I’ve recently seen that Adobe are offering some of their products on a monthly subscription. This is a good move – there’s been several times where I’ve needed to use Photoshop for a small project but haven’t had the money to buy the full version. I think Photoshop is one of the few programs that could charge the amount it costs and not be overpriced (I’ve used it at work in the past and its very powerful) but I don’t have the spare cash to buy it. Now if I need to use it I can pay considerably less and get it on a monthly subscription.
According to several websites I’ve looked at though, to get the best price you need to subscribe for a full year. This is normal for more subscription sites, but does that include all upgrades? If I buy the latest version of Photoshop for a year, then in six months time its upgraded, do I automatically get to use the upgraded version? I haven’t seen a definitive answer to this question, and I’m going to wait until I do before buying.
If you do get an upgrade then I think it’s probably a good deal. Of course, buying on a monthly or yearly basis is going to be more expensive in the long run than just buying the software, but it’s perfect if you just don’t have the money right now but need the software.
It’s also going to be interesting to see whether this has an effect on the number of people illegally downloading Adobe products. I’m sure that’s partly behind the decision.