neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

I think you missed a couple of beats in the money flow. Anyway, I now have the complete picture and can now make an informed decision.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Neil,

You chose the word "mandatory". I would choose the word "routine". You pay $10 a month for a routine flow of updates. Rather than wait for a major upgrade, the updates and features come out every few months.

The $10 gets you more than Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. You also get four more versions of Lightroom, a website like picture sharing program, a graphics program and a little cloud storage. As a subscriber, there is also some online chat support system. A significant part of the Adobe development since Lightroom 6.0 is that the parts can be an interconnected "ecosystem". For example, our phones have become pretty good at point and shoot. My "ecosystem" is set up so that when I snap a phone photo, it becomes a part of my Lightroom Classic Library without me doing anything.

The constant roll out of new tools is both useful and entertaining. Recently Photoshop added a "neural filter" that colorizes old photos. Another tool enhances low resolution photos. Panorama processing in Lightroom Classic has greatly improved. There is more.

I'm an "old guy" like many here on UHH. One of my justifications for the $10 per month is that it makes my brain work. There is always something new to do or learn with the Adobe plan.

(Full disclosure: A few years ago I was invited to join a group that enjoys answering questions on Adobe's product forums. There are about 300 of us world wide. My area is primarily Premiere Elements. In exchange for trying to help people, Adobe gives me the full Creative Cloud offering. In other words, I am an Adobe "fanboy". )

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I'm on the Adobe train too, but a bigger fanboy of the money I've saved by buying LR6 and saving now 4 x $120 / yr = $480, happily using my LR6 and even older PSE-11 that support my camera RAW files and do everything I need. If LR6 or a few unsupported Topaz models can't achieve what I need, I just delete the frame and move onto some other frame of the 1000+ I just shot.

Someday I'll buy a new camera, and only when that someday arrives, will I begin another ongoing subscription.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

...and those are the monetary figures I keep thinking about. When PSE comes out with a significant feature I want I upgrade. I won't know if I can get my camera in the LR6 new install or not until I return home for the product key. Congress has done a good job at keeping my discretionary income at the 2008 figure, so caution is the norm.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"I've saved by buying LR6 and saving now 4 x $120 / yr = $480"

If I quit drinking my daily beer, I would be saving $2190 over four years. If I were still buying film and 'budgeted" for 72 B&W images a month, I would be spending about $1000 over four years WITHOUT any processing.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

The secret to mental well-being is learning how to prioritize!!

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

That is certainly true!

texashill Loc: Texas Hill Country

thank you

jerrylh Loc: Texas

I got a new computer to replace my 12-year-old Dell. I have several photo programs that I would like on the new computer.
Many were installed from downloads, not discs. I have not removed any of the updates,
but knowing how to use them now is doubtful. And getting them new is too expensive.
I use about 3 of them and wonder if I can move them. Does it make a difference if I now have Windows 11 instead of 10? I'm not doing as much as I used to but like my processing to remain good? I'm now 90 years old. I think I got my first camera when I was 12, an Ansco 620.
I've read all the replies here and maybe renting would work? I would appreciate your comments.