Microsoft to Adobe: Slow Down

The other day, we reported on how Adobe will discontinue its stand-alone Creative Suite products and instead move to Creative Cloud, or “CC”.  To say the news has had a mixed reaction is an understatement; even Clint Patterson, the Director of Communications, Office Division has provided his own personal thoughts on the matter at the Office Blog.

Clint’s point of view is an interesting one since Office is a juggernaut in the PC world much like Photoshop is. Here is what he had to say: “However, unlike Adobe, we think people’s shift from packaged software to subscription services will take time. Within a decade, we think everyone will choose to subscribe because the benefits are undeniable. In the meantime, we are committed to offering choice–premier software sold as a package and powerful services sold as a subscription.”

The idea that Clint is hinting to is that Office comes in both a onetime fee version for Office 2013 and a cloud-based Office 365; there is an option for whatever the customer’s needs may be. They are letting people choose what they want, instead of forcing one option down their throats. The amount of customers who adopted Office 365 since January has been roughly more than a quarter of all sales of Office. 

This proves that people want to have cloud, but it doesn’t mean it is right for everyone and on this I totally agree with Clint. The reason I believe Office 365 has been attracting customers is because it includes access to other services that Microsoft offers, such as 20 GB of additional storage on the customer’s SkyDrive, 60 minutes of Skype call per month, always up-to-date with the latest version and you can have access to all these features from multiple PCs. 

The shock of Adobe’s announcement came to me because I saw it as a way to increase profits for the company, and that’s it. I have had CS2 since college and still does what I need it to and I haven’t had to pay or subscribe for something different; when it isn’t broke I don’t want to fix it. I am even still running Office 2007 because it is what I own and does what I need. 

I have been looking at Office 365 for my family, especially since my kids are getting to that point in school where they will need it soon, and I can see the value in it for others in my household,  not just myself. I believe Adobe has a lot to prove to me and everyone else about how this is beneficial to us and not just an additional financial burden.