This is the story of Josef K. He used to be an art student who started to use Adobe Software to edit videos, photographs and to design booklets, flyers, his portfolio and his website. During his MFA at the Academy all media workshops were using the latest Adobe Creative Cloud. The software was efficient and user-friendly. Great! However, the opening hours of the media workshop were not so great and it was always very crowded. Everybody seemed to be working in the media workshop, which is why Josef K. decided to get his own Adobe Creative Cloud subscription for an amzing student price.
Yet a lot of projects that he had started during his studies were not finished when graduated. And new projects followed constantly. So after his graduation he kept using Adobe CC as a freelance artist, even though the price for his supscription almost tripled during the year after his graduation. For an artist this is a very tough, steep price development. It is really frustrating that at University there is no alternative to Adobe. Students start to use it - and then they depend on it. Also later is hard to find alternatives, especially when projects that were started with Adobe Software are incompatible with everything else, including most older versions of Adobe.
There comes a point when it is just not feasable anymore to use Adobe CC, unless you make enough money because of the software.
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Adobe CC is too expensive for a freelance artist who does not make much profit with his art.
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Often you pay too much, especially if you want to use the software only locally on your computer. Even if you don't use Cloud Storage, Adobe Behance, Adobe Stock, etc. it still is included in Adobe CC.
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If you request your private data from Adobe (you can, if GDPR applies to you) you will see that a lot of data is collected by Adobe, not just emails and your payment history, but also the IP Adresses you use and details about the Software and Hardware you use.
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Furthermore there are reasons to loose trust in Adobe's Security. What would you do if you found out that your email was leaked after Adobe was hacked in 2013 (Source: ';--have i been pwned?)
"Adobe: In October 2013, 153 million Adobe accounts were breached with each containing an internal ID, username, email, encrypted password and a password hint in plain text. The password cryptography was poorly done and many were quickly resolved in plain text. The unencrypted hints also disclosed much about the passwords adding further to the risk that hundreds of millions of Adobe customers already faced. Compromised data: Email addresses, Password hints, Passwords, Usernames"
This is not an isolated incident. In October 2019 The Hacker News reported:
"The U.S. multinational computer software company Adobe has suffered a serious breach earlier this mont that exposed user records’ database belonging to the company’s popular Creative Cloud service. [...] What happened? - Earlier this month, security researcher Bob Diachenko collaborated with the cybersecurity firm Comparitech to uncover an unsecured Elasticsearch database belonging to Adobe Creative Cloud subscription service that was accessible to anyone without any password or authentication."
The full article can be found here:
More security related articles by The Hacker News about Adobe:
- Power. If Adobe suddenly decides to cut you off, maybe because of US Sanctions, you will get a short period of time to secure your data. Then Adobe will remove access to your account and has the power to delete everything. This happened in October 2019 when Trump announced sanctions against Venezuela. All Adobe user accounts in Venezuela were cancelled:
How to cancel:
Josef K. followed the steps described on the official Adobe Help Page, logged into his account and clicked on the button that said: [Manage Plan]. Then he provided a short summary why he wanted to cancel and Adobe offered him a free month of usage, which Josef accepted. Wow, thank you Adobe!
But this neither solved the problem that the subscription in general was too expensive for him and probably for most freelance artists, nor did it outweigh the reasons described above. So in early December 2019, Josef K. logged back into his account to finally cancel his subscription for good, only to realize that the [Manage Plan] button had disappeared from his account.
Now the only way to cancel his subscription was to contact customer support:
Adobe Customer Care Virtual Assistant: Hi. I am the Adobe Customer Care Virtual Assistant. Tell me what you need help with. I'll do my best to understand and find the right person to assist you.
Josef K.: I want to cancel my Adobe CC subscription, however the option to do so has disappeared from my personal Adobe Account page.
Adobe Customer Care Virtual Assistant: Ok. Connecting you to an agent who can help.
Gagan: Hello Josef, I'll be happy to assist you. May I know why you wish to cancel your subscription?
Josef K.: I am an artist and Adobe CC is too expensive for me. Furthermore I am only using the software on my computer, I am not a fan of Adobe Stock, Behance or Cloud Storage. I do everything locally on my computer and Adobe offers a lot of services that I am paying for but that I definitely don't need. The software is great - though as an artist I cannot afford it anymore which is why I am going to use FOSS.
Gagan: Can you please confirm me your Adobe account email?
Josef K.: josef.k[at]gmx.co.uk
Gagan: This email address not registered with Adobe account.
Josef K.: josef.k[at]gmx.co.uk - this definitely is my account login email that I use to log in! I am logged in right now. Why did the option to cancel my subscription disappear from my account page?
Gagan: Let me check what best I can do for you.
Josef K.: Are you still there?
Gagan: I would like to inform you that please contact us back because we are getting some technical issue right now.
Josef K.: Ok? When?
Gagan: After one hours. Please wait. Still getting some techincal issue so please contact us after one hour.
Josef K.: Ok, I will leave this chat open and I'll wait.
A forced break. Quite some time passes...
Gagan: Alright then. As I can see under your account you have Creative Cloud all apps and if you wish to continue this plan so I can offer you discounted rate CC all apps GBP 30.34
Josef K.: Great offer, but this is still too expensive for me right now. I am not using all of these apps (I do use InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere + Media Encoder, Photoshop + Lightroom and Dreamweaver). More apps I don't need and I already found some free and open source alternatives that are maybe not as good as Adobe, but they work for now.
Gagan: Since you have an annual plan, a cancellation fee of 50% of your remaining months applies if you cancel now. Would you like to keep your membership?
Josef K.: What does that mean? That I have to pay 50% until March without being able to use the Software?
Gagan: Your next renewal date is 11th March 2020. You can cancel this plan one month prior from the next renewal date without any early termination fee.
Josef K.: And the discount you just offered me also is only available as an annual subscription? Is a monthly subscription possible?
There are a few things that I think are just not ok right now: first, I started the subscription I have as a student. Adobe had an amazing prize for students back then. After I finished my studies I started to pay the full price. It is crazy that you only allow me to opt out of the subscription, which I have been a paying for since March 2015, during one month before it is renewed automatically.
Then you still haven't answered my the question why the cancellation option disappeared from my account page? I feel like Adobe tries to force its customers into dependencies, which is not ok.
If I have to pay a fee of 50% for each month until March without being able to use the software at all, it is not really worth to cancel right now.
Gagan: Adobe values you as a customer, so I'm going to cancel the subscription and waive your cancellation fee. We hope you'll use Adobe products again in future.
Josef K.: I might if I FOSS turns out to be too unreliable, if Adobe changes its policy and if it becomes more affordable.
Gagan: So shall I go ahead and cancel your plan?
Josef K.: Yes please.
Gagan: We have successfully cancelled your Creative Cloud all apps plan.
Josef K.: Thank you very much.
Gagan: Happy to help. You'll receive an email with a survey link. Please take a moment to rate your experience and help us improve. Thanks!