Adobe yanks freebie Creative Cloud offer, now universities and colleges have to put up or shut up
- Reference: 1598433192
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/08/26/adobe_freebie_creative_cloud/
- Source link:
The move comes in the wake of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown, which highlighted that some institutions had bought licences that only allowed students to access Creative Cloud desktop applications on campus via a university or college-owned lab device, a use change that didn’t escape the attention of the American software biz.
There were two licence types commonly sold: [1]ETLA 2018 allows full time employees in FE and HE to work via Creative Cloud wherever they want and grants free access to students on campus provided they use a device owned by the college or university. The second licence, the [2]Student ETLA , allows students to work on-site or at home.
“We always had the option to buy licences for students to use on their own devices, but most organisations didn’t buy those licences because it was too expensive and licensing terms [of ETLA 2018] allowed students to use a university owned device on site,” said one senior director of IT at a university who asked to remain anonymous.
Adobe applied a sticking plaster from March to May that allowed students across Europe who were out of compliance with the licence to continue using the software at home for free. This was [3]extended by Adobe again until July .
A further reprieve was granted and the freebie then ran until 14 August. In a statement sent out by UCISA - the member-led professional body for digital practitioners within education - in July, it confirmed that the extension was agreed "as a result of lobbying from UCISA".
A letter to members from UCISA stated: "If you have previously signed up for the Adobe COVID response for Education, your students’ free COVID19 student home use licences should continue to work, with no action required on your part.
"This is a very specific extension for the UK and Adobe has asked that this be regarded as confidential to UK institutions," the letter added.
Then Adobe's generosity ended in the middle of this month. Now FE and HE establishments have to pay more for student licences, in addition to ones for staff, or be a lot more focused and buy licences for students where Creative Cloud is integral to their studies.
Sources at universities we contacted said they had been forced to opt for the latter option because the alternative was simply too expensive. In some cases, the cost of licensing estates to include students off-campus would have more than doubled.
“Universities where Adobe is not core will get a lot more focused,” one person we spoke to told The Register . “And this means Adobe, which wants to be at the centre of all academic delivery, is forcing us to license just for creative students and that means all the others - the majority - cannot have access.”
Colleges have better options, should they not already have a subscription licence with Adobe. One college techie said: "Luckily for us the Sixth Form Colleges Association very recently finished negotiations with Adobe and announced Sixth Form Colleges would have access to Adobe K12 pricing, which is significantly cheaper than Higher Ed pricing... I believe the new deal basically means any institution teaching Level 3 qualifications (A-Levels/BTEC etc) can access K12."
According to the Higher Education Statistics Authority there were more than [4]1.798 million undergraduates in Further and Higher Education in 2018/19 across the UK, and [5]181,000 were undergraduates in core creative arts .
Bulk seats
The minimum number of ETLA Student licences that can be bought by universities is 500, we are told, and it then rises to 1,000 and 5,000. The Register will not specify the costs or number of licences bought by each of the unis that we contacted.
The techies we spoke to also acknowledged that Adobe had been fair in extending the free offer but reiterated its licensing policy for education was at odds with the vendor’s wider ambitions.
Adobe sent us a statement: "Serving the needs of students and the education community has always been critical in how we enable creativity for all, and this commitment is unwavering."
"We continue to support educational institutions by offering additional discounted purchasing and migration options for their students, to ensure they have access to Adobe Creative Cloud products for blended and remote learning. We’re pleased that many institutions continue to embrace digital learning and digital literacy as a skill for the future."
UCISA also sent us a statement to say it was able to “agree a solution” that let students finish their studies for the previous academic year.
“Since that time UCISA, Jisc and Adobe have been working together to deliver a solution for institutions to help them better manage student licences in the short term by extending the period discounted software can be purchased and adding more value to those institutions that sign up to the scheme. Longer term, all parties are committed to devising a solution that will hopefully put Adobe software in the hands of as many students as possible."
The current Adobe ETLA agreement expires in August 2021 and the Student ETLA agreement expires a year later. Jisc will be negotiating the next wave of discounts. ®
Get our [6]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.chest.ac.uk/agreements/adobe-etla/
[2] https://www.chest.ac.uk/agreements/adobe-student-etla/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/17/adobe_creative_cloud_athome_access/
[4] https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/whos-in-he
[5] https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/what-study
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The first hit's free but when you want some more, show me the money.
> The first hit's free but when you want some more, show me the money.
TBH, this sounds like they're demanding that universities pay for the first hit. And said education institutes are a bit over a barrel, since a lot of them are shifting to distance learning, where the student won't have direct access to the institute's systems.
Still, this feels like an attempt to shore up short-term profits while C19 is ravaging the economy. It'll be interesting to see what the long term impact is, since the two most likely outcomes I can see are that there'll either be fewer students, or that universities will look at switching to cheaper alternatives.
(Though equally: are there any realistic alternatives? Photoshopping became a verb for a reason...)
I think there are plenty of capable alternatives to Photoshop, and Premiere - not so sure about After Effects.
The problem I suspect most F/HE institutes will face is whether they are (a) simply providing tools to enable the student's creative expression, or (b) providing tools that will train the student in industry standard software and workflows in order to better prepare them for the workplace.
(a) Means they could look to use any capable tooling (eg; Gimp, Krita, etc.) (b) kinda means they're stuck with Adobe.
"Photoshopping became a verb for a reason..."
True, but so did Hoovering. Nowadays, if you asked someone to name a vacuum cleaner brand they'd probably say Dyson. The words tend to stick around far longer than the actual product.
Photoshop is good, but it does cost (and as a personal nitpick, Adobe's attitude to how it's software runs on your machine is frustrating at best). All it takes is for the cost / benefit balance to tip and suddenly Adobe isn't top dog any more. It may be the next big package is nearly as good as Photoshop, but is cheaper and easier to use.
I was once told a story about somebody applying for a pretty high up position with Electrolux. Asked what he knew about the company he replied, "You make hoovers don't you?"
I understand he didn't get the job.
LIcensing
Licencing is the bane of the software industry - any one remember Borland's "no nonsense" agreement back in the day for Turbo Pascal.
If only they saved money on Licensing Monks and invested it in bug removal...
Just perhaps
Universities should be teaching the principles rather than specific packages. Yes, I know that industry wants the Uni do their job and train on exactly what they are using this year. But by the time the students graduate the dominant package will have been significantly altered, possibly several times.
Other graphic software is available. (Yes, again, there is significant work in rewriting the courses, but when you've got it wrong you have to do that work.)
Re: Just perhaps
Spot on, we are also an institution stuck with Adobe. There are plenty of perfectly good substitutes, just teach the skills, not learning which menu contains your desired command...
Re: Just perhaps
Universities don't just teach theory, they also teach employable skills and if you want to work in creative industries in particular you need to have knowledge of using Adobe tools. In IT it would be Microsoft, Mysql, K8, etc. The IT model is generally a bit skewed because a lot is open source, but even Microsoft and Oracle provide all their tools to students for use on and off campus at no extra charge whereas Adobe insists on chrarging more for off campus use. My understanding is this is largely driven by Adobe being a near monopoly in the professional sector and also because Adobe pricing is based on the US universities who are largely for profit and have big bank balances, which is not so true in the EU or UK.
Re: Just perhaps
It is pretty poor form though for Adobe to be charging for this stuff for student use.
Autodesk, for example provide free licenses for Maya and 3D-StudioMAX for any student's non-commercial use as long as you can prove you're enrolled on a course at a registed institution.
Re: Just perhaps
That comes back to my second sentence, the unfashionable distinction between education and training. I'm reminded of one of Asimov's stories, where vocational knowledge was downloaded directly into people's brains. (Decades before The Matrix.) Trouble was, it left them completely inflexible.
BTW, Microsoft are actually a minority player in IT these days. Even Satnad admitted to about 17% a few years ago.
Re: Just perhaps
I have so many unfashionable opinions it's ridiculous. I bang my own drum, some think it's noise...
Nose, say goodbye to face!
Could be good news for Adobe's competitors. As a part-time tutor at a college, I have access to the college licence, which is useful for the occasional poster or illustration, but not essential. If I can't use Adobe's packages there are plenty of others I can use if I need them. I'll have to pay but it will be a lot less than I would have to for Adobe.
In fact, it might even end up persuading me to switch from my current personal Lightroom/Photoshop licence, as one of the alternative pairings to Illustrator and In Design also has a Photoshop member - it's just migrating 20 years of catalogues to a new home!
Re: Nose, say goodbye to face!
Yeah, lock-in is a right lady dog.
Has anyone tried reverse engineering the Lightroom database schema?
“Universities where Adobe is not core will get a lot more focused”
Yep, indeed : focused on alternatives that cost less, even if they're not as good.
Maybe this push by Adobe is going to incite other vendors to up their game a bit. Adobe has always had a near-monopoly with Photoshop, even forcing its clients to the Could didn't put a dent in its user base, although teeth were grinding loudly.
That's because there is no product that can compete with Adobe on features, Photoshop is just king of the hill.
And Adobe pushes that as far as it can (in the interest of its shareholders, of course).
Adobe infurate
What is most infuriating about Adobe's position is that they took out a large advertorial in a national paper proclaiming the company's dedication to online education and advocating for greater of use of their tools at the same time as removing the temporary use at home basis for students. As I have said elsewhere, Adobe probably believe they are doing good things here but seem to only have an understanding of the for profit US universities and colleges with large bank balances and no corporate understanding of the EU/UK public sector universities and the value of consolidating the use of the tools in the learning experience when students go on to become professionals. Even Microsoft and Oracle get that, as they provide tools to all students on and off campus for no extra cost which make embedding those tools in teaching and learning, alongside open source, a good choice for professional skills development which is an important part of a good education.
GIMP is getting pretty slow and horrible to use. Soon it will easily be able to replace Photoshop at least :)
It also seems like most companies are jumping onto the Blender Foundation; I can really see critical mass being reached for the open-source alternatives.
Going deep colour in GIMP 2.10 proved costly. Should have been more careful what I wished for I guess. The team don't have any time to optimise it though, they are trying to catch up with GTK 3 sometime before it gets replaced by GTK 4. (No criticism there, small team working part time.)
Although whenever one of my photo club mates starts up Photoshop it always seems jaw-droppingly sluggish to me.
Haven't we got rid of...
...the Extended Three Letter Acronym (ETLA)?