Adobe ditches Creative Suite
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Interesting, but I have no doubt that freeloaders will find ways to continue freeloading. Cloud computing is on the raise and it has its advantages but only for those with fast connections. Not everyone has a fast connection.
At least for companies, large, medium and even smaller businesses, this could work okay if the rates are kept reasonable.
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@mike lucey said:
@mike lucey said:
Two sides to the story here,
Could Cloud Computing spell the end of Software Piracy?
http://www.softwarelicensing.tv/2010/03/cloud-computing-spell-software-piracy/Kai-Fu Lee, who was head of Google, China, thinks cloud computing could offer the solution to the software piracy problem but on the other hand Jon Gillespie-Brown, software licensing expert and CEO of software licensing solutions provider Nalpeiron says,
“[i]Cloud computing – the idea of all software running in a remote server is a great idea in theory. But it certainly isn’t a reality yet. Our research shows that currently only a tiny proportion of application usage takes place in the cloud, so at the moment software piracy certainly isn’t irrelevant to vendor’s or the world economy”
“There are several key barriers to the up-take to cloud computing and whilst these are still in place traditional software distribution methods and traditional software piracy challenges will prevail.”
“There is still resistance to cloud based computing from many users. Using an application in the cloud requires the user to maintain a constant connection to the vendor’s servers. Users see two problems with this. Firstly there is the technical issue. The world is not yet blessed with blanket, high quality broadband internet access and this is what you need to make cloud computing work. For many people, in many places getting and maintaining an internet connection is still a hit and miss activity and in these situations cloud based apps are simply a non-starter.”
“The second issue is one of privacy and security. The maintenance of a constant connection to the vendor’s servers means a constant exchange of information between the user and the vendor. Many users both corporate and consumer are not comfortable with this and it is going to take quite a shift in thinking before that changes.”
“I am sure in the future some of these problems will be overcome and server only software will be more prominent. But even when this does happen so many apps need to have client-side software running for various reasons that the “protection” from software piracy offered by a cloud based license could turn out to be a red herring. And we must remember that whenever a new technology is introduced there will be someone out there putting time and effort into “cracking” that technology, if there is financial reward to be had. We can be pretty confident that software piracy will find some way around any protection that seems to be offered by cloud computing solutions.”
Each (Kai-Fu Lee and Jon Gillespie-Brown) have their own perspectives / interests, one that is making his money from Cloud tech and the other from Licensing Systems. However, I think I am right in believing that the challenge to 'crack' Cloud systems will just be too temping for many hackers!
Afterall, one of the biggest and best corporations in the world (Apple) can't keep their prime product, the iPhone, locked up securely
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The end of personal computing.
Well, we'll see about it. -
@michaliszissiou said:
The end of personal computing.
Well, we'll see about it.I doubt its the 'end of personal computing', well not until everyone worldwide has a 100Mb BB connection and I cant see that happening anytime soon, maybe in 10 years or so with yet unknown technologies.
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Even in ten years...
The end of personal computing.
Then comes the big brother. -
michalis,
I think you may be forgetting that competition is a great thing. If there is a demand for personal computing applications rather than cloud based ones, this will be recognised and the market niche will be filled.
In fact I think this move by Adobe could in effect open up opportunities for other developers of similar applications.
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I think Adobe misuses "cloud computing" by naming this software renting model to xxx Cloud. This is pretty much just a software rental model and more advanced DRM. It's too early to know if this will actually stop piracy, as it's fully depended how Creative Cloud license verification does work. For example MS KMS Activation was hacked and so where other server based activations too. So far Adobe does not have any particular merits on protecting they software against piracy (maybe with a good reason
).Perhaps we will see some new companies that now do dare to jump on the game
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@notareal said:
I think Adobe misuses "cloud computing" by naming this software renting model to xxx Cloud. This is pretty much just a software rental model and more advanced DRM. It's too early to know if this will actually stop piracy, as it's fully depended how Creative Cloud license verification does work. For example MS KMS Activation was hacked and so where other server based activation's too. So far Adobe does not have any particular merits on protecting they software against piracy (maybe with a good reason
).Perhaps we will see some new companies that now do dare to jump on the game
I am actually enjoying it a lot more. I have one licence that is allowed two active machines. In reality I have it running on 5 machines both windows and PC and all I have to do is a few log ins to activate when I open.
I also get updates when they happen rather than having to wait for the next CS suite. You don't have to be online to use it either only to download it in the first place.
And its relatively cheap, anybody using CS is probably making money out of it, if they are not there are so many free alternatives out there. As a student of course i did not have the real version but what student does. Its now so cheap to get CC as a student piracy is not so much of an issue as it was.
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PhotoLine is a fine application.
BTW.
It supports 32bit exrs and CMYK conversions based on ICC profiles as well.
Most importantly it has a nice UI (close enough to Ps) and a good tutorial.
I hope we'll see more apps like this, it's about time. -
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It occurs to me that one outcome is that the developers may make "updates" that are unpopular and no one can do anything about it. Users can't hold back using a better version because the only version they'll have access to is the updated one.
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@pbacot said:
It occurs to me that one outcome is that the developers may make "updates" that are unpopular and no one can do anything about it. Users can't hold back using a better version because the only version they'll have access to is the updated one.
"updates that are unpopular" - now what sort of a company would do a thing like that!?
Also makes me think of possible 'legacy' and 'migration' issues.
For example, our company once purchased the assets of a failing business - a range of products that we felt we could modernise and make commercially viable. Most of the CAD files, BOM databases etc. were in ancient formats that our in-house software did not support.
But, fortunately, the installation disks for the original software were among the assets we purchased - the starting point for re-formatting the data for an automated migration. If the 'cloud' model becomes the standard for software distribution, such things will no longer be possible - or maybe only provided by "legacy software hosts" who would charge a small fortune for their specialist services.Given the recent revelations about the NSA's 'data snooping' capabilities, one also has to wonder about the safety of the data being transferred.
The assurances of the big software companies that they wouldn't collaborate with such snooping are surely disengenuous given their previous track record - e.g. after the way Google rolled over backwards to enable Chinese internet censorship, why should we believe that they wouldn't co-operate equally enthusiastically with any other 'friendly' security agency?
And the US laws governing the human right of US citizens do not even apply to the data of foreign citizens who happen to be accessing US servers (no doubt likewise for other jurisdictions).
The 'human rights' aspects of this is only one part. There have been many times in history where security agencies have indulged in industrial espionage to appropriate technology - and once everybody's 'work' is floating in the cloud, the door is opened for the exploitation of all kinds of research and development for purposes for which they were not intended.
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