Adobe Says Goodbye to Old Versions of Creative Cloud Desktop Apps
Premiere Pro Users Will Only Have Access to the Latest Two Versions of Premiere Pro
Adobe has announced an abrupt change to the availability of older versions of Creative Cloud apps. In a blog post published on May 8th, Adobe informed customers that they will no longer be able to download all past versions of their Creative Cloud desktop apps. Instead, they will be limited to only the last two major release versions.
Please note that going forward, Creative Cloud customers will only have direct download access (from the Creative Cloud Desktop app and Adobe.com) to the two most recent major versions of Creative Cloud desktop applications. —Adobe
This means Premiere Pro users will only have access to the latest version of Premiere Pro and the one prior to it. The change has already happened. As you can see below in the image of my Creative Cloud Desktop app, there used to be a lot more other versions of Premiere Pro!
So if you have older versions of Premiere Pro that you currently depend on, DON’T DELETE THEM! At least, not until you’ve fully upgraded to the latest version.
Why?
There is no official explanation for this sudden change in availability. Some people suspect it might have to do with patent violations. In fact, if you have an older version of Premiere Pro installed, you may have received an email from Adobe saying past versions are no longer authorized and using them may result in claims of infringement by third parties. Yikes!
Fortunately, Scott Simmons over at ProVideo Coalition has more details and insightful thoughts on the situation. Click here to read his blog post. He believes this is the result patent trolls.
This really smells of patent trolling. How sad this practice has become that it resorts to sending threatening sounding emails to users to scare them out of using a certain product they are paying for. —Scott Simmons
In the end, Adobe’s announcement is very vague, which makes it feel disconcerting. An explanation would have been appreciated.
Where do we go from here?
Personally, I hardly ever need to use older versions of Premiere Pro. In most cases, I am able to convert the project file to the latest version of Premiere Pro and continue editing, no problem. But I certainly understand this is very distressing to some editors and enterprise customers, who, I might add, are paying a lot of money in order to use those older versions.
Obviously, there’s the whole bug issue. Matthew Allard voices his frustration in a blog post over at Newshooter:
I can understand why a company wants you to use the latest version of their product, but the latest versions of Adobe products seem to constantly have major bugs and problems. —Matthew Allard
The latest versions of Premiere Pro haven’t always been rock-solid. (Just being honest.) I will say, no bug in Premiere Pro has ever prevented me from finishing an edit and collecting a paycheck. Ever. However, there are many experienced editors who would rather stay several versions behind the latest release of Premiere Pro because they value stability over new features. If they’re paying for it, shouldn’t they be able to?
What’s the Benefit?
This is from Adobe:
Focusing our efforts on the latest two major releases of Creative Cloud applications, which the vast majority of Adobe customers are already using, will further enable us to develop the features and functionality most requested by customers and ensure peak performance and benefits across Windows and Mac operating systems. —Adobe
I understand a move like this frees up resources for Adobe to prioritize feature requests over supporting aging software. Advancing technology, increasing competition and a vocal user base is pushing Adobe’s aggressive new feature release cycle. (It does make for an exciting April and September!) Now that they’re dropping older versions, the question is, do we get to hold Adobe to a higher standard of stability for future releases of Premiere Pro?
[UPDATE 5/16/19] This announcement from Adobe continues to gather notoriety in the public eye. Non-post-production news outlets are picking up the story. For example, an article on Vice, has this to say:
Adobe is warning some owners of its Creative Cloud software applications that they’re no longer allowed to use older versions of the software. It’s yet another example of how in the modern era, you increasingly don’t actually own the things you’ve spent your hard-earned money on.
In another ProVideo Coalition article, Jose Antunes dives deeper into the licensing issue.
Adobe has warned CC subscribers that only the recent versions of CC apps can be downloaded. Adobe suggests too, apparently, that perpetual licensed software may be in “infringement” now.
All this to say, it’s worth keeping an eye on this story.
You’re an Adobe customer. You use Premiere Pro. What do you think about this announcement?
