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European designers rally for fair software pricing

James Thornton

James Thornton

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adobe_logo.gifDesigners in Europe have finally had enough of Adobe’s international pricing policy and are petitioning the European Commission to investigate the company. The software giant understandably bumped up the price of its Creative Suite following the release of CS3, which now contains Flash and Dreamweaver, along with Photoshop and Illustrator. But what’s really getting to users is the fact that buying the software in the US is up to 190% cheaper than across the Atalantic. Upgrading to the latest version in the States now costs from $599, while in the UK the price is $1,178.

Adobe has been in a priveleged position for a while, as programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator have long been the defacto standard tools for the graphic design industry. Since its acquisition of Macromedia it holds even more bargaining power with control of the most popular web development apps. There was always a risk that Adobe would hold its loyal users to randsom and it seems it’s the Europeans that have come off worst. It’s unclear whether the petition will ultimately have any effect on Adobe’s pricing but at the time of writing, almost 10,000 users had signed up, so hopefully the European Commission will have a closer look at the link between Adobe’s pricing model and the monopoly it has on the design software industry.

James Thornton

James Thornton

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