Adobe made headlines this week at its annual Adobe MAX conference when it announced a major change in how it delivers its Creative Suite products. For starters, Creative Suite as we know it is going away: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, After Effects, and the rest of the application suite are being absorbed into its Creative Cloud offering, and all future versions will be available on a subscription basis rather than as “boxed” software starting next month.

Web font service Typekit and the recently acquired creative community Behance are integral parts of the new Creative Cloud offering as well. Several enhancements to Adobe’s products, which will now adopt the CC brand, were announced along with the change.

Although Creative Suite 6, which was released one year ago, will still be available for purchase, no new features will be forthcoming, and no new versions of Creative Suite will be released. Acknowledging that the transition to the cloud will not be imminent for many customers who are accustomed to the traditional software model, Adobe said it will continue to provide support to those who are not ready to make the switch.

Adobe first launched Creative Cloud in April 2012 as a subscription-based bundled software option that included all 14 of its Adobe Creative Suite 6 applications. Contrary to some people’s assumptions given the “cloud” branding, subscribers will be able to download applications such as InDesign CC for use on their desktops. (See Adobe’s Creative Cloud FAQ to dispell more myths about what the changes mean for users.)

Adobe announced the following core features as part of the release:

  • The ability to connect and collaborate with workgroups and the creative community via the desktop, the web, or mobile devices.
  • The ability to publish portfolios, “follow” other creative professionals, and solicit feedback from other members of the Behance community.
  • Automatic sychronization of files and assets among the desktop, cloud, and mobile devices, including both Macs and PCs.
  • Access to services that will enable users to publish personalized websites through the Behance ProSite, as well as digital magazines for iPad using Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) Single Edition, and PhoneGap™ Build to create and publish mobile apps for any device.

According to an Adobe press release, an individual Creative Cloud membership is $49.99 per month based on annual membership; customers who currently own CS3 to CS5.5 can access Creative Cloud at a discounted rate of $29.99 per month for one year.

A team version of Creative Cloud includes everything individual members receive plus 100GB of storage and centralized deployment and administration capabilities. Creative Cloud for teams costs $69.99 per month per seat; current customers who own a volume license for CS3 or later are eligible for a discounted rate of $39.99 per month per seat if they sign on by the end of August.

Additional pricing details, as well as information about Creative Cloud plans for enterprise, educational, and government customers can be found on Adobe’s website.

TFP will offer additional details in upcoming blog posts on how this will affect publishers, and steps that they can take to plan for migration to the Creative Cloud.

Posted by: Gina Barrett