Posted by Tony Kuyper on October 28, 2010 at 10:37 AM
For the students and teachers in the group, Adobe is currently offering an 80% discount on many of it's products, including Photoshop CS5 extended. It's like getting the full version for less than the upgrade price. If you qualify and need to get that first copy of PS in order to qualify for upgrading pricing down the line, this seems like a very good deal. Here's the link.
Posted by Larry Fischer on October 28, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Personally I think that makes little sense. 80% discount is either the actual cost of is less than actual cost. Most business don't make those kinds of offers for anyone including students.
I think that makes those of use who want PS wonder about profit margins.
I would like to see a reasonable student discount and a lower price for the rest of us.
As is, those who pay full price are really funding students--PhotoShop is not altruistic. It merely makes them look good but it is a pass through from real consumers--and smoke and mirrors.
the fisch
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 28, 2010 at 1:03 PM
This has been Adobe's policy for quite a while and when I was a student, I loved it. For Adobe, it makes sense to as while there are people who will take advantage of the policy, mostly it allows students to have access to the software and learn it. It creates a customer for life.
I can attest that I bought CS3 when I was in school. Because of the student discount, I purchased the Master Suite. When CS4 was released, I upgraded to CS4 at the regular price. When you are no longer a student you can upgrade from an Educational license to the standard license at the regular upgrade price. Again, got Master Tools because I was paying a $900 upgrade from my CS3. At that point, I was entering the world of video and I am now a Premiere user (rather than Final Cut user) because it made sense financially. I could purchase the entire Master Tools suite for a the regular $900 upgrade (before a substantial 20% discount from either NANPA or ASMP, I can't remember) which was a heck of a lot better of upgrading Photoshop and then buying Final Cut Studio for another $1000. Now I am preparing once again to throw another $900 at Adobe for the upgrade to CS5.
Yes, Adobe's discount is rather extreme but otherwise students would only have access to the software on lab machines or resort to hacked versions, a very very common thing on college campuses. Many companies offer student discounts, though not typically that extreme.
I would be interested to see the statistics on the number of Educational licenses (ignoring institutional purchases) compared to the number of regular price purchases.
Posted by Tony Kuyper on October 28, 2010 at 1:25 PM
Amazon.com offers the student/teacher edition of CS5 extended for $189.99 and the non-student/teacher edition for $897.63. Maybe it comes into play in the registration process but how does Amazon or Adobe know whether or not your a student? Maybe you have to scan your ID card and email it for final activation?
Also, the upgrade to CS5 extended is $334 compared with $189 for the non-extended upgrade. Now I'm curious. If you buy CS5 extended on the discount are you locked into buying the more expensive "extended" upgrade in the future? I don't see a similar student/teacher discount for PS CS5 non-extended, which is a shame as I wouldn't want to pay extra for stuff I don't use/need.
I think PS is an incredible program and while the initial outlay seems steep, long-term, if you use it a lot (daily??), it's quite a bargain for what it can do. Would you be willing to rent it for $1 each day you worked on pictures? I know I would. However, I'm not inclined to recommend the Extended version for routine nature photography, so the value in the 80% discount may be questionable if you have to make it up later by buying the more expensive upgrade.
Posted by Pam Colander on October 28, 2010 at 1:47 PM
I consider myself a constant student.....does that count?
Posted by Howard Cihak on October 28, 2010 at 1:48 PM
What does CS5 Extended provide (photographically) that regular CS5 does not?
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 28, 2010 at 1:48 PM
Tony,
You are right. It looks like Adobe doesn't offer an Educational version of PS CS5 Regular, only the Extended. I checked on Adobe's site.
I don't know how the validation works with Amazon, but if you purchase directly from Adobe, you have to verify you are a student at purchase. As I remember, they basically put your order on hold until you are verified. Instructions and requirements can be found at this FAQ.
I recall reading a discussion when CS5 was originally released about the possibility to upgrade from Extended to the regular version. If I am remembering it correctly, it required a telephone call to Adobe as this is not a standard upgrade path. I don't know what the cost would be but it is possible, if I remember correctly.
One interesting thing is that is not an Educational Upgrade price. Basically you have to purchase a full license each time. Granted that full license is comparable to the Regular upgrade price usually.
It is a great program and my wife (a PhD student) is going to be picking up one of the CS5 suites soon so she can stop borrowing my computer every time she needs to edit a scanned image, create/edit PDFs, and play in Illustrator. I've even got her into InDesign now. We never would consider that purchase if she had to pay retail price.
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 28, 2010 at 1:53 PM
A comparison of Photoshop Extended and the regular version can be found at Adobe's site here.
If you only do normal photography, I don't think you will need extended. If you do any work with video, including Time Lapse, extended can be great as it includes a time line. Additionally, creating spherical panoramas and editing them in spherical mode can be done in Extended. It also does a lot of 3D text stuff as well.
I have it as part of my suite but rarely use any of those functions. If I didn't have After Effects, I probably would do time lapse work directly in Photoshop but the integration of After Effects, Camera Raw, and Premiere is so slick that I just go that route. I also tried the spherical panorama editing at one point briefly but didn't grasp it immediately and haven't had the time to return to it and explore. I remember thinking it would be great when I first saw it demoed in CS4.
Posted by Luke Ormand on October 28, 2010 at 8:02 PM
I have looked into the discounted Photoshop from Adobe and one caveat I seem to remember is it's only 1 license, whereas if you but the program without the discount you get 3 (so you can drop it on your work computer, laptop and home computer). That certainly plays a factor in the steep discount
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 28, 2010 at 9:18 PM
Luke,
I may be wrong but I believe it is 2 licenses either way. I know that with my CS3 they let me install it and activate it on my desktop and laptop. I haven't tried installing any more than that but I believe it is just 2 computers.
Drew
Posted by Luke Ormand on October 28, 2010 at 10:34 PM
Drew, from Adobe's website on the CS5 for students/teachers:
Restrictions on use
You may purchase only one license of any Adobe Student and Teacher Edition product within a 12 month period. This license may be used only on your privately owned computer. Student and Teacher Edition products may not be resold.
I had originally gotten CS3 from someone who had 3 licenses on the disk... I could be wrong, because it's simply what I was told but I think that's how the policy works.
Posted by David Bostedo on October 28, 2010 at 10:55 PM
As far as Larry's concern goes, companies don't offer this software this cheap out of the goodness of their heart - they do it to get student's familiar with theirs to lead to more sales down the line and to increase their marketing impact.
Also, for software, the markup over what it takes to produce a copy of it is ENORMOUS. The actual production cost is probably in the tens of dollars. Most of the actual cost is to amortize the actual development over some projected amount of sales, but even then the markup can be large. You can't really price software by what it costs to manufacture and distribute, since that's actually small compared to development.
FWIW, in college, I had even better deals on engineering software - AutoCAD, MATLAB, Synopsys - all, I think, available at way more than 80% off the normal "retail" price.
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 28, 2010 at 11:56 PM
Luke,
Good spot. I think though that the definition of a license is for use by a single person. Adobe allows you to install that license on two different computers, ie laptop and desktop. I could be wrong but that was my understanding. For instance, with CS4, I have one serial number that works on both my computers. Same went with CS3 and that was the Student version.
I assume that the activation process is what limits the number of computers that any particular serial number can be used on. That being said, I've never tried a third computer, maybe it would work.
Discussion
12 repliesI think that makes those of use who want PS wonder about profit margins.
I would like to see a reasonable student discount and a lower price for the rest of us.
As is, those who pay full price are really funding students--PhotoShop is not altruistic. It merely makes them look good but it is a pass through from real consumers--and smoke and mirrors.
the fisch
I can attest that I bought CS3 when I was in school. Because of the student discount, I purchased the Master Suite. When CS4 was released, I upgraded to CS4 at the regular price. When you are no longer a student you can upgrade from an Educational license to the standard license at the regular upgrade price. Again, got Master Tools because I was paying a $900 upgrade from my CS3. At that point, I was entering the world of video and I am now a Premiere user (rather than Final Cut user) because it made sense financially. I could purchase the entire Master Tools suite for a the regular $900 upgrade (before a substantial 20% discount from either NANPA or ASMP, I can't remember) which was a heck of a lot better of upgrading Photoshop and then buying Final Cut Studio for another $1000. Now I am preparing once again to throw another $900 at Adobe for the upgrade to CS5.
Yes, Adobe's discount is rather extreme but otherwise students would only have access to the software on lab machines or resort to hacked versions, a very very common thing on college campuses. Many companies offer student discounts, though not typically that extreme.
I would be interested to see the statistics on the number of Educational licenses (ignoring institutional purchases) compared to the number of regular price purchases.
Also, the upgrade to CS5 extended is $334 compared with $189 for the non-extended upgrade. Now I'm curious. If you buy CS5 extended on the discount are you locked into buying the more expensive "extended" upgrade in the future? I don't see a similar student/teacher discount for PS CS5 non-extended, which is a shame as I wouldn't want to pay extra for stuff I don't use/need.
I think PS is an incredible program and while the initial outlay seems steep, long-term, if you use it a lot (daily??), it's quite a bargain for what it can do. Would you be willing to rent it for $1 each day you worked on pictures? I know I would. However, I'm not inclined to recommend the Extended version for routine nature photography, so the value in the 80% discount may be questionable if you have to make it up later by buying the more expensive upgrade.
You are right. It looks like Adobe doesn't offer an Educational version of PS CS5 Regular, only the Extended. I checked on Adobe's site.
I don't know how the validation works with Amazon, but if you purchase directly from Adobe, you have to verify you are a student at purchase. As I remember, they basically put your order on hold until you are verified. Instructions and requirements can be found at this FAQ.
I recall reading a discussion when CS5 was originally released about the possibility to upgrade from Extended to the regular version. If I am remembering it correctly, it required a telephone call to Adobe as this is not a standard upgrade path. I don't know what the cost would be but it is possible, if I remember correctly.
One interesting thing is that is not an Educational Upgrade price. Basically you have to purchase a full license each time. Granted that full license is comparable to the Regular upgrade price usually.
It is a great program and my wife (a PhD student) is going to be picking up one of the CS5 suites soon so she can stop borrowing my computer every time she needs to edit a scanned image, create/edit PDFs, and play in Illustrator. I've even got her into InDesign now. We never would consider that purchase if she had to pay retail price.
If you only do normal photography, I don't think you will need extended. If you do any work with video, including Time Lapse, extended can be great as it includes a time line. Additionally, creating spherical panoramas and editing them in spherical mode can be done in Extended. It also does a lot of 3D text stuff as well.
I have it as part of my suite but rarely use any of those functions. If I didn't have After Effects, I probably would do time lapse work directly in Photoshop but the integration of After Effects, Camera Raw, and Premiere is so slick that I just go that route. I also tried the spherical panorama editing at one point briefly but didn't grasp it immediately and haven't had the time to return to it and explore. I remember thinking it would be great when I first saw it demoed in CS4.
I may be wrong but I believe it is 2 licenses either way. I know that with my CS3 they let me install it and activate it on my desktop and laptop. I haven't tried installing any more than that but I believe it is just 2 computers.
Drew
I had originally gotten CS3 from someone who had 3 licenses on the disk... I could be wrong, because it's simply what I was told but I think that's how the policy works.
Also, for software, the markup over what it takes to produce a copy of it is ENORMOUS. The actual production cost is probably in the tens of dollars. Most of the actual cost is to amortize the actual development over some projected amount of sales, but even then the markup can be large. You can't really price software by what it costs to manufacture and distribute, since that's actually small compared to development.
FWIW, in college, I had even better deals on engineering software - AutoCAD, MATLAB, Synopsys - all, I think, available at way more than 80% off the normal "retail" price.
Good spot. I think though that the definition of a license is for use by a single person. Adobe allows you to install that license on two different computers, ie laptop and desktop. I could be wrong but that was my understanding. For instance, with CS4, I have one serial number that works on both my computers. Same went with CS3 and that was the Student version.
I assume that the activation process is what limits the number of computers that any particular serial number can be used on. That being said, I've never tried a third computer, maybe it would work.