Adobe Offers Colleges New Deal After CS6
The largest shift in Adobe’s history has just hit higher ed, as the company is removing its Creative Suite 6 (CS6) from volume-purchasing programs, while urging users to the cloud.
It stopped selling volume licenses for CS6 in February, but that doesn't mean existing software has stopped functioning. Individual licenses for the product suite remain available for digital purchase through Adobe. But future releases will come exclusively through the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Halting sales of CS6 through the volume-purchasing programs marks the end of an era for Adobe, which built its business on standalone, perpetual-license products such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. These software titles have become integral for schools and universities. But the company is changing how they are sold, now offering them only through Creative Cloud, a subscription-licensing model.
To ease the migration for its existing Cumulative Licensing Program customers at schools, Adobe is offering them 40 percent off a two-year package for its Creative Cloud service, purchased through the Value Incentive Plan; the offer is available through March 31.
Creative Cloud has gained tremendous momentum since its launch, in 2012. In December, Adobe posted sales figures showing that the service had more than 3.4 million paid subscribers.
Products in the Creative Cloud suite are available at a drastically lower up-front cost, are continually updated and offer several online services not available in the company’s standalone Creative Suite 6, such as file-syncing.
Educators searching for more information on transitioning to Adobe’s Creative Cloud can find a detailed FAQ page on the company’s website. or consult this chart:
