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Adobe software: impending demise?
Oct. 19th, 2007 | 10:11 am
It’s official, ladies and gentlemen:
Adobe Systems Incorporated has gone mad.
The gist of the article: it seems that Adobe, anticipating a shift from locally-installed desktop applications (like Microsoft Office) to web-based applications that run entirely inside a browser (like Google Apps), has made long term plans to move its business in that direction. So in ten years, they hope to have Photoshop and Indesign and their other apps running entirely online. Instead of buying a software license, you’ll pay a subscription fee.
I think this is a bad idea for several reasons.
First, despite what the marketers claim, there’s no way to guarantee Internet access. A branch could fall and take down some wires, a construction worker could accidentally jackhammer through a conduit, a server could crash. Stuff happens. Right now, it’s frustrating enough to lose your Internet connectivity. But at least you can still fire up Word or Writer or Photoshop or whatever and get some work done until your Internet access gets repaired.
Unless, of course, your application is hosted on a server. Which you can’t access because your connection is down.
Second, there’s a matter of privacy. The problem with on-line document storage is that you don’t have direct control over your files. And if you work in health care, education, or government, there is a great big heaping pile of laws that dictate how that information has to be secured. Storing all those documents on an off-site server, controlled by another company, isn’t the brightest move.
Finally, the entire “web apps” movement smacks of excessive greed. I have no objection to renting things or subscription fees. But in the old days, you could buy an application, install it on an unnetworked computer, and never hear from the company again. Not with a web application! The company will be happy to stay in touch with you forever, selling ever-finer gradations of service, and collecting subscription fees forever.
Ubuntu, OpenOffice, and The GIMP are looking better and better.
-JM
Adobe Systems Incorporated has gone mad.
The gist of the article: it seems that Adobe, anticipating a shift from locally-installed desktop applications (like Microsoft Office) to web-based applications that run entirely inside a browser (like Google Apps), has made long term plans to move its business in that direction. So in ten years, they hope to have Photoshop and Indesign and their other apps running entirely online. Instead of buying a software license, you’ll pay a subscription fee.
I think this is a bad idea for several reasons.
First, despite what the marketers claim, there’s no way to guarantee Internet access. A branch could fall and take down some wires, a construction worker could accidentally jackhammer through a conduit, a server could crash. Stuff happens. Right now, it’s frustrating enough to lose your Internet connectivity. But at least you can still fire up Word or Writer or Photoshop or whatever and get some work done until your Internet access gets repaired.
Unless, of course, your application is hosted on a server. Which you can’t access because your connection is down.
Second, there’s a matter of privacy. The problem with on-line document storage is that you don’t have direct control over your files. And if you work in health care, education, or government, there is a great big heaping pile of laws that dictate how that information has to be secured. Storing all those documents on an off-site server, controlled by another company, isn’t the brightest move.
Finally, the entire “web apps” movement smacks of excessive greed. I have no objection to renting things or subscription fees. But in the old days, you could buy an application, install it on an unnetworked computer, and never hear from the company again. Not with a web application! The company will be happy to stay in touch with you forever, selling ever-finer gradations of service, and collecting subscription fees forever.
Ubuntu, OpenOffice, and The GIMP are looking better and better.
-JM