You just successfully rationalized the exact tactic that Adobe sales team pitched to their leadership: That most users will pay the monthly subscription because the math “evens out.”

Very very very few people have a legitimate need to upgrade Adobe product versions every 2 years.

> Very very very few people have a legitimate need to upgrade Adobe product versions every 2 years.

I suspect that most, even a lot of professional users, could get along just fine with CS1 or CS2. The core functionality hasn’t changed all that much and in a lot of ways, CS/CC apps have gotten worse. The only reason these individuals aren't still using those old versions is because they aren’t well suited for modern machines.

I’d personally be elated if Adobe started selling a lightly modernized single-purchase Photoshop CS1, even if it cost what single purchase PS licenses used to. The lack of cruft and UI churn alone would be worth it before even getting into the savings compared to a subscription.

The existence proof that people are paying the subscription price when there are other tools out there. Do people must think there is a need for it

There are other tools out there; I use Affinity Photo myself.

There are no other workflows that 100% match Adobe Photoshop. Until you like-for-like replicate the workflow, professionals will continue to use PS.

As a hobbyist, I owned CS4 (purchased on sale) and kept using it for ages. Turning it into a subscription might be fine for bleeding edge professionals who care about whatever new bells and whistles every year to finish a job 2% faster, but the ongoing costs cut out anybody who isn’t making money with it.

Thankfully there are better competitors like Affinity in that space now.

RIP Macromedia Fireworks though.

It's enshittification because most people don't need the 2 year upgrade cycle. For most individuals and small businesses, it was more like buy once and use forever.

A majority or at least large minority of Adobe users were/are on Macs.

The Mac version has lived through 68K MacOS pre and post System 7, PPC Mac pre and post OS X, x86 Macs pre and post Carbon support and now ARM Macs. After each transition , there was a limited amount of time that you could use the same version and even a smaller amount of time that you would have wanted to.

But the same argument applies that applies to Figma. It’s a professional tool that should help you generate income far greater than the cost

True, but depressing. Definitely something to add to the FLOSS casus belli...