The Adobe Storm Clouds Continue

If there’s one thing for certain, judging from all the comment on many online forums, it’s that the Adobe’s decision to move their software to a subscription-only model is a highly contentious issue. Some love it, others hate it. There doesn’t seem to be many fence sitters on this one. I’ve already expressed my opinion here.

If you find you’re vehemently opposed to the mandatory subscription-only model you may wish to add your name to this online petition and spread the word around. I’m not sure how much good it will do, or whether Adobe will even take note, but there are currently of 33,000+ names of disgruntled Adobe customers on the list. I for one would like to see a choice from Adobe. We can but try.

The move by Adobe however, is music to the ears of potential competitors who must be jumping for joy. Many (and that includes me) will be looking at alternatives to Photoshop from now on, so this has provided a massive opportunity for third party software developers. Adobe is going to leave a huge gap in the market that may cause many an amateur or hobbyist photographer to jump the Photoshop ship in the coming months. Already we are seeing a far more attention paid to potential comparable products, which just a few weeks ago may have struggled to gain such notoriety. One particular product rapidly gaining a good reputation is the recently released Pixelmator which reached a whopping 500,000 downloads in just a single week. This no doubt assisted by Adobe’s announcement and which lead to the following statement being issued from Pixelmator. Currently priced at  just $14.99 it sounds like a bargain, so definitely one App I shall be test driving. Unfortunately for Windows users it’s MAC only.