The switch to subscriptions has been a giant success for Adobe.
Their stock went from hovering around 30$ for a decade from 2000 to 2011-2012, to skyrocketing every year since they introduced the subscription model (in 2011-2012), now being at roughly 450$.
Anyone who doesn't think that's a giant success is living in an alternate reality.
As usual, it’s success at the cost of increased user hostility. The company doesn’t care, because increasing the stock price is the only thing that matters to them, their board, and their shareholders. But it does make the lives of users worse. Companies get locked into licensing fees, students are put under ever increasing financial pressure.
It’s just another example of “only stock price matters, we don’t care if users like us.” It’s a wild success if you own Adobe stock, and feels exploitative if you don’t.
You realize the stock price is a reflection of people... paying for Adobe's services?
It's a free market - go and use competing products that 'care'. Or if none of them 'care', maybe the problem is human nature, at which point, feel free to shake your fist at the sky and converse with whatever God figures you think are in charge :)
You’re missing the broader point of this thread — no one is denying Adobe etc are currently financially successful. They are predicting that, in time, the way they are becoming financially successful will eventually cause a significant decrease in their success.
Put another way: if I was a 15 year old just starting out, Adobe and AutoCAD would have nothing for me, and therefore I would start using other products out of necessity.
Apple got one thing right from the very start back in the late 1970’s: hooking the kids early was important. They are your future users.
Microsoft did the same, but they totally stopped caring about the product since Windows 8. When the M1 Macbook Pro came out, I bought it instantly, and I couldn't go back to Windows' inconsistency, even though I miss the consistency of Windows keybindings from older Windows versions a lot.
The switch to subscriptions has been a giant success for Adobe.
Their stock went from hovering around 30$ for a decade from 2000 to 2011-2012, to skyrocketing every year since they introduced the subscription model (in 2011-2012), now being at roughly 450$.
Anyone who doesn't think that's a giant success is living in an alternate reality.