Forced participation will only hurt Adobe, a good example is probably Microsoft's past activities....I think large media corporations are really more into changing our work and hardware habits, forceful killing of the desktop is foremost on their minds in the backrooms. There is already unlimited storage online making hard drives a soon to be antique, this will be a part of these new techniques and ways to sell their products. I don't think it will enrich them any time soon, and I agree with most other people there will be a very sharp decrease in their earnings. European markets pay much more than we in the US, so the answer will come soon.

I think everyone is just going to keep running what they have installed.They may have to disconnect their internet to use it in the future though.So #$%^$ doesn't see it.

Maybe their big move is derived from stock market increases lately?

There's a lot of P.O.ed people at other sites that I frequent about this. Many are really now considering Open Source alternatives (cool for the GIMP I say), but GIMP really does need to support higher bit depth and it will with the next release which I hope happens soon.

Is it time to get ready for an influx of new members? Lord knows those folks will be needing some Gimp know how.I think they are going to be surprised to find Gimp isn't really that far behind.

I'm seeing a pattern here...

Libreoffice becomes increasingly competitive and popular. Microsoft changes into a cloud-subscription model for its office suite.

GIMP (and other open source alternatives) becomes increasingly competitive and popular. Adobe changes into a cloud-subscription model for its creative suite.

Hmm...

Looks like GimpForums is the first beneficiary: http://gimpforums.com/thread-hi-fleeing ... 8#pid18318

But you do raise some interesting questions:
Is GimpChat ready? and what former P$ users will it attract?

Personally I don't think this place will appeal to the photographic-centric users of P$ and I'm not sure where they will go.

Kevin

There are some very knowledgeable people here that know quite a bit about photography.I wouldn't say there is no appeal for it here.

They will stick to their bootleg copy of PS. One of Adobe's and (Microsoft's...) problem is that their software is very mature and they have a hard time coming up with revolutionary improvements that makes everybody yearn for the new version. In both cases the FOSS alternatives lag by 4 to 5 years... so they have an edge only if they constantly move forward... but then in the professional world I know plenty of people who are still using Office 2003 (or even Office 1997).

Despite its name photographers don't use Photoshop much. Their workhorses are Lightroom or Nikon Capture for Nikon users, and there are very photo-centric packages such as DXO Optics.

Maybe we're seeing OS panic here also. Microsoft Windows 8 hasn't been very appealing to desktop software makers. Even game makers have said that they do not like it. (...which is why we have finally Steam in Linux...) Also, Apple seems much more interested in casual user than in hobbyists and professionals. (...iPad, iPhone, iWatch(?)...) So, what would you do if no OS maker does as you want them to? Bingo! Everyone uses a browser, so let's put everything in a cloud. After that, customer is responsible for equipment, no need to make a porting anymore. (...theoretically...)

I have worked for a company that makes cloud products. As an individual I don't like the idea. That business model is not in the customer's best interests. Also, if all valuable data is held hostage by some company, you can be sure that problems will ensue. It is not a backup issue, it is more like your workflow can vanish.

I expect that this will cause a breakup between large companies on the other side. They can afford monthly payments. On the other side are small companies, hobbyists and casual users. There probably will be flood of cheaper substitute clouds or shareware software to cover the needs, but it is probably only drivel created by greedy opportunists.

As for Gimp, it is already mature software. I could use some new features (...canvas rotation...), but honestly, I'm already very grateful for what it already does.

From what I can gather, it is still a machine orientated licence arrangement. I would have expected a cloud arrangement to be user orientated. Like Itunes, social media products and mailing clients you can sign on anywhere, as with Steam (I believe). I would have expected that the professional user would be able to have three or four copies of his CS (cloud version) on different machines and enable him to go to the office, home or client and work on different projects and sign on with his unique id to use his licenced copy of PS (no matter where he has a copy) I would guess that most of these people would have a desktop , perhaps two laptops and possibly a guest machine at a client.
The likes of me will stay with their copy of CS3 or CS5 and use that until a better product comes along.
The other problem I have is ownership and retrieval of data if a client decides to sever relations with Adobe.
Adobe is not stupid and I believe that after initial problems are sorted CC Ps will retain most of its corporate clientele and afficionadas.
Lastly, I like my boxed copy of CS5 . Somehow , it feels better than the ethereal CC Ps version. I can touch it. I feel ownership.

Quoting Harald Heim of ThePluginSite.com


So it seems that most of the casual or hobbyist users will most like likely keep using what they have now.Also CS7 has a beta release in 32 and 64 bit that supports 8BF plugins.

According to kohan ikin founder & chief developer for namesuppressed - http://www.namesuppressed.com/syneryder/


Seems a little too much all at once for Adobes customers.But it will probably pave the way for other graphic design software to poke it's head out and show what it can do.Gimp already has had it's foot in the door for a long, long time.
I am interested to see what Harald has in mind when he talks of a design software based on an older PS version.
And here is an article from PhotoShop Tutorials Website
Be sure and read the customer comments. Some very angry folks out there.

Hello.
I'm a new subscriber.
I've used Photoshop for many years, and always pay for my software. Now though, my £160 upgrade costs, which I pay for physical discs roughly every 2 years, has become about 250 per year. Will I stay with Adobe? Certainly not!
Hello Gimp!

Greetings from the West Midlands UK.

I can't say as i blame you there.
It is definitely great to have you as a member at Gimp Chat.I am looking forward to some of your expertise for sure. With 40 + years in photography under your belt, i am sure you have much to share.

THIS is the reason I use GIMP and other open source software. I always found adobe products very expensive, but this is just too much.

This company should have been buried the day they bough Freehand off Macromedia.
Even 10 years later You need 3-5 steps in Illustrator for some basic moves that were 1-click away in Freehand 11, if not even in 8. I mean back in 1998.

I've used Photoshop from 2.0 (at work, well if I really need to) and the only thing that I still find useful over other software is the FX copy/paste. The guy who implements similar feature in Gimp will be a Hero.

Actually if you have LayerFX.PY or LayerFX.SCM installed in Gimp (as it is an add on plugin or script), You can alpha to select any layer and run the filter again by selecting Repeat-Filter.So it really is like copying and pasting the same layer style effect as in PS.
You can find either of these scripts at gimpscripts.com , OR http://gimp-registry.fargonauten.de/node/186