Creative Cloud Replaces Creative Suite
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Creative Cloud Replaces Creative Suite

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by Chris Smith
Creative Cloud Replaces Creative Suite

Adobe Creative Cloud officially replaces Creative Suite the year, with Adobe announcing they are no longer selling the older versions of their applications.  Many users may not have known that Creative Suite was still available, as Adobe made it difficult to locate and buy. But for determined users who wanted to stick with the older apps and perpetual licenses – ones that didn’t expire, Creative Suite remained an option. Since its arrival in 2013 Adobe has promoted Creative Cloud over Creative Suite. They made it much easier to purchase the newer collection of applications. Yet until 2017 it was still possible to purchase the older Creative Suite by calling Adobe, as the only online option was the newer Creative Cloud. Yet it is no longer an option to buy Creative Suite, as Adobe is now only selling Creative Cloud.

Creative Suite had not been updated since 2013, with no new features or even bug fixes provided for users of the older applications. Adobe had been attempting to gently nudge users away from the Creative Suite and into the Creative Cloud with its monthly or annual fees. The nudging has turned into an all-out push, with Adobe refusing to sell new licenses of the Creative Suite.

Creative Suite Compared to Creative Cloud

Both Creative Suite and Creative Cloud are a collection of applications from Adobe. Software tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Premiere Pro, and After Effects are all available in these collections. With Creative Suite, the applications were purchased and licensed for use indefinitely. It was not necessary to pay Adobe every month or year. Yet new features and functionality required an upgrade to a newer version for a fee.

Creative Cloud is essentially the Creative Suite with a monthly or yearly cost being paid to Adobe. At approximately $50 to $75 per month, Adobe provides access to all the Creative Cloud applications for the duration of the subscription. The fees include access to the latest versions of the applications. As many of the Adobe applications are more than a decade old, they tend to lack much in the way of innovation. A user taking a Creative Cloud training class with the latest version of the CC tools would be equally comfortable in the Creative Suite applications from 2013.

With the Creative Cloud, users are paying for stability, bug-fixes, and compatibility with the latest computer systems. The licensing model forces all users to pay Adobe a consistent fee, whether they are using the apps daily for work or occasionally on the weekends as a hobby.

The discontinuation of the Creative Suite purchase option shows that Adobe is comfortable with the adoption of their Creative Cloud apps, and believes that users will continue to switch to Adobe CC, even if some of the remaining holdouts do so reluctantly.

 

About the author

Christopher Smith is president of American Graphics Institute. He is the co-author of Adobe Creative Cloud for Dummies and more than 10 other books on design and digital publishing. He served as publisher and editor of the Digital Classroom book series, which has sold more than one million books on topics relating to InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro and other Creative Cloud apps. At American Graphics Institute, he provides strategic technology consulting to marketing professionals, publishers designers, and large technology companies including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and HP. An expert on web analytics and digital marketing, he also delivers Google Analytics classes along with workshops on digital marketing topics. Christopher did his undergraduate studies the at the University of Minnesota, and then worked for Quark, Inc. prior to joining American Graphics Institute where he has worked for more than 20 years.