It was time to upgrade my version of Photoshop last week, and as many a visual artist can tell you, Adobe is steering its users into the “Creative Cloud.” This is a monthly subscription service, wherein the same programs that cost several hundred dollars in 2006 now cost… well, there’s no telling really, since you keep paying into infinity. Apparently paying for software you can install on your computer and use as long as you like is passé. Not long after I purchased an old-fashioned non-cloud program, the Adobe server crashed, preventing people everywhere from signing into the cloud for a day or so. You could almost hear the screams of designers around the world.
If you’re a cartoonist who doesn’t need all the latest advanced photography features, I recommend buying one of the vanishing copies of Photoshop CS6 and sitting on it.