Adobe - Education Announcement (1 Dec)

[garethEds]

Evening all,

 

I read today that Adobe are to make a major education announcement tomorrow - 1st Dec.

 

Hopefully it will me a massive decrease in the license fee for Master Edition.

 

Keep eyes peeled.

 

Gareth

[glennda]

They are going for an ees type pricing structure I believe from my chats with sales folks so based on full time staff count

[TheScarfedOne]

Id also heard the same as @glennda re a new EES style subscription model a la Microsoft - rather than the current buy out and maintenance.

 

Hoping this is true as it will really help schools adopt the products...

[garethEds]

I spoke to Adobe UK the other month about this. I'm surprised they are not waiting until BETT2012 to do this. If this is true then hopefully the pricing will hopefully be a lot lower.

 

It's about time they realised our kids are their future.

 

Gareth

[FN-GM]

Finger crossed for some better licencing.

[Arthur]

^ Is that it?

[localzuk]

I don't know if that's it, but they are also working on a new licensing model too - but there are a bunch of conditions attached to it. Can't go into too much detail on here, as the guy from Adobe who came to see us said it isn't finalised and isn't 'public' yet (although people in general know already). Basically, they're introducing a subscription model for licensing.

[mb2k01]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not, but a subscription/ees-style offering has been made available to us for at least a couple of months - info sent out by Phoenix Software as well as Softcat (I think)

[localzuk]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not, but a subscription/ees-style offering has been made available to us for at least a couple of months - info sent out by Phoenix Software as well as Softcat (I think)

 

There's a pilot been running, but it isn't the final scheme from what the Adobe bod said.

[woodham]

someone told us that adobe were reducing there prescence at bett this year ? not sure how true this is

[localzuk]

someone told us that adobe were reducing there prescence at bett this year ? not sure how true this is

 

This is also true. They aren't going to be there according to the guy I spoke to, with the money going into their education/training/cpd scheme instead.

[garethEds]

Well I certainly hope that the blog post above isn't the announcement they were going to make. If it is I cannot see us moving to it. We have CS3 Master Suite.

 

I want to see a yearly fee like MS which is so low it tempts the schools to consider it. Again I am a strong believer that our pupils are the future for these companies. If it's in school then it would benefit Adobe as the pupils may/could put pressure on their parents to purchase it (or elements of it).

 

[Edit - I've edited this to reflect more what I meant to say - but that didn't come across in the original message]

 

I'll read it again later to make sure I haven't missed the point again. I'm in a rush.

 

Soirry guys,

 

Gareth

Edited December 1, 2011 by garethedmondson

[dhicks]

I cannot see us moving to it. We have CS3 Master Suite.

 

Might be a good deal for a primary school that doesn't currently use Photoshop or Premier, though.

 

If it's in school there is pressure (maybe) at home to purchase.

 

Isn't that the sort of thing we'd want to avoid? If you want pupils to use specific software at home then it should be freely available to them. Adobe should be able to provide home use of some kind for pupils who's school purchase the appropriate subsription - either home-installable copies of the software or by simply making the applications web-based so they can be used in a browser via the schools VLE or similar.

[localzuk]

Isn't that the sort of thing we'd want to avoid? If you want pupils to use specific software at home then it should be freely available to them. Adobe should be able to provide home use of some kind for pupils who's school purchase the appropriate subsription - either home-installable copies of the software or by simply making the applications web-based so they can be used in a browser via the schools VLE or similar.

 

We want them to learn transferable skills, but there's no reason we shouldn't allow them to use the software they'll meet in the real world. If they go into design, Photoshop will be the tool of choice, not Gimp, but they should know what the smudge tool does in general.

 

Trying to move head long into an entirely free, online based system is unrealistic and not entirely useful to the students IMO.

[GrumbleDook]

We want them to learn transferable skills, but there's no reason we shouldn't allow them to use the software they'll meet in the real world. If they go into design, Photoshop will be the tool of choice, not Gimp, but they should know what the smudge tool does in general.

 

Trying to move head long into an entirely free, online based system is unrealistic and not entirely useful to the students IMO.

 

Yep, using only one product (even if it is a good and free one) is not a good thing.

[dhicks]

Trying to move head long into an entirely free, online based system is unrealistic and not entirely useful to the students IMO.

 

It was the phrase "pressure (maybe) at home to purchase" that struck me - if a school wants a pupil to use a particular bit of software at home then it should make sure that bit of software is available for free to the pupil. This could well mean that the school itself has to pay for a home install-and-use copy / website subscription / whatever, of course, and you'd hope Adobe have that figured out and a suitible licensing solution set to go with this new anouncement.

[CyberNerd]

Yep, using only one product (even if it is a good and free one) is not a good thing.

 

Use several free products to teach transferable skills. At least with something that students can use at home there is a chance they will get interested and learn the software to create decent coursework. In an old school style teaching IT suite, the amount of time in lessons that students will get to 'master' photoshop is going to be minimal - it's quite a complicated piece of software. Teachers are better off using a several simpler, free pieces of software to get result for the masses faster, increasing the level of transferable skills, whilst encouraging would be designers and photographers (which is a very small minority) to get photoshop for themselves at home. This is what the maths physics departments do - encourage the bright students to use Yorik, tex and Matlab at home whilst using using standard office apps for everyone else.

[garethEds]

It was the phrase "pressure (maybe) at home to purchase" that struck me - if a school wants a pupil to use a particular bit of software at home then it should make sure that bit of software is available for free to the pupil. This could well mean that the school itself has to pay for a home install-and-use copy / website subscription / whatever, of course, and you'd hope Adobe have that figured out and a suitible licensing solution set to go with this new anouncement.

 

Oh dear. Reading back I can see how my saying "pressure (maybe) at home to purchase" - I'll change that to reflect more what I meant in my head. I didn't actually mean it from a school perspective. We use CS3 but I would never put pressure on the pupils to purchase that software.

 

What I meant (in my head) was that Adobe are rather short sighted in having such a high priced piece of software. If it was cheaper for the schools then it would benefit Adobe (not me or the school) in the long run.

 

I didn't make that clear at all.

 

Gareth

[garethEds]

Still no announcement.

 

GJE

[dhicks]

What I meant (in my head) was that Adobe are rather short sighted in having such a high priced piece of software. If it was cheaper for the schools then it would benefit Adobe (not me or the school) in the long run.

 

I think I see what you're getting at - if Adobe brings out a cheaper option to the £7,000-odd it costs for a whole-school license for Adobe Master Suite, then maybe pupils/parents will pester the school to buy that cheaper option? I think this new Acrobat and Photoshop/Premier Elements package sounds like it might be a good alternative - going by the recent reviews, both are now excellent packages, with more than enough features for the average home user / school pupil. I have, I think, version 7 of Photoshop/Premier Elements at home, and both are very usable and capable packages.

 

I get the impression software companies are very keen to move to subscription / software as a service models of payment - if you search Google, you'll see a bunch of posts from around 2008 about Adobe releasing a web-based version of Photoshop. I imagine that would have been Flash based, hence the Apple/Adobe war about Flash on the iPad - Adobe have now released a native iPad version of Photoshop. I think if any large software business is looking at moving to subscription-based sales then there must be advantages for them, whether that be lesser development / distribution costs, better customer lock-in or simply that they can make more money over a period of time compared with selling a product upgrade to someone every 3 years or so.

[garethEds]

I think I see what you're getting at - if Adobe brings out a cheaper option to the £7,000-odd it costs for a whole-school license for Adobe Master Suite, then maybe pupils/parents will pester the school to buy that cheaper option? I think this new Acrobat and Photoshop/Premier Elements package sounds like it might be a good alternative - going by the recent reviews, both are now excellent packages, with more than enough features for the average home user / school pupil. I have, I think, version 7 of Photoshop/Premier Elements at home, and both are very usable and capable packages.

 

SOmetimes I don't know myself what I am getting at. Microsoft finally saw sense in releasing a cheaper license model. Adobe should do the same - get that market share in the schools. Pupils will become familiar with the software and it may (or may not) benefit Adobe in the future when these same pupils go out into the real world.

 

If Creative Suite isn't in the schools then pupils will not hear about it. (Yes we know they will but hopefully you see what I mean).

 

I think if we could get the full master suite for around £1 - 2K per year with updates then I believe more schools would take it on board. The Microsoft license has saved us a fortune and means we could go WIndows 7 and O2K10 - Okay there are free alternatives that I could use. - but I chose not to.

 

Gareth

[Arthur]

if you search Google, you'll see a bunch of posts from around 2008 about Adobe releasing a web-based version of Photoshop. I imagine that would have been Flash based

Huh? Adobe did release a web-based version of Photoshop called Photoshop Express and it is Flash-based. It's still available to use today.

[Arthur]

Pupils will become familiar with the software and it may (or may not) benefit Adobe in the future when these same pupils go out into the real world.

I agree. Both Microsoft (with DreamSpark, The Ultimate Steal etc.) and AutoDesk (with their Education Community) realise the value in making their software available to students for free or at a very low cost. Why don't Adobe?

 

The student and teacher editions of Adobe's Creative Suite range from £237.60 to £571.20 which IMO is still too expensive. How many parents are going to buy this software for the sons/daughters when it costs almost as much (or more than!) the laptop it will run on?

[CyberNerd]

I agree. Both Microsoft (with DreamSpark, The Ultimate Steal etc.) and AutoDesk (with their Education Community) realise the value in making their software available to students for free or at a very low cost. Why don't Adobe?

 

adobe are eventually catching on. Back in the day Microsoft practically encouraged students to pirate their software and I dare say adobe have done the same. Now the internet has changed, a momentum has built up (mostly from the film industry) portraying piracy as an evil, rather than a strategic method of making software available to potential customers. This isn't really the sort of image major software vendors can portray nowadays, hence the move.

[garethEds]

I agree. Both Microsoft (with DreamSpark, The Ultimate Steal etc.) and AutoDesk (with their Education Community) realise the value in making their software available to students for free or at a very low cost. Why don't Adobe?

 

The student and teacher editions of Adobe's Creative Suite range from £237.60 to £571.20 which IMO is still too expensive. How many parents are going to buy this software for the sons/daughters when it costs almost as much (or more than!) the laptop it will run on?

 

this is exactly what I was getting at. glad someone could make sense of my ramblings. As it stands I have not heard anything from Adobe on their Twitter - @adobeukedu or on their website.

 

Gareth