Thanks for taking the time to provide such a lengthy and detailed response. I agree yes, that Adobe does need to figure out a way to sell it’s product, but I think they need to find more productive ways of doing this. They already are doing some amazing stuff. Like the Adobe Roadshow for example, which I attended recently for the CS4 launch and I was really impressed with the lengths that they went to in order to showcase the new features of their product. The also do online live training sessions and product launches, with virtual festivals and all sorts of digital ‘wow’. All this stuff is great and is the perfect means of promotion.

My point is that their market is an industry which relies on collaboration, and their latest release of software (with particular reference to Indesign) puts a solid obstacle in the way of this. Backwards compatibility is only available to for users of CS3. As owner of a design agency I can tell you now, being a CS4 user, you would think this is no problem. But what about when I need to collaborate with a CS3 user from another company? I have done the right thing by upgrading to CS4, but then I need to double handle my file and export an .INX for this “troublesome non-upgrader”. And what happens if I need to collaborate with a freelancer who only has CS2 (and I promise you there are many users out there who are still on CS2)? It’s not possible. If I have, for example, started working on a magazine layout and wish to send the file to them to continue the work, I simply cannot send them my CS4 file or INX file as it will not work. So therein lies my frustration with this method of “planned obsolescence” – in theory it is worthy of consideration, but in practice it actually will also disadvantage those users who have spent the cash and upgraded to the new software.

I agree that a company cannot pre-empt what their software features will be in the future, or in fact what their underlying programming code will look like (it has changed for CS4). But I didn’t suggest this was possible in my article.

Fair point about reading the TOS for products that you purchase. I have to admit that is something that I was yet to do. But, I have just done so and cannot find reference to a point in time at which my license expires? (Digital version available here: http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/#desktop) So perhaps limited licenses apply to other software products, but for Adobe range it doesn’t seem so.

Finally, you’re only half-right about the terms of purchase when you buy adobe products – these products are licensed for a finite period of time, after which your access code expires and you’re required to upgrade. If you’re unsure, read the TOS and Licensing agreement.