Adobe to abandon Creative Suit for Creative Cloud

After 10 years, Adobe CS6 is the very last in the Creative Suit series as Adobe will focus entirely on the web and subscription based Creative Cloud service. Learn all about it.

This news might come as a shock for all the CS fans that Adobe has gained over the past 10 years. Adobe CS6 is the very last of the series, meaning CS7 will not be the option anymore. The people of adobe decided to focus entirely on their Creative Cloud app based subscription service. Adobe reports that CS6 will still be available for purchase, but the updates will only include the bug fixes and OS compatibility features.

What exactly is Creative Cloud? It is basically all the updated Adobe products now newly branded as CC apps, including the new and improved version of Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC and Premiere Pro CC which will be released in June this year. The common misconception surrounding the Creative Cloud, as Cloud part of the name might suggest, is that Adobe apps will now run "in the cloud", meaning on the web, which of course isn't the case. Based on the membership  plan you will be subscribed to, you will be able to download and install the apps on your desktop, so yes, you will still be running Photoshop and likes on your or company's computer. One of the programs that will now longer be available as part of the Creative Cloud app range is Adobe Fireworks, the current CS6 version is the last one they will ever create.

Let's see what a couple of new things the new Adobe CC series brings to the table.

Photoshop CC received a great deal of updates and changes. One of the major ones, Photoshop standard and Photoshop Extended have been merged into a single product which in my opinion is a good move. Other tool related features are new sharpening and healing, including the new Camera Shake Reduction and Smart Sharpen tool. The improved Advanced Healing brush now lets you use Photoshop brush and not just a circular area and many more smaller changes like improved rounded rectangles and the previewing of a new workflow which enables you to move from Photoshop CC to Reflow CC.

Illustrator CC, the main new feature comes in a form of Touch Type tool, which according to Adobe will users more freedom and control over their type, from now on they will be able to manipulate single text characters like individual objects. Art, Pattern, and scatter brushes now support rasters, the new Sync Fonts feature enables you to use Typekit fonts on the desktop and of my favorite additions is the Illustrator's ability to generate the CSS code for icons, logos and patterns with gradient support.

Dreamweaver CC got an all so needed revamp, including a CSS Designer a new and improved Fluid Grid Layout and a jQuery UI Widget.

There also tons of new features and updates to other popular Adobe products like Premiere Pro CC, InDesign CC, After Effects CC, Muse CC, InCopy CC (now included in Creative Cloud), Prelude CC, SpeedGrade CC and Adobe Idea which is now free.

Other thing worth mentioning is, Adobe products will become heavily social, hence the integration of the popular online art/design portfolio website Behance.

What about the pricing? Depending on the membership plan, here are all the options and fees available:

Complete individual - $49.99 per month
- full versions of CC desktop apps
- 20GB of cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration
- full access to services to help create mobile-ready content and apps

Complete individual for existing CS3 or later customers - $29.99 per month
- same features and services as above
- CS3 or later serial number required

Creative Cloud Student and Teacher edition - $19.99 per month
- valid through June 25, normal price $29.99/month
- same features as above
-  requires institutional affiliation

Single app - $19.99 per month
- full version of one desktop application
- 20GB of cloud storage
- limited access to online services

Creative Cloud for teams - $69.99 per month
- entire collection of Creative Cloud tools
- 100GB of cloud storage
- centralized billing and administration; pricing per seat, per month
- flexibility to add or reassign seats when needed

Creative Cloud for teams with CS3 or later - $39.99 per month
- same features as above
- CS3 or later serial number required

All the packets are billed monthly with a 1-year commitment. You can also obtain a free 30-days Creative Cloud trial membership with all the apps, 2GB of cloud storage included and limited access to online services.