Also, as an individual having your work locked behind a subscription fee is more than a little scary. For a company it's no big deal to have subscription autorenew in perpetuity, but individuals sometimes need to cut costs, and because of that subscription fees start to look like a ball and chain.

Exactly. The SaaS model largely lacks a gameplan for long term sustainability.

How so? The SaaS model lets you price segment more flexibly. You can do a free (or very cheap) loss leader version that has a more limited feature-set (that students & hobbyists don't need) and a non-commercial license. Charge more for larger shops that need collaborative/more professional features.

Just because Adobe is doing the transition poorly (albeit you wouldn't know from their share price), I don't necessarily buy that it's a fundamental flaw in the SaaS business model. Indeed Figma & Canva are both SaaS companies themselves. As MSFT has shown, it doesn't take much for a giant to come back. I don't think Adobe is particularly cash-strapped so they can weather out a bunch of mistakes/internal realignment.

Their financials have done great since they switched. Strong growth in revenue, gross profit and net income.

This may be short-term growth at the expense of long-term sustainability.

The younger generation will reach for the more affordable options like Figma, Sketch, Canva. Everyone will know how to use these tools a lot better so this these will become the new standards in the workplace.

Right. I was explicitly responding to OPs claim that SaaS lacks long term sustainability because Adobe's approach seems like it could kill their long-term userbase.

Going against the .edu discounts is... strange?

That's how you build your userbase 5-10 years into the future. That should be a no-brainer.

What's harder to price in a discount with SaaS is how to deal with smaller companies. Startups with almost no money but that could grow into lucrative customers down the line.

It's also a lot for designers and video makers in the developing world, most of whom are being sought as freelancers for small Western companies.