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Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

arstechnica.com

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Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#131

Post by WillAdams »

moolcool wrote: post #130
WillAdams wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The wedding invitation is still there, and if you submitted it to a printer to print as a spot colour job, would print fine. If you want to print it on your CMYK inkjet printer, just choose the CMYK build, and if you want to put the image on your web site, choose the RGB hex representation. Because Adobe doesn't have an option for substrate representation, there are two spot colour libraries (for coated/uncoated stoc…

For the car analogy, it seems to me more like Ford pushing a firmware update to remove support for Ethanol based fuels IMO.

No, because they are consciously choosing an option which their needs don't support, and which every time their files are professionally printed someone needs to explicitly change.

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#132

Post by cptskippy »

moolcool wrote: post #125
cptskippy wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're suggesting they do what they did? Pantone support has been in their products for 30 years and only recently did Pantone start asking for money.

No. I'm suggesting they do literally the opposite. They did, by definition, count on variable licensing terms.

I don't follow you, could you explain what you mean?

Historically Pantone has not charged a fee for Adobe to map the Pantone colorspace because it was advantageous for Pantone to not do so. The rationale being that the more widely available the Palette, the more likely it is to be used in print products.

Today Pantone has decided that it no longer wishes for that information to be shared freely and has compelled Adobe to stop mapping the colorspace by requiring they pay an outrageous per-user fee to do so.

Adobe recognizes that the overwhelming majority of it's users do not need Pantone, even if they're inadvertently or mistakenly using it. So they are unwilling to pay a per-user fee to enable a feature only a small subset of their users actually need.

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#133

Post by axiolite »

jfengel wrote: post #111
axiolite wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pantone can make money at every level Yes, but there's something to be said of the "First one's free, kid" business model. Making it frictionless to get into your ecosystem usually results in many more sales in the end. Fewer graphics designers using pantone colors means fewer products going out with pantone colors, which means fewer sales of pantone dyes.

Pantone is what the printers use. If you want to get the most accurate representation of your colors, you use Pantone. Pantone doesn't need to get you addicted; its target market already needs them. You can care less about your colors, but for some categories of graphic designers, that's not an option.

> You can care less about your colors, but for some categories of graphic designers, that's not an option.

For many more, it IS an option. If it's trivial for them to select pantone colors for their designs, they probably will use them. If they don't have easy access to pantone colors, they'll just select an approximate shade they like.

In the former (frictionless) case, more pantone dyes may get used. In the later (current reality) case, they certainly will not. It's not a stretch to think that pantone may be cutting themselves off from a potential growth market, in exchange for a rather small amount of cash up-front.

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#134

Post by jfengel »

axiolite wrote: post #133
jfengel wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pantone is what the printers use. If you want to get the most accurate representation of your colors, you use Pantone. Pantone doesn't need to get you addicted; its target market already needs them. You can care less about your colors, but for some categories of graphic designers, that's not an option.

> You can care less about your colors, but for some categories of graphic designers, that's not an option. For many more, it IS an option. If it's trivial for them to select pantone colors for their designs, they probably will use them. If they don't have easy access to pantone colors, they'll just select an approximate shade they like. In the former (frictionless) case, more pantone dyes may get used. In the later (…

Pantone isn't a startup; it's not really a "growth market". Print shops expect to be told Pantone colors. If you tell them something else, you're going to get the best match they can figure out.

Many designers won't care that their banners look slightly different from their tee-shirts and both are slightly different from their business cards. For others, though, they think the variation looks tacky and cheap.

Those are the ones who will pay. It's a very small fraction of their commission on a work.

What's a bad look for Pantone is how many people had been using their colors without really needing to, and still getting cut off. They would usually be fine with a "close enough" shade. I can't tell if that's Adobe's fault, Pantone's, or (probably) both.

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#135

Post by [deleted] »

bborud wrote: post #94
amelius wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think their businessmodel simply expired. They have to think of something new or end up like Kodak.

Do you think their business model expired or do you think the products and services they provide are obsolete?

[deleted]

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#136

Post by moolcool »

WillAdams wrote: post #131
moolcool wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the car analogy, it seems to me more like Ford pushing a firmware update to remove support for Ethanol based fuels IMO.

No, because they are consciously choosing an option which their needs don't support, and which every time their files are professionally printed someone needs to explicitly change.

Their needs do support it though. They were happy with the output, and it printed on their inkjet printer just fine. Then Adobe rug-pulled and they weren't able to view their own files any more.

Re: Adobe no longer licenses Pantone colors to be used freely Photoshop

#137

Post by WillAdams »

moolcool wrote: post #136
WillAdams wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because they are consciously choosing an option which their needs don't support, and which every time their files are professionally printed someone needs to explicitly change.

Their needs do support it though. They were happy with the output, and it printed on their inkjet printer just fine. Then Adobe rug-pulled and they weren't able to view their own files any more.

It printed in a preview mode, not as a spot colour job --- if it's not getting printed as a spot colour, don't pick a colour so defined.
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