I'm willing to take the $5 discount and move on. I've used Illustrator, Acrobat, and Photoshop since they came out and I am not inclined to learn new software. The monthly cost is inconsequential (about a half hour of work per month pays for it).
This is actually what Adobe wants people to think of it as. Unfortunately, it isn't just a month by month cost, it's a long term fixed cost at this point. There is also a reason back in the CS6 days that they only did a cost comparison 3 yrs out when it was actually cheaper (and yes the perpetual would have gone up as well). The cost advantages of the subscription model fell off the cliff and that was with upgrade every new release using the perpetual model.
Now, I haven't been with Adobe since the exact beginning (I came around in the early 90s and actually bought every new release, towards the end, I didn't even do the upgrade path, but just a flat out new release. Only one that I didn't do was 5.5, I firmly believe a point release doesn't get it's own major release pricing, but that's just me. I do believe that people need to be more willing to move between software. Even if sticking with usual software, may actually still have to learn new workflows etc, just depends (although as old as quite a few software is, they are at the stage of more iterative compared to innovative).
If unwilling to move to a different software though, that will present a mental block that no matter what, won't be overcome. At that point, if what they are doing isn't that bad enough to get someone to change, then I would say that they don't think it's as bad as I do, since still willing to deal with it.
It would be far better practice for them to notify subscribers and lay out the options before just tacking the increased price onto the bill! Maybe they will.
They actually may have. It's just done in the emails of ToC and/or EULA changes that most people don't read and by the time that the changes actually take effect is when people start noticing. They may or not have in this instance, but they is how they did it with the "AI" stuff, just hid it in the footnotes.
There is something about AI (artificial intelligence) used for generating images that literally nauseates me. "Uncanny Valley" for the illustration profession. Thankfully, I am old enough (and have an established reputation) to ignore it.
Ironically, it's not really even "AI", that's a marketing gimmick, right now it's glorified web scraper on steroids.
I expect there will be a backlash to this once the novelty wears off. A niche market will develop that embraces hand drawn art.
Uhhmmm, that has already happened quite a bit a go. Already have programs to embed meta data into drawings to "poison" "AI" from learning correctly. Although that will always be a game of catch up. Places that sell assets are already doing a no "AI" policy, at least as good as they can enforce it. Typically, those that love abstractions like this, usually need abstractions, they aren't able (or willing) to handle things without them.
I have seen this with brush lettering; after computers ended many signwriters careers (or at least caused them to put their brushes away), a renaissance is occurring with young artists embracing the old school methods. I am excited about this, and it gives me hope for the future of both signwriting and illustration!
That's the way things usually happen, we have rarely seen the "death" of a lot of things. Radio didn't kill theatre, TV didn't kill radio. Even computerized
sign making didn't kill traditional
sign making. CGI didn't kill traditional animation or stop motion animation. Smaller pool of customers that expected very good quality, so those that can excel in that smaller pool have to be very, very good. Or present something that customers are willing to accept (sometimes story can trump art style if it's good enough etc).
I would firmly expect corporations to embrace this even more though as that will allow them to create cheaper goods to sell at a price that they like. And there is a huge market for "cheap crap" and that's a big pool.
It seems like the older that I get, I'm glad that I didn't grow up in a tech heavy world and I do like tech.
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