As with all software that has been in the wild for years, there will always be some negativity surrounding the application.  Adobe is no exception.  There are those who don’t want to pay a monthly/yearly fee to ANY software program.  They’d rather pay a flat fee to purchase the program for permanent use.  Adobe had been doing this for years, giving the program on disc to the purchaser.  This option stopped working for Adobe once it realized that those discs were being pirated.  I’m convinced that’s what changed the plans for Adobe and why they went the subscription route.  Software companies (and for that matter) ANY company needs to make money to survive.  Because Adobe MAY HAVE BEEN losing money with there old plan they had to rethink.  What they came up with was a subscription model.

Image from:
Pixabay
Photoshop
 

For photographers, there are several plans for subscriptions:
Adobe Photographer Plans

As you can see the first two plans won’t REALLY break your bank.  I subscribe to the 20GB Photography plan.

So why do I use and continue to use Photoshop?  I know how to use it.  I’m comfortable with that platform.  I know what I know.  I know what I need to know and I’m comfortable learning the new stuff. I explored other software such as Gimp, but because I’d been using Photoshop for years before I opted to stay with where I’m at ease.  I also had files already in photoshop format so taking all these things under consideration I decided to stick with what I know.

I certainly understand that there are those who feel that Adobe has become an “evil empire,” because they are charging a monthly fee to gain access, however as I said above, software companies have to make money to be viable.  Everyone has to adapt and Adobe adapted to the new paradigm of software subscription.  If you are primarily a photographer, then you can take advantage of their Adobe Photographer Plans.  As I also said above, the first two plans:
The 20GB Plan
The 1TB plan

Won’t REALLY break your bank all that much.  If you have an external hard drive with at least 1TB then I suggest using the 20GB plan.  The TB/GB plans give you cloud space.  Make your decision based on what you need.  

In the meantime:
Focus on what's ahead of you.
--
Chris