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It's been a bumpy few weeks for Adobe since announcing its controversial decision to move all its "perpetual license" Creative Suite applications to a subscription-only plan -- almost 32,000 people have signed a petition against the move and our own survey with Jeffries indicates that "Creative Suite users loathe Adobe's subscriptions" -- but as of Monday night it's officially here.

If you've bought into or opt to buy into the plan, you'll get a host of interesting application updates, settings sync via the cloud, and access to all of Adobe'… Read more

For over a year now I've championed Kingsoft Office Free 2012 as one of the top Microsoft Office alternatives for Windows, and with good reason: It's one of the best-looking clones out there, with superb file-compatibility to boot.

Yesterday, Kingsoft unveiled Office Free 2013 (Windows). (Please see below before you install it.) I'll go out on a limb and say it's now the single best free replacement for Microsoft Office, for a couple of very good reasons.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, Kingsoft Office includes three modules: Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. Needless to say, … Read more

Most of us think of computer solitaire as that simplistic card game available via Microsoft Windows' default games collection. But did you know that the game was packaged with the first release of Windows 3.0 back in 1990? The Windows game was based on a solitaire variation called "Klondike" and was included in the OS by Microsoft as a way to acquaint text-based DOS users with the newfangled graphical user interface (GUI), introducing now-ingrained behaviors like drag-and-drop and double-clicking.

Scads of Windows users still play the default Microsoft Solitaire game, but if you are looking to take … Read more

Anyone disappointed with Adobe Systems' switch to sell most of its software exclusively through subscriptions will have to remain disappointed.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company will make some changes to its $50-per-month Creative Cloud subscription to accommodate photography hobbyists and those who need access to files after they stop paying monthly fees, David Wadhwani, general manager of Adobe's digital media business, said in an interview Tuesday. But it won't turn back the clock to sell perpetual licenses to its software alongside the subscriptions, he said.

"We understand this is a big change, but we are so … Read more

Adobe Systems still has a lot of work to do convincing its customers it was a good idea to switch its Creative Suite software to its $50-per-month Creative Cloud subscription.

That's one of the messages from a poll of 1,642 readers conducted by CNET and analyst firm Jefferies. Of 740 people using the CS6 generation of Creative Suite products, 76 percent said they planned never to move to the Creative Cloud. And of the 612 respondents using CS5.5 or earlier, only 8 percent said they'd decided to move to the Creative Cloud.

"You should be … Read more

Unexpected instabilities forced Adobe Systems to hasten a planned outage for its Creative Cloud Connection, a service that keeps files made on mobile devices or uploaded to the Web in sync with customers' PCs.

Adobe launched it a half year ago in a preview version, and had planned to take it offline this week to update the interfaces the software uses to communicate with Adobe's servers. However, the company said in a blog post on Friday, " some updates...have caused instability in the service. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you."

As a … Read more

Are you happy or horrified by Adobe Systems' announcement last week that the Creative Cloud and other subscriptions will be the only way to get new versions of its broad array of software?

Now's the time to weigh in with your opinion.

CNET and analyst firm Jefferies are again surveying Adobe customers to gauge their response to Adobe's different sales approach.

Click here for our newest Adobe customer survey. In it, you'll find questions about whether you plan to move to the Creative Cloud or not, upgrade from earlier versions of the Creative Suite to CS6, and … Read more

Adobe Systems is trying to address one complaint about the company's decision to sell its major software products only through subscription plans, the fact that designers can't do anything with their files if they stop paying for access to the software.

"You should never lose access to your work, period," wrote John Nack, a principal product manager at Adobe, in response to criticism that the Creative Cloud subscription is in effect an "Adobe tax."

He wrote on Thursday:

Your work is absolutely your property. Adobe fully agrees, and that's why we've worked … Read more

Plenty of people are outraged that Adobe is moving to subscription plans and scrapping perpetual licenses. But should they be?

To shed some light on the situation, CNET broke out the spreadsheet software, dug into pricing information from Adobe and retail outlets, and put together some actual comparisons to see whether that wrath is deserved.

The answer, as with all things complicated, is that it depends. But at least in some reasonable situations -- not just power users but also middle-end customers who upgrade to Adobe's latest releases -- the Creative Cloud isn't a bad deal at all. … Read more