, a digital plantation where paying users are merely sharecroppers. If Adobe were really about a collaborative relationship, you'd get an option on Adobe profits, perhaps so the longer you 'cropped' (pun intended) on Adobe territory.

I am already using DaVinci resolve rather than Adobe Premiere and I never tried Adobe and looks like that won't be changing soon

Thank you Andy, nice editorial. Thankfully, I don't have a workflow that needs Adobe systems. I can get by just fine with DXO and (sorry) Topaz AI. Looks like I dodged a bullet. Many thanks, cheers. 🎉🎉🎉

The lack of a direct alternative to lightroom is a great opportunity for devs.

The HUGE problem with Alternative is Lack of FUNCTIONS and TOOLS that makes things faster and shareable with other software. Adobe really sucks in many things, and I think they have many software that does great things on each of them. But not in one alone. Like for instance, the design and rendering engine Animate is better than any other software, but they don't implement them across other design and animated tools. I see Illustrator start to use some Animate design functions, but not all there. Alternatives are cheap and FREE but you will pay a HUGE price for re-learning them with the risk of them being own by another Adobe like company. I started with some Open Source and I always end up finish the project in Adobe products. Adobe is a company run by idiots and greedy people!

While it may vary from country to country, typically it is not only a company's prime directive to focus on shareholders interests, but is a legal requirement. Customer relationships are important to a business in so far as it benefits profits and shareholder returns, but make no mistake - in a choice between the two, the shareholder interests will always win - and for a public company, quarterly reports and share-value are the focus of CEOs.

I don’t understand asset management ? Isn’t that just filing your images in folders on your computer ?

TV station I worked at used adobe for editing video - Crashed 10 to 20 times a day -

I looked into buying photoshop ages ago but was put off by the price, now I'm ready to take the plunge and it's changed to subscription which is off putting. I'd been looking to have a low cost hobby to work on so when I retire i already have the expensive bit done and some knowledge, now I'm left wondering what to do and prefer not to go pirate so to speak. I'm interested in landscapes and macro and curious about focus stacking along with other editing techniques.

Left them at subscription announcement and never looked back. Still have my LR 6.14 installed just to spite them 🤭 ON1 is getting closer with every build and it's raw development would be on a par (no where near DxO of course) .. but i keep it in my toolbox just for the masking. Affinity would be perfect if they'd get the masking tools on a par with what's out there now.

I had *just* bought a lightroom classroom in a book from amazon, and was about to get a lightroom sub when this all went down. I decided I'll just step back from Adobe because I don't actually need it. I have Davinci for the video, but am still trying to decide on a raw editor I can live with. I do think this is the perfect storm for the Panasonic/Olympus LUT in camera presets, where they basically have their version of lightroom presets already built in live in the camera. You can download more presets any time if that's your thing, or create your own. This is the perfect storm for that to take off if they'll license it to others.

My ears HURTS when you say Adobe Lightroom is REFINED ... ROFL. They hack same old code, adding stuff like car industry try to keep old model in stable adding all sorts of plastic cladding, alloys, decals, like one would add saddle to a cow.

I personally always find alternatives for Adobe products and they all works perfectly fine. It does require a bit more improvising skill on my part, but when was Art supposed to be easy?

These videos are currently trending wildly. Since I left everything from Adobe almost 3 years ago, I have never realized that people are willing to buy their products, or rent (subscription). I use Affinty and Davinci, amazing products. And one-time purchase. From Adobe, I mostly used Premiere pro, lousy editor. Especially after I started Davinci. Now people need to wake up, drop Adobe

Good information! I'm jumping ship for a few reasons. Firstly, is the AI scanning / file upload process that I was unaware of. I have nothing to hide but hate the idea of my files being uploaded, even if temporarily, without a clear message indicating that it's occurring. I've also been looking for a less bloated alternative for basic photo editing. I can use CC for free through the company I work for, so cost isn't a factor. Secondly, I'd rather patronize another company as long as their software gets the job done. Having recently tried Affinity Photo 2.5, for me it does just that. It has what I need as an amateur photographer who isn't interested in all the bells and whistles Adobe has to offer. And the way I see it, if we want true competition, we need to support the smaller companies so they can afford to compete on features. If course, a business built on Adobe's products can't just up and jump ship, but for those like me, I think there are good alternatives. Lastly, Adobe's attitude with its licensing, shady anti-consumer practices, and bloated buggy software has tipped me over the edge. Also, Bridge, Camera Raw, Lightroom and Photoshop could have all been condensed into 2 products at most rather than having features that overlap and the quirks and awkwardness of having these products try to work together.

It all depends on where on the fence you sit with this one. If you purchased the All Apps subscription, as part of your CC subscription, then absolutely you should because the reality is that depending on who you are, you don't need the majority of these apps to begin with, so why did you get it in the first place? IF you are a strict photographer though and ONLY purchased the Photography Plan as part of your subscription, as Andy said if you can find an alternative to Photoshop AND Lightroom, then by all means. But the reality is, there isn't any that are a carbon copy to either of those programs. Okay, maybe for Photoshop the closest I can think of that is for the most part identical, is Affinity Photo. But for Lightroom, there isn't any. At least that there are a straight up clone to Lightroom. So you're kind of stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place. And besides, IF you only got the Photography Plan in your Adobe CC subscription and not the All Apps plan, it's nowhere near as expensive. I will agree though that Adobe HAVE been shady with their practices, by not allowing consumers to 'easily' cancel their plan, and also concealing their ETF (early termination fee) DEEP within their terms, which is why they are being sued right now and deservedly so.

I don't see (at least for me) the need for an all-in-one program. I consider ACDSee Ultimate an excellent program for managing photo files. I use and prefer DXO Photolab to develop my raw files (others might prefer Capture One), and Affinity Photo or ACDSee (depending on what I want to do in terms of editing) are good enough for me for editing the tiff files which I export from DxO, before converting them to jpg. I ditched Adobe Photoshop long ago, as early as when the company adopted the subscription scheme.

That was very thorough. To complete the picture, Adobe's ace-in-the-hole is PostScript in professional printers and the emulator in still MOST of office printers.

Your content delivery is funny with a slap of real. Thanks!

Quit Adobe when it went monthly! Don't miss it at all, years ago Cyberlink did the same, and the ads were constant! Kdenlive suits me and it's open source. Having issues with Resolve on Linux, once a month may open Win-dose just to use Resolve. MS is also on my list to avoid!

Thanks. That was interesting. I’m sticking for now. Lightroom is so good now that I barely need PS at all and since I hate PS and have always found it ludicrously complex, I’m very pleased about that. I’d move but whatever I move to would have to be able to import LRC catalogues, have full DAM and be equally good at editing etc. Whatever that is, it doesn’t yet exist. Aperture could have been it but Apple killed it. After making me pay NZ$850 to buy the software.

any good open source options?

and honestly, I would prefer donating to open source developers than paying adobe's subscription plans ...

For most people this may not be a sensible solution, but I’m still using CS 6 on an old Mac running Sierra. I’m lucky I’m not depending on many of the new features that Adobe included in the suite since then. In addition to CS 6 I have the Affinity suite.

FCPX, Motion, Davinci, Affinity, Pixelmator Pro, Photomator, Sketch, Ocenaudio, Blender all get the job done for me. Maybe not in every sense and certainly not in such a cohesive way but, seriously don’t miss the quagmire of shite CC installs on every system. Everyone’s different though and admittedly if you have to collaborate it’s nigh on impossible to avoid.

Adobe abandoned creatives many years ago. Adobe's customers are large corporations, not the individual artist. That's how they make their business decisions -- appease other corporations and shareholders.

You are correct, Lightroom is the hook I am stuck on, there are many excellent RAW editors like DXO or Capture 1 BUT non have the DAM/Database that LR has.

I bought into Luminar AI and Luminar Neo in years' past, but I did not join the new subscription model. I respected Skylum's previous practice of making users buy new software over renting it, if the users wanted the latest features. But I was not about to opt into another Adobe model. I don't know what remains of actual non-subscription editing software, beyond what I already have. At some point, those programs will likely stop working.

Nope, I'm gone. There are other just as good alternatives and that's where my £ is at, and I do not miss any of the adobe products. For context, I've played with LR since V1, along with Aperture and C1 and as 'just' a photographer I can access a DAM which does what I want through C1 along with a similar set of non destructive editing options, and can send an image to a pixel level image editor with Affinity. If I want DTP or Vector graphics there is Affinity that covers both of those and If I want Video editing than there's plenty of other options. So, just how many creatives need the full stack? My guess is very few. In most cases, fear of switching is laziness. Accept that other companies can do the same things sometimes better, and be honest with yourself as to why you use the software you do. You may well be surprised

Nice, rational analysis. I've been an Adobe client forever and love their stuff. I must admit, I do like your style of presentation. Unfortunately, I can't ditch it easily because my clients EXPECT work to be done and passed back to them using Adobe CC tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. The AI "rules of engagement" are intrusive and really make me wonder, but as their competitors will employ AI to remain competitive, who says they will be more "hands-off?" This is one of several Adobe issues that IMHO makes them completely anti-customer. Things Adobe should do (and they are simple): 1. AI "ownership" of your stuff (local, cloud, or both?): Place responsibility back on the the user with regard to unsavory artwork. Their spokeslawyer kept on mentioned the worst (child porno) in her three-part response video. As most anti-Adobe reviewers say this isn't a new problem. Keep humans out of it and make the whole upload, verify, reporting of bad stuff automated and self-policing. If another client complains about your uploaded stuff, do something about it (ex: take it down, correct it, …). 2. Make it easy to cancel an annual subscription. Some other pissed-off videos state the terror (waste of time) it takes to cancel a subscription. It's easy to sign onto an Adobe's subscription, so keep humans out of it as they attempt to talk you out of canceling. OK, when you cancel online, prompt them that there is a cancellation fee based on some pro-rated formula and show the calculations. If you still want to cancel, click Cancel, and your credit card will be charged $x amount. 5 minutes. Easy in, easy out. Sometimes we all make mistakes and have buyer's remorse. 3. Reduce this nightmare of restricting personal computer installations. I have four computers (3 macs and 1 pc) and I have licensed two subscriptions that require DIFFERENT email addresses. Not only expensive, this lack of trust approach towards licensing is really out of date. Just because I am a computer junkie and go out in the field a lot and need Adobe software on a couple of other laptops, doesn't mean I'm going to attempt to run Photoshop on more than one computer at the same time. Do what Escape Motions (Rebelle), Sketchbook, The Omni Group (OmniGraffle), TechSmith (Camtasia Pro), and Microsoft Office does: allow basically up to 5 or so computers to have your stuff installed. Their online licensing software can check to see if more than one or two computers are using Adobe apps (based on IP addresses) at the same time. Almost all of us are honest customers. Otherwise, why make this so difficult? Surprisingly, compared to many reviewers, I don't have a problem with subscriptions. Adobe puts a lot of work enhancing and supporting their software. And that costs money. OK. But to avoid Adobe from becoming "Big Brother" to their creative community, they can become user-centric overnight and do some basic repositioning of their business practices. "Attention to user needs" always wins in the long run. This DOJ issue is the wake-up call I guess most of us need. It seems like there are a LOT of unhappy customers out there with this latest AI fiasco. One final note (sorry!) … When licensing, terms of use, and legalese become a larger issue than using the software, you have already lost. Explaining, re-explaining, and re-simplifying "what you really mean" wears most of us out. Many great tech companies have realized that true customer trust is much more important than exploiting revenue opportunities. AI appears to be the current excuse. I'm going to rethink continuing to use Adobe CC, too. It's not a good thing. I find it to be GREAT software. Now, if only Adobe can rethink what it means to be a GREAT company. Best, Ken Bellingham, WA USA

It is a matter of simply not wanting to support Adobe, not that other software might, or might not be better. If you find their practices evil, then you will simply use alternatives, like DarkTable, and Gimp, as I have. They are far inferior to Adobe's offerings (especially Gimp, Darktable is quite good), but it's a matter of doing the right thing.

A really good video, Andy, but I'd suggest you might not be on their Christmas Card list? 😁 I'm staying with Lr/Ps for much the same reasons as you.

What ultimately needs to happen is for the Federal Trade Commission in America to step in and use antitrust laws to break up Adobe and enforce more competitive practices like making all their third party plugin APIs more open and usable with other software packages. Adobe have a near total monopoly in their sector, and it's become incredibly destructive to the industries forced to rely on their products because there simply aren't viable alternatives for their needs.

I dumped Adobe three years ago when Lightroom 6 and Photoshop CS6 couldn't open my new camera's RAW files any more. I've never fancied subscription plans, and probably never will. I turned to DxO and Affinity and haven't had any regrets about that step.

I want to give up on Adobe already but can't find the best Dream Weaver alternative

And you an exclamation mark at the end of the title?

Sadly you are correct -- there is nothing like LRC -- especially if you have large RAW Images. I have Affinity Photo - and I just can't make it work with Hasselblad files.

ill still use adobe but out at the high sailing seas don't need the AI part since there's an alternative for it and it actually works offline.

I ditched Adobe the day they announced the new subscription model. Every piece of software on all 3 operating systems. Even Acrobat Reader. The writing was on the wall and plain for all of us to see. Never looked back. Adobe is a shit show of bad business practices and "screw you" attitude toward all their users. Any creative who still uses Creative Cloud is part of the problem.

I never used Lightroom so I cannot speak to its innovations, but Illustrator, Photoshop, and Illustrator seemed to only make minor improvements over the years - not enough to justify the hefty annual subscription in my opinion. I think Adobe has taken its customers for granted because they think they have no competitors. I hope that changes because competition is a good thing.

Fyi. Software as a service existed long before Adobe turned their product into a service. Unfortunately, it was the rise of the higher speed internet which made it more economical to restart The service pricing model.

I've replaced Photoshop with Krita and Gimp (Clip Studio Paint works as a replacement too). I've replaced Premiere and After Effects with DaVinci Resolve. And I've replaced Illustrate with Inkscape. That's all i ever really used from Adobe and I don't feel like I'm lacking anything by moving away from it. 👍

Very well said. I wish I had a viable alternative but I prefer to edit RAW photos on my iPad. I don’t know of any other app with the ability to make good selections, raw conversions, and layering on an iPad, so I’m stuck in their ecosystem.

Thanks for a complete run-down on the Adobe monolith. As much I'd like to give Adobe the middle finger, you're right, I haven't found a suitable alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop.

Im done using Adobe after scamming me out of 240 Euro for using it only once Did use it a lot in the past as selfemployed photographer for years believed I could cancel the subscription after a month NOPE

I see no way to migrate one's LrC catalog and edits to some other program. Nothing else is even 10% as comprehensive or productive. Lightroom is in a class of its own.

I generally leave a product when it must be rented. Exception is MSFT 365, as there are cheapo, legal, possibilities. Until 2018 I used Capture one for Sony, aka "express" for free. Late 2018 I wanted to purchase the Full Sony Version which was 99€. At the time I was in Sweden and it was not working due to any internet issue with my German Credit card. 1 WE later, so 3 days!, the launched the new Version which raised the price "slidely": 249€!!!! Since than I am on Luminar 4, which I bought for 89 € inkl HDR. No more updates are now provided, because ... Skyrum(?) went to a Subskription model!!! Looks like the Photo world is especially shitty in this regard. Or ... the can also read stock prices and have seen what happend to Abobe. Did you mention that Abode now looks into your Photo when you use iCloud or an AI Service in Photshop?

It's always interesting to me how transactional these discussions are. Principles count for nothing. As long as the software does more than their rivals' and doesn't crash _too_ often, apparently Adobe can just continue with their shitty practices as far as most creators are concerned. As much as they complain, they don't appear to be willing to change their habits and customs even a little bit. And Adobe clearly knows it.

raw editor and library management ? I use darktable

I bought the Affinity

I started using Affinity software back when it came out so I already ditched Adobe quite a while back. I use Davinci for video.

One the most succinct concise presentation I've heard thus far. Agreed on most points indeed. Thank you.

While I don't like the fact they want to train AI off my work, I can't say I'll lose sleep over it. The way I see it the moment you share your art online on Social Media etc it's getting fed into all kinds of BS anyway. Have tried demos from the competition and they all felt like it would be a compromise to switch. Interesting topic for sure and opinions on either side of the fence have validity

Lightroom could be replaced or so by Darktable InDesign by Scribus Premiere by OLIVE Video Editor Illustrator by Inkscape ...

The question is not only whether there are better alternatives for Adobe programmes. As a freelancer, for example, the question is whether you can afford to use Adobe products at all. Or you are sued by your customer for breach of contract, that their data, concepts, trade secrets have been passed on to third parties. With the changes to the terms and conditions, Adobe secures rights to things that its users may not even have themselves.

I'm still with Adobe.....CS6 and LR6 that is, until they ditch their subscription model or give users the option to buy a perpetual licence version of their software, which I can't see happening. And yes, you're right, companies like Affinity need to have an alternative to LR and asset management as well

All software is technically rented since it's a license. You never own it; you are provided a license to use/access the software but you never own it. Read your EULA. For those who think you own software, even if you have a "perpetual license" it's just that... a license. The only difference between th two is how you pay for that license (either all at once -- perpetual, or per-month). You still "rent" the software either way as you don't own it (even though software companies will tell you you do, if you read the EULA, what they are actually referring to is the license, which can be cancelled by them or you). I would suggest people read their EULA and compare the two. They are basically the same, the only difference being that with perpetual, you pay once (or over a set number of periods) but you can use the software indefinitely, or until the license is revoked or cancelled which can be done by you or the software developer and usually after 1 year, there is no recourse from you against the developer if they cancel your license after 1 year. If it's less than that then maybe, but usually I'd say 1 year is the marker, and by using the software, yo uagree to these terms (the only way to "disagree" is not install and not use the software). So I encourage everyone to please READ the EULA word for word. My guess is most people don't.

Autograph by Left Angle looks promising to replace After Effects.