Unfortunately there haven't been very many good Adobe updates over the last couple of years so having a steady stream of cash going out for mediocrity is what makes CC outrageous. This is true whether you are a small business or a large one. It makes no difference.

There are other ways to get around serial numbers besides resorting to subscription. I can buy graphic apps through the MAS without needing to rely on serial numbers. I just bought Sketch, iDraw, and Pixelmator all without having to record a single serial number. I don't know if you are in anyway associated with Adobe but none of your arguments hold any water at all if you really stop to think about it.

Pixelmator is $29.99, and it gives you modern day (read: leverages OS X technologies) alternative to Photoshop and Illustrator.

http://pixelmator.com

Best of all, no Adobe tax. ;)

@Donmontalvo A lot of people are getting impatient that Adobe doesn't take advantage of OS X technology as well as new Mac hardware. There is a blogger who keeps asking Adobe about when their software will be optimized for the Mac Pro but he hasn't got much of a response back from them.

http://www.thepromacblog.com/the-silence-is-deafening/

Adobe is the McDonalds of the software industry. Except that they're expensive. The "we hire cheap third party slave labor" position is about the same. They "lock you in" and then hit you with regular fees...as many of their staff brag about being involved in "revenue healthy" Creative Whatever.

I work for a large global company. And like most large companies, Macs make up a relatively small percentage of total computers. Yet, our workflow necessitates working across platforms (Windows and Mac), as well as frequently exchanging source files with clients directly. Sometimes the project may mandate Premiere, even though our in-house guys prefer Final Cut (as per client requirement). Same goes for Photoshop, InDesign, Flash, and so on.

So suggesting we could do a drop-in replacement with a few low-cost Mac-only alternatives is a joke. And suggesting that because I gave it a high mark means I must work for Adobe is a joke.

I appreciate, and even encourage, the move away from Adobe products. Personally, I don’t even install Flash on my computer. But as I said in my original statement; Adobe makes it trivially easy to manage large numbers of users. Frankly, I wish all software management was this easy. I stand by my original rating.

@_rick_v_ If you work for a large company, you should not be using Creative Cloud Teams, instead you should be using Creative Cloud Enterprise. The former is per user activation, the former does not require activation. This thread isn't about how to manage Creative Cloud, right license for the right job would be the answer there. This is about Adobe moving to a subscription model that at the end of the day makes Adobe more money (read: "revenue healthy") and locks users into a perpetucal subscription scam license model. Adobe is the 800 pound gorilla, and Pixelmator is already eating into their (very high) profits. Adobe is going to milk users dry while they can.

@_rick_v_

"And suggesting that because I gave it a high mark means I must work for Adobe is a joke."

...which I never said. Let's review my original statement again shall we?

"I DON'T KNOW if you are in anyway ASSOCIATED with Adobe..."

Notice I used the words "associated with adobe". This might mean that you are a non employee who holds a lot of stock in the company (a completely reasonable thing to assert since a lot of people are buying Adobe stock with the move to CC) or associated might mean that you are in the educational field and financially benefit from users being on the latest version so that you have more people to teach to.

Although most PCs run Windows there is still a sizable number of Mac users in creative fields. It's not like Windows PCs have the same 90% marketshare they have in other industries. Also if you consider the iPad a Mac (as it is quickly becoming more like) then Apple's marketshare in the business world is improving dramatically.

Also people are not just moving away from Adobe due low costs many people are moving to the competition since some of the Adobe products are falling behind. For an example compare the recently discontinued Fireworks to new heavy weights like Sketch. Why should we have to spend a premium for, in some ways, out dated tech?

Pixelmator mimics most of the functionality of Photoshop and Illustrator. It toggles between the two functions. It leverages the most modern OS X technologies. It's fast. It's stable. And it costs $29 (one time cost), where Adobe costs $49/month forever.

Adobe is going to milk everyone as much as it can, as they've already begun their downward spiral.

Unfortunately, it IS the future. You should start warming-up to the idea, because all large(r) developers are going to switch to it.

It's not greed, it's survival. It's unfortunate that we find ourselves in this position, but in some respects it's our own fault.

@James-D, this is why smaller developers will inherit the future of software. They are more responsive to customer requests, the are better at solving problems, they create better performing software in general. Take a look at Pixelmator and compare to Photoshop. Case in point.