On May 6, 2013 at its Max conference, Adobe announced that they are ending the “Creative Suite” line of software and transitioning fully to the “Creative Cloud”. This affects all of the Adobe applications, including the popular Photoshop, Illustrator, and other design and creative applications. The software will still function pretty much like it does now, except that it is now purchased on a subscription basis and not as boxed software. Adobe introduced Creative Cloud last year as an alternative way to purchase the software and to complement these applications with a host of cloud services, but with this transition, sees it as the future. One of the big advantages of this approach is that there will no longer be “versions” and “updates” per-se, as the applications will be continually-updated and patched as needed. One potential downside, though, is that you now have continual, monthly software costs as opposed to a one-time purchase for a version of software that may have lasted you a number of years.

Personally, writing this one day after the announcement, I have mixed feelings. From a technology standpoint, it is an exciting step forward. However, it is likely to cause some disruption in workflows with people who collaborate, and it may be an uncomfortable financial adjustment for some. As a designer working for a web design company, this is a transition we’ll have to work through eventually. With other subscription-based services like Spotify and Evernote becoming more and more popular and accepted, I think this is just one more data point in the trend to deliver software as a service in the future.

You can learn more about the Creative Cloud at Adobe’s website.