Page 270 - Using MIS

Security Guide

Storm CloudS

In May 2013, Adobe Systems announced a change in licensing model may have made sense from a profitabil-
the way it charges for Adobe Creative Suite—one of its flag- ity point of view. But from a customer relations point of
ship products. Prior to that date, customers would buy a view, it is a questionable move. It also introduces addi-
copy of Creative Suite, install it on their computers, and use tional security risks because it requires keeping users’ per-
it as long as they wanted. If a better version of Creative Suite sonal information, passwords, and credit card information.
came out, they could upgrade for a fee. Then the clouds Unfortunately for Adobe’s users, Adobe was not prepared to
rolled in. protect this new information.
Adobe implemented a new subscription licensing On October 3, 2013, Adobe revealed that credit card
model and replaced Adobe Creative Suite with Adobe numbers and user login data for nearly 3 million users were
Creative Cloud. Under the new licensing model, users are stolen. Then the number of stolen user accounts jumped to 38
10
charged monthly, and rates can go up at any time. Even million. A week later, a massive file containing more than 150
worse for Adobe’s customers, if they stop paying, they will million user accounts, apparently from Adobe, was posted on
lose access to any files stored
in their online accounts. Not to
mention that they won’t be able
to open any files they have cre-
ated because those files are in
a proprietary format that is not
backward compatible.
Although this new software
as a service model means more
revenue for Adobe, its customers
are not happy. As of mid-2014,
47,538 people have signed a pe-
tition on Change.org to eliminate
the Creative Cloud subscription
model. Even more interesting is
that Creative Cloud isn’t a true
“cloud” at all. It’s regular software
that installs on your local hard
drive. While it does have an online
storage component and automatic
updates and require an online ac-
count, it doesn’t run in a browser.
Switching from a perpetual
licensing model to a subscription
Source: Peshkova/Fotolia

10 Finley, Klint, “Unhappy Customers Want to Parachute from Adobe’s Creative Cloud,” Wired.com, May 10, 2013, accessed May 2014, www.wired
.com/2013/05/adobe-creative-cloud-petition/.
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