Adobe Creative Cloud - is this useful to anybody?

[Notes_Norton]

After installing Photoshop Elements and Premiere, Creative Cloud came along for the ride.

 

The first thing I noticed is that it was accessing the Internet a few times per day (and night) and I discovered this because I was getting Verification Codes on the e-mail address I used for my Adobe account.

 

I googled (StartPage.com) how to keep it from launching itself at boot up, and I'm not getting those verifications a few times per day. This morning, it wanted to do an update.

 

So I did the update (I had backed up last night) and investigated the apps. It seems almost all of them have "Try it" or "Buy it" buttons.

 

Is the Creative Cloud anything more than a sales tool, or does anyone find it useful?

 

If useful, how?

 

Also, if it doesn't do anything for me, is it OK to just delete the app without compromising Elements?

 

Notes

 

BTW, editing with Elements is sometimes fun, sometimes a failure, but that's how you learn something. What should I do, and what should I not overdo is currently the mode I'm in. I'm sure to edit a copy, so I don't lose the original.

[KuruPrionz]

Adobe Cloud services are very useful for professionals in graphic design, photo touch up and printing.

I used to do all of the above but back then you purchased the software you used and upgraded it as needed.

 

Adobe saw that a subscription model would be more profitable for them so they went that way. No more pirating for one thing.

I installed the Premiere suite from Adobe's website and they didn't tag the Cloud / Creative Suite to my purchase but I would have trashed it immediately and deleted the trash so it was gone.

 

Unless you want the deep dive and need the tools, run away!!!!!

[KenElevenShadows]

I don't use the full suite, but there are a LOT of professionals who use all of it, like Kuru pointed out.

 

I have the photographer's package with Photoshop and Lightroom. I dislike subscription models, but I had developed such a rapport with Photoshop that after trying several alternatives, I decided to stick with Photoshop instead. This wasn't because the alternatives were bad. On the contrary, I was quite impressed with Affinity in particular. And there's a few other ones. But it was continuing the workflow and not abandoning the rapport and familiarity I had developed with Photoshop over the years.

[KuruPrionz]

I don't use the full suite, but there are a LOT of professionals who use all of it, like Kuru pointed out.

 

I have the photographer's package with Photoshop and Lightroom. I dislike subscription models, but I had developed such a rapport with Photoshop that after trying several alternatives, I decided to stick with Photoshop instead. This wasn't because the alternatives were bad. On the contrary, I was quite impressed with Affinity in particular. And there's a few other ones. But it was continuing the workflow and not abandoning the rapport and familiarity I had developed with Photoshop over the years.

 

And that's why I bought Elements, I started with Photoshop 1.07 in the early 90's and it feels familiar.

I'm certain if I had the current version I could get up and running quickly. There would be new things to learn, those are fun.

I downloaded a few other programs but it felt almost like starting from scratch. That said, I used to have to know a fair bit about Quark, Pagemaker, InDesign, Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw and I dabbled in Painter before it was Corel. I got a version or two of Painter after Corel owned it but I just never used it. Sad, great program!!!!

 

All this so I could open, adjust and print people's submissions. Word and PowerPoint came into play, so did Publisher - mostly for the wrong reasons. My favorite weird file to be printed was something somebody made in Excel somehow.

That was some goofy stuff right there!!!!!

[KenElevenShadows]

The thing you say about "starting from scratch". Well, that's what it felt like with Affinity for me.

 

I like incorporating some of the new things as a plugin with Photoshop. I use Luminar 4 and Luminar AI and a few Nik Software things as plugins. Then I use some luminosity masks. Makes things relatively easy for the most part.

 

That seems like a lot of work for opening people's submissions!

[KuruPrionz]

The thing you say about "starting from scratch". Well, that's what it felt like with Affinity for me.

 

I like incorporating some of the new things as a plugin with Photoshop. I use Luminar 4 and Luminar AI and a few Nik Software things as plugins. Then I use some luminosity masks. Makes things relatively easy for the most part.

 

That seems like a lot of work for opening people's submissions!

 

 

It was, and costly to have the software available. People were not educated on how to create PDF files or they would create files with unusable defects and you'd have to go back to the native file.

I was paid hourly and it all paid the same so I just did it. In the end, almost entirely useless experience except I got really good at "breaking" files so I could print them.

I took a summer job one year preparing files for school districts across the country. After they found out what I could do, I got all the "reject" files and fixed them. By then things were better. I was really good at separating images and text in PDF files, resizing what ever needed it and putting it all back together in Photoshop.

 

The things we do to keep food on the table!!!!

[Notes_Norton]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to nuke the CreativeCloud app.

 

This is a hobby with me, I may never make a dime, but I'm having fun sharing pictures. Plus, I don't like subscription models at all. I don't mind paying for something I am going to use, but I hate paying again and again and again and again and again.

 

I understand a publicly traded corporation needs to pay their employees PLUS make more profits each quarter and more profits for the next and the next or else the stockholders will jump ship. Perpetual growth is the corporate model, but that is unsustainable.

 

Without the subscription model the corporation needs different ways to keep the money coming in, perpetual needless upgrades, ads, data collection and sale (spyware), and so on. I really don't know which is worse.

 

I pay monthly for my web host, shopping cart company, newspaper, Internet access, phone, and utilities. Thanks to being frugal, a year and a half out of work due to COVID let me survive without depleting my savings.

 

Like my web host and shopping cart, if it were necessary for my business, I'd bite the bullet. But photography is a hobby of mine, I've got some things on AdobeStock and ShutterStock, but I don't think they are the kind of thing a business is going to want to use for an advertisement.

 

The ones that get accepted I know are technically good enough to try to sell elsewhere, that is, if I ever get ambitious enough. Gigs are coming back after COVID, so I am having less and less time to edit and upload pictures anyway.

 

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Notes

[Notes_Norton]

Unfortunately, I can't nuke Creative Cloud. I get this message when I try to delete it via the control panel:

 

"Couldn't uninstall Creative Cloud for desktop. You still have Creative Cloud applications installed on your computer that require it."

 

So I did the next best thing, unchecked launch when the computer boots, and then closed the app.

 

Seems like Adobe wants to have adware installed with Photoshop Elements.

 

I may investigate this more thoroughly on the web, but for right now, at least it's not running, just taking up H.D. space.

 

Notes

[KuruPrionz]

Maybe you can uninstall the Creative Cloud applications that require Creative Cloud Desktop. Then, those applications will no longer require it, true?

 

Computers can be persnickety but there is usually a workaround. You could also do a search for "uninstall Adobe Creative Cloud on (type of computer/system here).

 

Try adding the word "forum" to the search, often there are people discussing that topic and somebody chimes in with something that works perfectly. I've learned a great deal that way.

[Notes_Norton]

I found a link to an Adobe Creative Cloud uninstaller. I bookmarked the link and haven't downloaded it. I want to investigate that first. It could be a phishing site even if it looks like an adobe site.

 

Adobe says that the only reason you should uninstall it is if it's corrupted, and you want to replace it with a new version. As long as Elements still works, I see no reason to replace it.

 

I'm in the middle of recording 40 new aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, plus over 150 short intros and endings. I'll wait until I'm done with that. It's a very time consuming process and when I do a release it means income for me. With over a year of COVID unemployment and outdoor gigs just trickling in at the moment, the cash influx of 2 new style e-disks and 5 new fake e-disks are more important than the C.Cloud, now that it's disabled.

 

I was involved in either tossing or scanning thousands of old slides, but that project is also going to have to wait.

 

There just isn't enough time in the day to do all the things I want and love to do.

 

Notes