Creative Cloud Open Letter

Did your email say definitively that you were part of the group whose details were compromised? My email said I may have been but didn't say for sure either way.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

I'm not going to even try finding excuses, but I made sure I got 2 bank accounts as I didn't want to have my money wiped out with one.



www.strypesinpost.com

I did not get any email from Adobe. Looked in my spam folder too.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Guys,

don't ever use the main company bank account, or the account where grandma's inheritance is deposited to make online payments. Never, ever. If you think that your personal identity hasn't been comprimised long ago, and that your credit card data is 100% secure anywhere, then I've a tower in Paris, a bridge in New York and a big church in Rome to sell you.

Sign of the times. We deal with it.

That said, here's what I received from Adobe, together with a link and notification to change my password: "We do not believe any decrypted card numbers were removed from our systems." and "We currently have no indication that there has been unauthorized activity on your account."

If your credit card details have been compromised, you may not necessarily know immediately. It may be lying dormant in a database for some time before someone tries to use it. But nowadays most card providers will credit back all unauthorized transactions, which is why it's better to use a credit card because then it's the bank's money that gets lost in the interim, not yours.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Yeah my email from Adobe said:

"We recently discovered that attackers illegally entered our network. The attackers may have obtained access to your Adobe ID and encrypted password. We currently have no indication that there has been unauthorized activity on your account. If you have placed an order with us, information such as your name, encrypted payment card number, and card expiration date also may have been accessed. We do not believe any decrypted card numbers were removed from our systems."

All I did was change my password. I'll keep an eye on my credit card statements online more often.

You know, when FCPX came out many of us hated it. HATED it. But there were three options. Some moved to an alternative, some stayed where they were, and others just sucked it up. Those are pretty much the same options now with Adobe. The fact that the products are killer apps with few viable alternatives makes it hard to switch, so really it's stay where you are, or drink the new Kool Aid.

I personally am very happy with the Cloud. I do get it free now, but I was more than happy to spread my bi-yearly payments out rather than lose a large lump sum all at once. Plus, the software is awesome and improving all the time. And that's not me advertising Adobe. I really am happy with the great leaps they have made with NLEs.

As for the hacking - in Australia we have protection against money being illegally accessed from our accounts. Do you not have a similar thing, where you show you didn't spend the money and the charges are reversed?

Yep, the US has this too. I don't know if it's mandatory or voluntary but most major banks and credit card providers do it.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

A friend told me that the process when claiming fraud protection is rather troublesome. But I do get notified when a certain amount has been deducted from my account.



www.strypesinpost.com

We did it here once on a product we ordered that was never delivered. It took a while, but wasn't too demanding.

I had some unauthorized transactions once and it then took the bank weeks to reach a conclusion but luckily they'd given me the benefit of the doubt and credited it back immediately.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Hey Jon, really enjoyed seeing you on the latest video on LAFCPUGs YouTube. I'm telling all my locals about Kollaborate, in the hopes that they'll take it up and make my life a bit more streamlined.

Thanks Jude, really glad you like it.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

walterbiscardi Wrote:
>
> And as even some Adobe folks have suggested, if
> you needed the software for just a month sometime
> down the road, create a new Adobe ID and run the
> Trial for 30 days.

But how can that work? The cloud is not like some people think. You are downloading the software. The cloud subscription just turns it on and off on your machine. So, waterbiscardi, this would mean you'd have to download (if this works and did not grab your computer ID) the entire suite a second time to turn it on.

terra100 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> But how can that work? The cloud is not like some
> people think. You are downloading the software.
> The cloud subscription just turns it on and off on
> your machine. So, waterbiscardi, this would mean
> you'd have to download (if this works and did not
> grab your computer ID) the entire suite a second
> time to turn it on.

You don't have to re-download anything. You just log in with the appropriate User ID. There is absolutely no reason to have to download the entire suite a second time for a different user. No sure where you got that from, but it doesn't work that way.

The User ID merely licenses the user to use the software that is on the machine.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

I have masters suite CS5 and CS6. I love the Production Suite that Adobe makes. However i am not for the CC. Here are my reasons:

1. You must be connected to the internet to use it.

2. Once you have decided to say retire. You will CONTINUOUSLY have to pay Adobe to revisit your projects. Pay til you die.

3. CS5 is still heavily used by editors and image designers as they have become extremely familiar with the interface. Production CC will keep getting updated whether you like the old way or not.

4. Pay CC for 4 years and you have purchased the software twice.

5. It would be more understandable if the only way to buy Adobe products was to use CC for x amount of months and then its yours to use perpetually. Like a car or a house. They could even charge again for compatibility updates.


I started in FCP (still use every now and then), messed with Avid for a short spell during my FCP4.5 days, then i switched to Premier. I have seen so many interfaces that they all kinda feel the same. I have came to the conclusion that all pro NLE's will work just fine for editing. So i am not married to an interface. There is a way to do everything in all pro-level NLE's.

I do not think that 3 years from now Adobe will be thinking this was a good move. They make less money when people who use to pay 1699. now only pay for 4-5 months a year on CC.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

1. You must be connected to the internet to use it.

Nope. If you have a year's subscription, you only need to be connected to initialize and once every 6 months after that to validate your subscription. You can also take that time to download updates.

Isn't that in the nature of our job? We upload and download videos all the time, we get emails from clients? It's really hard to get away from the internet for 6 months. And if you need to be off grid for longer, you can probably contact Adobe to work out a solution for you.


2. Once you have decided to say retire. You will CONTINUOUSLY have to pay Adobe to revisit your projects. Pay til you die.

Nope. You get rent a single app for a month to open your project. It's about $70. And let's say you have a dynamic linked comp in your Premiere Project and you don't want to make changes to that comp, you just only need to install AE, don't even need to subscribe to AE.


3. CS5 is still heavily used by editors and image designers as they have become extremely familiar with the interface. Production CC will keep getting updated whether you like the old way or not.

That's the way it is. We have had 2 updates since CS7 was released and they are MASSIVE updates. You can read some of the reviews on my site.


4. Pay CC for 4 years and you have purchased the software twice.

Nope. It's $600 a year. That's $2400. Production Premium was $1900.

If you remember my conversation from last year… Those were US prices. And they were even steeper for international users.
[www.lafcpug.org]


5. It would be more understandable if the only way to buy Adobe products was to use CC for x amount of months and then its yours to use perpetually. Like a car or a house. They could even charge again for compatibility updates.

The one thing I like about CC, being an editor who works between facilities, is that with CC, folks are more open to upgrading because it doesn't come at an extra cost. I hate dealing with antiquated workflows that already has had a solution out for years.

The AE integration is also very handy. I usually do up rough moves in Premiere, and then dynamic link to AE which keeps all the rough moves that I did in Premiere. And then I'll toggle back to Premiere to watch the AE segment along with the rest of the video. It saves so much time.



www.strypesinpost.com

Agree with Strypes. Premiere Pro CC is the FCP 8 you were waiting for...and then some - outstanding dynamic linking with everything Adobe makes - Sound/Pictures/Motion graphics. Natively edits every format AND the kitchen sync with no transcoding. Timeline packed with multiple formats and codecs and enough render bar red to illuminate Christmas? no problem - Premiere Pro CC plays it with out rendering a thing. a growing list of free and paid plugins (NewBlue FX FX Factor and Boris work great)...Lightening fast turn around and output. Need Web, broadcast, DVD, WMV (does ANYONE need WMV any more?) One button eport to Adobe's version of compressor which does it all in the background while you go back to continue editing.

As for the subscription - they've delivered 2 massive updates since it started in June - two amazing productive time saving updates since then -- and my subscription's not a year old yet. We would have paid hundreds in upgrade costs for overhauls like that with FCP.....with this - just a monthly fee.

Would I like a perpetual license? Sure.....is 20 to 40 dollars a month for this type of tool worth it for a working editor? Absolutely.

Perpetual Payment Stypes. So i am sitting down on vacation and suddenly i get the notion to work on my old project. Then its time to pay 74.99 if i do not have a subscription. 74.99 for a wild hair is a bit much. That's 7 lapdances or a new pair of shoes. lol

They have upp'ed the price since hello. I could easily see a price hike coming and you can not disagree unless you wanted to quit using it all together.
I do not doubt that its a great product and much better than my CS6 but i am just genetically against perpetual payments. I like the improvements i have heard about but as long as there are NLE's that compare out there i would rather own the software. There isn't much rendering in CS6 in comparision to any fcp system and Avid7 looks really good too.

I think that its a freelance thing. Most of us do not upgrade unless we run across a client that warrents it. The majority of what i do is editing, GFX and color. Rarely am asked for anything greater. Maybe in network situations where the money is abundant this is an excellent option but when your average client is paying less than 10k its not.

I did not know about the 6month authorization so thats better than i thought but the suite will never be paid for EVER. It becomes a bill for life, no matter how you look at it.

I am sticking with CS6 while i get reaquanted with Avid or learn Combution.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

>So i am sitting down on vacation and suddenly i get the notion to work on my old project.

Let's say you retire for 5 years, and then you're running OS 11. You go to the Bahamas, and you suddenly feel the urge to edit on that old spot that you did for the Chicago Bulls back when MJ did his legendary jump shot over Larry Bird. You whip out your archival hard drive, and you run Avid DV Express. Oopsie. You realize you don't have it installed, but you desperately need to edit your 5 year old project. So you swim across the ocean and get to the internet so you can connect to the Avid server and you realize that you need to upgrade your application because they no longer run on your iPad Pro also, Avid no longer carries Avid DV Express on their internet server. Upgrading to MC25 will cost $800 and it's iPad Pro compatible. The upgrade price to run on your new Mac versus a $70 one off payment for that urge to edit while on vacation, and you get to download the latest version of the software? It's really not that bad.


>Most of us do not upgrade unless we run across a client that warrents it

Do you know that now you can option drag a title to duplicate it? You don't have to keep pressing the "make new title based on current" and replace the title otherwise it wipes out your old title? And in a few months, people don't need to spend a full shift conforming an episode for color correction.


>or learn Combution.

Combustion is dead for more than 5 years. Smoke… Do you know about Smoke's subscription advantage pack? This is how you update/upgrade your Smoke:

[usa.autodesk.com]

Many houses that I know of that run Smoke, buy it, pay a one off fee and run it till its last breath.



www.strypesinpost.com