CC File Upload and Sync Not Available.

[Denis Danatzko]

I've been a committed Adobe customer for nearly 7 years now, starting with CS2. I like the Adobe suite, and have become accustomed to it. The only other editor I've used extensivlely was Edius Neo, (yes, the free version that came with my HMC-150 purchase). Despite my up-til-now comfort level with Adobe, I feel it may help others if I relate this synopsis of my experience with CC, as well as a warning (and a bit of a complaint) about it.

Learning that Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) allows for uploads of files to "the cloud", I recently subscribed so I'd be able to work on the same project from different locations where CC is also available without having to carry around 1 or more HDDs.

Upon completing the subscription process, I downloaded the necessary apps and software I needed, despite that being an unfamiliar process. The downloads of the major Adobe apps, e.g. PPro, were a little lengthy, but certainly reasonable in light of their size, and installation was pleasantly quicker than I expected.

I took on work as a contractor and began work on the project at the employer's location. I uploaded files to CC with the intent of accessing them from CC later on from home. Once there, when I tried to access the files, I found the files had disappeared. Because the time I had already spent on that project had been reported to the "employer", I faced the embarrasing situation of having nothing to show for it and little to work with other than the raw footage, and faced the prospect of re-creating what had already been done and either billing the employer a second time, or sacrificing my time without remuneration.

Checking the Adobe forums, I learned I'm not the only one affected by this, that there apparently were a number of CC subscribers in a similar situation, i.e. files that had been previously uploaded were no longer available. After perusing the Adobe forum, I found that the upload and sync features of CC apparently have been put up and taken down at least a couple of times over the past few months, and, as of this date and time, are not available. Compounding the confusion, I found no indication as to when those features might return. (I even read 1 posting almost identical to my situation, i.e. where a new subscriber had done - and billed their employer for - work that was not accessible from CC).

So, "caveat emptor" to anyone considering a new subscription; don't expect ALL features - specifically "Upload (and Dowload)" and "Sync" - to be fully functional, at least as of this time and date.

The history of Adobe's handling of the shift from "purchased" software to CC might serve as a case study in market/customer manipulation; (I know I feel like I was manipulated to some degree):
As I recall, a year or so ago, following what I gather was some major problem or other shortcoming with FCP, Adobe jumped on that situation by offering sizeable discounts for their products, hoping to get frustrated FCP users to switch from that to Adobe products. From what I've seen online, that effort seems to have been pretty successful. I suspect all the while Adobe knew - and had already set in motion - the move from "purchased" software to a suscription model without saying a word to their newly-enlarged customer base about that upcoming move.

Having spent years programming and maintaining software in a very large data center, and distributing new releases of large systems to multiple sites, I had some sense of how complicated implementation of something like CC would be. (Frankly, I also thought that taking on the monumental effort such as the move to "the cloud" showed a bit of arrogance on Adobe's part, i.e. that Adobe could do this with so few problems that their now-larger customer base would not suffer). WIth those years of experience in mind, I expected there to be problems and hesitated to subscribe until at least 1 year out. However, an offer of work came my way which behooved me to subscribe to CC.
Now that I've subscribed, and without the upload and sync features being available as of this writing, there seems to be little, if any, advantage to using CC over my "purchased" version of CS6, i.e. I subscribed with the specific intent of using features that presently either don't work or are unavailable.

Yes, the original files are still available at the employer's location, and yes, I could return to saving multiple copies on HDDs and hauling those around with me between locations, but I counted on - and am committed to paying for - services that my subscription fees are not providing. (I know I'm not alone, and appreciate a venue such as this to vent my frustration).

My (admittedly useless - and obnoxiously obvious) complaint, while likely shared by others, is that Adobe is collecting subscription fees while not providing all the services to which subscribers' payments entitle them, and have even relied upon.

In light of the now-larger customer base that Adobe has garnered, the amount of "work" lost due to this situation is likely immeasurable. I wonder if/how Adobe intends to compensate for that lost work.
(FWIW, it would require more than a year's worth of free subscription costs at my current subscription rate to compensate for the amount of money I've already charged to my "employer" for the project for which I subscribed to CC in the first place).

(Apologies for the length).