I’m in the market for Adobe CS5.5 (the Design Premium for Mac preferably), but without it costing an arm and a leg. Does anyone have any tips for finding the best deals? There seems to be precious little competitive pricing out there!

I know Adobe have introduced pay-as-you-go but not sure if this is only in the US and it probably wouldn’t be cost effective long-term. Other suggestions also welcome, including ‘grin and bear it’.

There are other suggestions – but generally you will have to pay full price. Students can get it cheaper though I believe.

Indeed, students and teachers can get it very cheap plus are permitted to use it commercially (in a limited way, I think). I’m not a student. And although my sister is, the authorisation process seems to have Soviet-levels of complexity and surveillance and I can’t be bothered.

What about the obvious?

but without it costing an arm and a leg

Good luck with that. Welcome to the world of being bent over by the Apple/Adobe duopoly. I didn’t think it possible, but nowadays they make Microsoft look like some cuddly 3rd sector organisation.

Do you really NEED 5.5? If so, I’d also have a serious look at the licensing structure if you intend to be doing any digital publishing for ipad etc. There’s some pretty serious implications to that too. And not very nice ones.

Software 4 Students

I believe the authorisation process would involve bribing your sister with 20 Marlboro Lights and a 2L bottle of White Lightning, then using her .ac.uk email address on the order form.

*cough* t0rr3nt *cough*

Sadly, I have a rigid morality that prevents me pirating anything from a 90p single to a £1800 programme. If I was to make an exception, my whole sense of self would collapse like a house of cards. Tempting though it is.
Those poor software developers have as much right to put bread on the table as the rest of us…

binners, could you expand on that license thing a bit? i may well be doing a bit of that in the not too distant future and could be doing with knowing those pitfalls. ta

Yes, have been digging around Adobe’s licensing and it appears the product price is only a prelude. I don’t ‘need’ all of 5.5 now, but I’d ‘like’ it.

I’ll try and dig out the article for you. It was in Mac User a couple of Months back. They went into a great deal of detail about the cost implications of the new, very different, licensing agreement.

Basically its a company in a monopoly position, levering that position to its maxumum advantage. They are changing the whole structure of the publishing business to their advantage. There are going to be a lot of unhappy people when the full (presently hidden) cost implications hit home.

To summerise: you pay for the product, then every time you publish a ‘magazine’ online, Adobe take a percentage cut as apple do with itunes

I recently bought mine for £2.50. I have no morals.

I’ve just read this…
http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/adobes-digital-publishing-mistake/

It’s the minimum charges that hit you. 7K according to the site.

Not impossible to make money, but you certainly can’t go into it with a low initial investment and rely on creativity like you can with some distribution methods. You have to be confident and have a business model in place.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these figures drop significantly soon. Maybe with an alternative plan (lower initial fees, but more per issue sold) for smaller volume companies.

that is so not right. the above appears to suggest it’s for ipad but i’m beting that’ll just be the start. cheers for that, i must find out more…

Is the crop tool in cs5.5 better than cs5 ?

Of course, it’s .5 better.

(-:

Good luck with that. Welcome to the world of being bent over by the Apple/Adobe duopoly. I didn’t think it possible, but nowadays they make Microsoft look like some cuddly 3rd sector organisation.

Sorry, but what has Adobe’s pricing got to do with Apple? Apple and Adobe have been at loggerheads for ages over things like Flash, poor development of apps for OSX compared to Windows, etc.
They aren’t some cozy little cartel; a great many people wish Apple would buy up Adobe and sort them out, Adobe’s buying up Macromedia and discontinuing various Mac apps in the past still rankles with more than a few people out there. Don’t ask for specifics, I’ve just read a great many grumpy posts about Adobe by Mac users online over the last couple of years. Adobe, like Quark, have a monopoly on pro graphic arts apps, and are shafting the users, irrespective of platform.

CountZero – I probably didn’t express that too well. I wasn’t trying to imply they were operating a cartel. What I’m saying is that if i want a machine i can use for professional graphics output I can use a Mac or…erm…. a Mac*. And pay through the nose accordingly for one.

Then to use the software I then need, I’ll be bent over by Adobe too. They have hiked their prices enormously with every CS upgrade. And what they’re proposing as a pricing/licensing structure at the moment is frankly scandalous. If Microsoft were investigated and duly hammered for anti-competition practices, then I’d suggest that the same authorities need to start looking closely at both Adobe and Apple

*and lets not turn this into a Mac vs PC argument please. I’ve tried doing it on a PC. They don’t work. Full stop. End of Story

earn more money to pay for the software then.
if you are creating “professional graphics output” then use the best software and charge accordingly.

A fantastic argument there MrSmith. Very well thought through. Congratulations! You’re a capitalists wet dream!

So you think its perfectly acceptable to establish a monopoly, then increase your costs in the order of 700% in the space of a couple of years? Because that is the real cost implication here.

You’d be happy to just ‘earn more money’ would you?

How about if… lets think of a suitable monopoly … your water supplier landed you with a 700% increase. Would you give a nonchalant shrug, say ‘oh well, best go out and work a bit harder then’?

One other view, I’m sure it will be slated.

I’ve paid over £1000 for CS5 including Indesign Photoshop and Illustrator

However the man hours they have saved me (partly because they integrate so well) is way way ahead of the cost. For sure it is expensive in it’s own right but as part of a wider business case it certainly adds up. As a software professional I know full well that if Adobe sold this for £50 they would never have the resources required to develop the product to where it is at now. They don’t have a monopoly, free alternatives exist for every element of CS5, they simply have (imo) the best products.

I don’t think anyone’s arguing with that David. But Adobe are now changing the licensing agreement so that as well as that initial outlay (which has jumped from £1000 to £1900 anyway), they will also take a percentage cut of any digital publications produced using an adobe platform. And that percentage will be substantial. If you’re business is digital publishing you’re going to be looking at handing Adobe a minimum of £7k annually

That’s moving the goalposts somewhat, wouldn’t you agree?

A fantastic argument there MrSmith. Very well thought through. Congratulations! You’re a capitalists wet dream!

So you think its perfectly acceptable to establish a monopoly, then increase your costs in the order of 700% in the space of a couple of years? Because that is the real cost implication here.

use different software or develop your own, adobe didn’t establish a monopoly, Corel and others just failed to develop their products
the real cost implication is you feel that you will spend too long working to pay for the software, this is why you think it’s expensive. personally i think it’s a bargain.

You’d be happy to just ‘earn more money’ would you?

earning more money is not necessarily a bad thing.

How about if… lets think of a suitable monopoly … your water supplier landed you with a 700% increase. Would you give a nonchalant shrug, say ‘oh well, best go out and work a bit harder then’?

no. i would look at my water usage and see where cost effective savings could be made or if investing in a borehole would pay for itself over a couple of years.
not a “suitable” example for your argument, water is a basic necessity, if you had a basic need to do graphic work then MSpaint will fulfill this basic need.

They don’t have a monopoly, free alternatives exist for every element of CS5, they simply have (imo) the best products.

and if you don’t want to pay for premiere and aftereffects you can buy Apple’s final cut and motion for less than £200 if you can’t make that pay for itself with your first job you are doing it wrong.

You’re right again. Why haven’t I thought of it before. Your a genius!!! I’ll develop my own software to rival InDesign. How hard can it be? I could probably have something up and running by the end of the week.

After I’ve completed that task I think I’ll develop my own aeroplane to get round the increase in air fares. So that’s next week taken care of. A

Any other suggestions I might apply this wonderful principle of yours too? I reckon I’ll be on a roll after I’ve mastered those two simple tasks. And I’ have money to invest. What with everything i’ll have saved

how about stop moaning on forums and become more productive/cost effective so you can pay for some software?

Thanks. You’re right again. I will.

And its got me thinking. Maybe I could develop something to rival the internet. Watch this space

Thanks again for your constructive suggestions to the problems described above. I feel together we could quickly overcome all the imbalances inherent in free-market capitalism. Would you like to come for a ride in my submarine when I’ve finished building it?

no. i leased my own, worked out cheaper and more reliable as they service it for free.

If you’re business is digital publishing you’re going to be looking at handing Adobe a minimum of £7k annually

Are these not the costs for using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite which takes care of hosting, distribution and dynamic ads for your .folio files.

Is it possible to create .folio files and then not use the Digital Suite services allowing you to use Indesign to create tablet magazines and distribute/host them yourself?

You’re right again. Why haven’t I thought of it before. Your a genius!!! I’ll develop my own software to rival InDesign. How hard can it be? I could probably have something up and running by the end of the week.

if you can answer your own question you might realise the cost/time implications of writing software and how that investment is going to pay for itself.
you moan about the cost of something yet nobody else produces an alternative as efficient or powerful, is that adobe’s fault?

like moaning about the cost of a fast, powerful, efficient and reliable car, if you can’t justify the cost then get a £500 wreck, cycle or walk.

you moan about the cost of something yet nobody else produces an alternative as efficient or powerful, is that adobe’s fault?

Macromedia had some good software. Adobe should never have been allowed to buy them up.

I don’t see a serious competitor arriving on the scene as they would have to cover too many areas in one go – Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Dreamweaver and the others – that’s a lot of new software to develop.

Sorry Mr Smith. With you in a minute. Just finishing off my golf course. The bunkers took a bit longer than I expected

Do carry on though. Its all good

they will also take a percentage cut of any digital publications produced using an adobe platform.

Are you sure that is 100% correct binners? I haven’t looked into it but isn’t this related to items hosted through their services? They are big but surely there would be mass desertion if this applied to everything published online.

The article in Mac User was pretty certain that this was the case. Everything is bundled in together, so you’re left with no option but to use the Adobe hosting etc. I can’t find the actual Mac User article online. The summary is posted by Alex yesterday

http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/adobes-digital-publishing-mistake/

The quote from the editor of Mac user says it all

“That was desktop publishing. It was fun, it was creative, it was ground-breakingly democratic, and I hope you enjoyed it, because it’s over.”

I’m sure a lot of people would desert. But to where? They have the whole industry stitched up like a kipper.

Anyway… I’m off to develop a replacement for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile. A million quid each they are! I can’t imagine they cost anything like that to build. Fear not taxxpayer. We’ll have a cheaper, equally effective version to fire at Libya soon. We may have to build some new subs to launch them off, but hey….. small price to pay

left with no option but to use the Adobe hosting

shirley that’s only the case if you don’t know how to make an online magazine for yourself…I don’t really see how it’s possible for adobe to take this kind of money of people, well apart from those daft enough to give it to them..

http://www.pixelmator.com/

only £17.99

Have you any actual concept of what Creative Suite is? And what it’s used for?

Apple and Adobe have been at loggerheads for ages over things like Flash

Can’t help but wonder whether their pricing model for InDesign isn’t entirely unrelated to this little spat. “Want to design interactive magazines for the iPad? Well, we can’t stop you, but we can make it bloody expensive.”

Have you any actual concept of what Creative Suite is? And what it’s used for?

yes thanks. (own some of it not the whole suite though)