RC on The Creative Cloud

April, 2012

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The Creative Cloud Is Here With all of the excitement with the new releases of the CS6 – there is one MASSIVE thing that I think will totally get people into the game with using more programs in the Creative Suite. The Creative Cloud changes are just proving to be downright revolutionary. Let me go ahead and break down for you what Adobe has done here. Storing and Sharing Files – A Nice Start A creative person these days takes their resources through a variety of devices. From laptops to desktops. Tablets to touchscreens, your stuff lives everywhere. The Creative Cloud went in and created a service that you can sign up for that will give you 20GB of storage that lets you sync all of this information across your devices. Not only do you get to share these items across your own devices, but you get to share them with friends and colleagues as well – something that I am enjoying. The Main Course – How About All the Software? The second component in the Creative Cloud is access to ALL of the Adobe Creative Suite software. Every part of it. Think of having access to Master Collection – thanks to the Creative Cloud. Here’s the thing – the first question that you will have about this “Hey… how am I going to run After Effects on a browser.. isn’t that kinda big?” Ok.. Adobe has thought of this.. this is how it works. You will sign up for the Creative Cloud – the service will give you a page where you can download all of the software to your computer. Your monthly license will be checked – and provided you are paid up, you will be able to access all of the programs. You can uninstall and install however you feel you want to. You can even install across platforms – OSX and PC (Obviously the limit of 2 still applies here). You even get all of the Adobe Touch apps on both Android and iOS (as available) The Dessert? Publishing to the Web AND Digital Publishing Suite Now, what good is working with images, video, and design if you cant share them out with your friends, family, and clients. The Adobe Creative Cloud is going to give you guys access to their hosting services to put up websites- measurements and reports will abound here. You’ll also get access to the Digital Publishing Suite- a set of tools to let you take designs, images, and video and publish them to tablet devices? Wanted to make that magazine or book on a tablet? Yeah, now you can. I Havent Even Gotten to the Good Part ! The Price This was the part where I heard it, and after I did, I was like “Really.. did I just hear this right?” The Adobe Creative Cloud is offered at 49.00 a month. That is 588 a year. If you are a person that is looking to get into ALL of the Adobe apps, that’s just an insane price. Master Collection ALONE costs about 2700 dollars! If you are a student – you get a deal as well. 29.00 a month get you into all of the software. Adobe’s plan in taking these pricing models and turning them into subscriptions is to kinda stop the entire cycle of “Wait X amount of time before the next release” and start dropping cool stuff as they get cool stuff to give to you. In that, the evolution of the software happens more continuously, and something that you want to buy into every CS level… its just something you have. Always. Diversification is Everything I am a big proponent of putting as many feathers under your hat as possible in this creative field. If you are a photographer – it would do you some good to start looking at video. If you are a graphic designer, all signs point to the web. If you are a print person, you can totally augment what you do by looking at Android and Ipad tablets. The competition out there for work and for clients is fierce, and the better prepared you are out there, the better things can be. I think Adobe’s making a bold move here in getting the software out there like this.. and I think we’re totally in a position to take the ball and run with it. Being a person that uses many portions of the creative suite is easier than you may believe. And you’d have a total blast doing it! RC