Adobe Creative Cloud

Last updated

Adobe Creative Cloud
Developer(s) Adobe
Initial releaseJuly 17, 2013;12 years ago (2013-07-17)
Stable release
CC 2025 / January 14, 2025;7 months ago (2025-01-14) [1]
Operating system Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
Predecessor Adobe Creative Suite 6
Available in English
Type Software suite
License Trialware, Proprietary, term
Website adobe.com/creativecloud

Adobe Creative Cloud is a set of applications and services from Adobe that gives subscribers access to a collection of software used for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, along with a set of mobile applications and also some optional cloud services. In Creative Cloud, a monthly or annual subscription service is delivered over the Internet. [2] [3] Software from Creative Cloud is downloaded from the Internet, installed directly on a local computer and used as long as the subscription remains valid. Online updates and multiple languages are included in the CC subscription. Creative Cloud was initially hosted on Amazon Web Services, but a new agreement with Microsoft has the software, beginning with the 2017 version, hosted on Microsoft Azure. [4]

Contents

Previously, Adobe offered individual products as well as software suites containing several products (such as Adobe Creative Suite or Adobe eLearning Suite) with a perpetual software license. [5]

Adobe first announced the Creative Cloud in October 2011. Another version of Adobe Creative Suite was released the following year. [6] On May 6, 2013, Adobe announced that they would not release new versions of the Creative Suite and that future versions of its software would be available only through the Creative Cloud. [7] [8] [9] The first new versions made only for the Creative Cloud were released on June 17, 2013.

Current applications and services

The Adobe Creative Cloud retains many of the features of Adobe Creative Suite and introduces new features; [10] foremost is the instant availability of upgrades, saving to the cloud, and easier sharing. In June 2014, the company announced 14 new versions of the Creative Cloud essential desktop tools, four new mobile apps, and the availability of creative hardware for enterprise, education and photography customers. [11] [12] [13]

The video disc authoring program Adobe Encore and the web-focused bitmap editor Adobe Fireworks were both discontinued by Adobe in 2013, but were still available as downloads via Creative Cloud until May 2019.

Packages

Adobe offers four tiers of the Creative Cloud subscription service for individuals (there are other types for Business and Schools): [14]

Desktop, mobile, and web services

The following contains the services found on Creative Cloud.

IconsProduct nameLatest major versionAvailable inSupported OS
Adobe Acrobat DC logo 2020.svg Acrobat DC 23.0Standalone package
Creative Suite
Creative Cloud
Technical Communication Suite
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web
Adobe Aero icon (2021).svg Aero Beta (0.23.4)Standalone productWindows, macOS, Android, iOS
Adobe After Effects CC icon.svg After Effects CC 2025 (25.1)Standalone package
Creative Suite
Creative Cloud
Windows, macOS
Adobe Animate CC icon (2020).svg Animate (formerly Flash Professional)CC 2024 (24.0.2)Standalone package
Creative Suite
eLearning Suite
Creative Cloud
Adobe Audition CC icon (2020).svg Audition CC 2024 (24.0.3)
Behance logo.svg Behance N/AStandalone product
Creative Cloud
Android, iOS, web
Adobe Bridge CC icon.svg Bridge CC 2024 (14.0.1)Creative Suite
eLearning Suite
Photoshop
Creative Cloud
Windows, macOS
Adobe Capture icon.svg CaptureStandalone product
Creative Cloud
Android, iOS
Adobe Character Animator icon (2020).svg Character Animator CC 2024 (24.2)Windows, macOS
Color (formerly Kuler)N/AWeb (formerly iOS and Android)
CompAndroid, iOS
Adobe Creative Cloud rainbow icon.svg Creative Cloud Desktop app6.0.0Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web
Adobe Dimension Logo.svg Dimension CC 2024 (3.4.11)Windows, macOS
Adobe Dreamweaver CC icon.svg Dreamweaver CC 2024 (21.3)Standalone package
Creative Suite
eLearning Suite
Creative Cloud
Dynamic Link N/AStandalone package
Creative Cloud
Creative Suite
Adobe Express logo RGB 1024px.png Express N/AStandalone package
Creative Cloud
Web, Android, iOS
ExtendScript ToolkitCCStandalone package
Creative Cloud
Adobe Fonts.svg Fonts (formerly Typekit)N/AWeb
Adobe Fresco CC icon.svg Fresco 2.0.3Windows, macOS, iOS
Adobe Illustrator CC icon.svg Illustrator CC 2025 (29)Standalone package
Creative Cloud
Creative Suite
Illustrator Draw Android, iOS
Adobe InCopy CC icon (2020).svg InCopy CC 2025 (19.0.1)Standalone package
Creative Cloud
Creative Suite
Windows, macOS
Adobe InDesign CC icon.svg InDesign CC 2025 (19.0.1)
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC logo.svg Lightroom CC 2025 (7.1.2)Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC icon.svg Lightroom Classic CC 2025 (13.1)Standalone package [16]
Creative Cloud
Windows, macOS
Adobe Media Encoder Icon.svg Media EncoderCC 2025 (25)Creative Cloud
Creative Suite
Adobe Photoshop CC icon.svg Photoshop CC 2025 (26)Standalone package
Creative Suite
Creative Cloud
eLearning Suite
Windows, macOS, web
Photoshop Camera Standalone package
Creative Cloud
Android, iOS
Photoshop Fix 1.3
Photoshop Mix
Photoshop Sketch 3.4
PortfolioN/AWeb
Adobe Prelude CC icon (2020).svg Prelude CC 2025 (22.6.1)Standalone package
Creative Suite
Creative Cloud
Windows, macOS
Adobe Premiere Pro CC icon.svg Premiere Pro CC 2025 (25)
Premiere RushCC 2025 (2.10)Standalone
Creative Cloud
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Spark Page 3.1.0iOS
Adobe Express logo RGB 1024px.png Spark Video 2.1.4iOS
Stock N/AWeb
Adobe XD CC icon.svg XD CC 2024 (57.1.12)Windows, macOS

Hidden helper tools

Discontinued products

Reception

The change from perpetual licenses to a subscription model was met with significant criticism. [19] [20] Although Adobe's cloud-based model caused disagreement and uncertainty, [19] and incited annoyance [21] and conflict, [22] a survey by CNET and Jefferies revealed that despite complaints most of its 1.4 million subscribers [22] [23] plan to renew. [24] [25]

Criticism

Shifting to a subscription-based licensing model, Adobe announced more frequent feature updates to its products and the eschewing of their traditional release cycles. [26] Customers must pay a monthly subscription fee. Consequently, if subscribers cancel or stop paying, they will lose access to the software as well as the ability to open work saved in proprietary file formats. [27]

Although investors applauded the move, many customers reacted negatively. [28] This shift has been met with mixed reviews by both corporations and independent designers, with many people expressing their displeasure on the web [29] [30] [31] and through multiple Internet petitions. [32] Among these was a Change.org petition which reached over 30,000 signatures within a few weeks of the announcement. [33]

Creative Cloud has been criticized for broken file syncing, one of its core features. [34] [35] In May 2013 Adobe announced that it was suspending the file-sync desktop preview "for the next couple of weeks". [34] Reviewers of Creative Cloud were disappointed with the functionality of the cloud storage [36] [37] [38] and were "far from convinced by Adobe's subscription model". [39] Some users were concerned that they would be forced to upgrade their computer hardware when it is no longer supported by the current version of the Creative Cloud software. [40]

Some of their customers experienced a loss of trust in Adobe as a company and an attendant rise in anxiety. [41] [42] Despite significant customer criticism over Adobe's move to subscription-only pricing, [43] the company announced that it would not sell perpetual licenses to its software alongside the subscriptions: "We understand this is a big change, but we are so focused on the vision we shared for Creative Cloud, and we plan to focus all our new innovation on the Creative Cloud". [44]

In May 2014 the service was interrupted for over a day due to a login outage leaving graphics professionals locked out of Creative Cloud. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] Adobe apologized for this global Creative Cloud failure. [50] [51] When initially asked whether customers would be compensated, the company's Customer Service responded: "We cannot offer compensation for the outage. I'm so sorry again for the frustration." [52] [53] Adobe later announced that it would review compensation on "a case by case basis". [54] The outage was heavily criticized, as was Adobe's subscription-based licensing model in general. [55]

Online articles began offering examples of replacements for Adobe products, [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] with competing products directly offering alternatives, and launching promotions for dissatisfied Adobe customers. [61] Adobe, however, claimed that Creative Cloud is its "highest customer satisfaction product in the creative space" and that even prior to Adobe's move to a pure subscription model, "more than 80 percent of customers who bought products from Adobe's Web site picked CC over CS." [44]

Although Creative Cloud was expected to curtail the piracy of Photoshop, [62] which is one of the most pirated pieces of software, [63] Creative Cloud was hacked and its applications were made available via unauthorized means a day after it officially launched. [64] [65] Adobe claimed that the subscription payment plan would make its software more accessible to users who previously pirated it. [66]

On May 14, 2019, some Creative Cloud users received emails from Adobe stating that licenses to previous versions of Creative Cloud applications had been terminated and that users could face civil action from third parties if they did not update the software on their personal computers. A representative from Adobe confirmed the letter's authenticity. The situation prompted renewed criticism of Adobe's subscription-only business model. [67]

Adobe users who sign NDAs could be in trouble after Adobe updated its terms of service to force users to share their content with Adobe, a clause that will compromise any NDA. [68]

See also

References

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  2. Shankland, Stephen (May 11, 2012). "Adobe launches Creative Cloud subscription service". CNET . CBS Interactive . Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  3. Ekin, A. Cemal (May 8, 2013). "Creative Cloud or Captive Consumer?". Keptlight. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  4. "Adobe and Microsoft partner in the Azure cloud to help businesses transform customer engagement". News Center. September 26, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  5. Weber, Harrison (May 26, 2013). "Adobe Abandons Its Creative Suite to Focus on Creative Cloud". The Next Web. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  6. Weber, Harrison (June 18, 2014). "Adobe launches Creative Cloud 2014 — its first massive update since killing the Creative Suite". VentureBeat . Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  7. Muchmore, Michael (May 6, 2013). "Adobe Ditches Creative Suite for CC: Creative Cloud". PC Magazine . Retrieved July 13, 2014.
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  68. Adobe users just now getting upset over content scanning allowance in Terms of Use