Never mind Lr's EOL - how about MY EOL?

[Nortonian]

Operating System: Windows 10

Lightroom Version: 2015.12
(Please go to Help menu > System Info to double check the exact version number)

There has been a lot of talk on these forums about LR Classic EOL. Outside of Adobe’s boardroom, I guess LR EOL is as big a mystery as it was a week ago, but my post is about something much more certain – MY EOL (or at least, end of my PHOTOGRAPHIC life)! I know that if you cancel your subscription, you can continue to use LR but without the Develop and one or two other modules. But what would happen in 2 or 5 or 10 years time when I have to upgrade or downsize my computer or if I move into a Home or retirement complex (I’m in my 70s) – will Adobe allow me to download a copy of LR (if it still exists) if I haven't subscribed for a number of years? Or have these 30000 edits all got to be exported, sooner rather than later?

Does this subscription model really mean that they have you, well and truly, for life???

And are the options better or worse if you choose the new Cloud option announced last week?

Am I going to have to consult a lawyer to help me choose my photo editing software? We already know that they can speak with forked tongue – “we’re dropping perpetual because more customers have chosen subscription” (no mention of the heavily loaded dice which they rolled to influence that ’choice’. I have loved Lightroom since Day 1 (literally), but as a company, I would love to tear their corporate heart out.

 

[clee01l]

I'm less concerned about what happens to my LR catalog after my EoL. I am concerned about the photographic legacy I might leave behind for my heirs. They are not going to have an interest in learning Lightroom or any other file management app just to access my photos. I think this topic really has nothing to do with LR and more to do with preserving one's photographic legacy.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

If your family carry on paying the subscription, they can stay in the cloud indefinitely. But realistically, your family will probably stop paying and as long as they have your login details, they’ll have a year in which to download the photos. Better still, you can automatically store a local copy of the photos so they’re at least guaranteed to have the originals. Maybe leave instructions on how to export the photos so they keep your edits too. Unless you’re planning your departure, I wouldn’t worry about starting the export now, as you’re likely to go back and edit the files over time, and it would be a pain to manage the exported photos. Maybe print your favourites, so no computer knowledge whatsoever is needed to preserve your legacy?

If you check the ‘store a copy of all photos locally” checkbox in LRCC, you’re no worse off either way.


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[clee01l]

If your family carry on paying the subscription, they can stay in the cloud indefinitely. But realistically, your family will probably stop paying and as long as they have your login details, they’ll have a year in which to download the photos.

As I said, this discussion has nothing to do with windows. No family member that I know has the interest to learn a sophisticated app like LR Classic or even LR CC. So unless I do something to preserve edit derivatives in a simple repository, no one will make an effort to acquire my important images.
I plan to have a slideshow prepared for my memorial service. I doubt that even that will remain long after I'm gone.

 

[Nortonian]

Thanks both for your comments. I’m a lousy communicator, and didn’t entirely mean that I expect to pop my clogs anytime soon. A more likely scenario could be a decline in photography interest and I thought that £120 per year, every year, in those circumstances was a bit high. If the perpetual licence was an option, then any potential decrease in interest would be a one-off hit, which I think is reasonable. However, if I’ve understood things correctly, and I now take that option, I would in fact be ‘buying’ a slightly older version of what I’m currently used to, and if we’d all known 2 years ago that that would be the case, I could have gone for LR6 then and saved myself £240+.

Thanks Victoria for illustrating that if you cancel a subscription, there is only 12 months of continued, though limited, use: you DO mean Classic AND CC? I’d thought Classic would just sit there forever!

Ian

 

[davidedric]

Don't have any heirs

 

[Victoria Bampton]

there is only 12 months of continued, though limited, use: you DO mean Classic AND CC? I’d thought Classic would just sit there forever!

Sorry, we’re talking at cross-purposes (and due to lack of sleep, that’s almost certainly my fault!)

Both the CC and Classic apps will remain in their partially functioning mode for as long as the operating system allows them to run. It’s only photos in the cloud that have to be downloaded within 1 year (and are therefore most people’s EOL concern with the current announcements.


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[Nortonian]

Thanks, Victoria. If I was you, I'd take off for a few days and keep as far from the internet as I could. You have worked so tirelessly on behalf of all of us, and I'm sure we can manage a few days on our own! Just leave us the Adobe CEO's email address .

Ian

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Thanks Ian. I'm heading offline for 2 weeks from Saturday, although not for a break - I really must get this Classic book finished, and it's impossible with my inbox pinging every 5 seconds!

 

[PhilBurton]

Thanks Ian. I'm heading offline for 2 weeks from Saturday, although not for a break - I really must get this Classic book finished, and it's impossible with my inbox pinging every 5 seconds!

Heading to Brighton? South of France?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Heading to Brighton? South of France?

LOL if I tell you that, you might all follow!


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