At Adobe’s annual Max conference, the company announced that it will be adopting a subscription-based model for its Creative Suite that bundles 16 programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, Dreamweaver and Premiere.

Adobe’s decision to embrace a subscription model follows an earlier move in the same direction by Microsoft with its Office 360 suite, and comes as a further signal that software companies are slowly ditching the old way of licensing their products.

As a result, Adobe says that the standalone version of Creative Suite will be frozen at version 6.  It’ll still receive bug fixes, but new features and enhancements will not be included with this version any longer.  If Adobe CS users wish to get the latest features and enhancements, they’re going to need subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which costs $49.99 per month for a minimum one-year commitment. Subscribing to the Creative Cloud gives users access to full versions of Adobe’s most popular desktop applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat; full access to services to help create mobile-ready content and apps; and 20GB of cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration.

As an alternative, users can also choose to subscribe to individual desktop applications with 20GB of storage for $19.99, but this option provides only limited access to Adobe’s services. If you’re not sure about Adobe’s new subscription model, just as with Microsoft’s Office 360, users are invited to give it a 30-day free trial, during which time they’ll be able to use up to 2GB cloud storage and enjoy limited access to services.

Tthe topic of Adobe’s cloud shift was even discussed in this morning’s NewsDesk Show with Kristin Feledy (see the entire segment below).

Aside from the adopting the subscription model, Adobe has also decided it’s time to make a number of other changes, which include a rebranding of some of its core products.  Adobe CS will now be referred to as “Adobe CC”, and comes with the following newly-renamed applications: Photoshop® CC, Illustrator® CC, and InDesign® CC,  which will incorporate an increasingly integrated set of creative services that let people work where and how they want, whilst connecting with others to collaborate with as well as the larger creative community.

This new effort has been in the testing for the last year. Adobe says that these tests prove that is customers are willing to pay an annual subscription fee in order to enjoy regular updates, rather than waiting for the updates to become available after 18 to 24 months, which was the company’s previous upgrade cycle.  Adobe CC already boasts in excess of 500,000 subscribers after just one year of testing the new subscription model.

With everything and everyone becoming more mobile and social, Adobe has put to good use its acquisition of Behance®, a thriving social network used by millions of people to connect, showcase their work, and discover new talent.  With CC, one of the biggest benefits is that user’s creative projects will be accessible across all of their devices – PC, smartphone and tablet – and can easily be shared with others through the cloud.

Adobe announced that from now on, it’ll be shifting focus exclusively onto the Creative Cloud, to ensure that its new services and feature can be delivered with the highest level of quality.

“Within Adobe, we have challenged our teams to make bold changes that serve the evolving needs of the creative community. We know that such change often leads to uncertainty and apprehension, but we passionately believe in a more connected creative process,” the Adobe Creative Cloud Team stated in its press release.

What do you think of Adobe’s new, cloud-based tools? Do you like the new subscription model, or are you a stickler for the old out-of-the-box format software? Let us know in the comments section below.