Yes there are alternatives, Affinity, Pixelmator, etc, but all that's being taught in educational institutions is Adobe, and it's what the industry uses.
Private/small business users are a very small part of their business, but one that requires as many (if not more) support resources as large customers, so if anything they're probably happy to see them go elsewhere.
And no, i haven't used Adobe since they introduced subscriptions. I'll subscribe to media and cloud storage just fine, but not pay annual fees for micro software increments that 99% of the time doesn't add anything i need.
If they had something like Jetbrains where your subscription also gives a perpetual usage license for that specific version, then i could subscribe and upgrade when they actually added something i needed, and i'd likely reconsider.
Adobe isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It may at some point,but not in the next 10-15 years. The last time I looked at their SEC fillings, they are doing pretty good. Of course how they achieve this 'pretty good' is a whole new question on its own. Adobe is very strongly rooted in the design industry, there are very few alternatives that are mainly used by smaller shops or individuals. I do agree that they are absolutely riding on their own wave right now due to lack of competition, but someday, someone will come along with a better offering.
The industry back then was a fraction of the size it is now. Studebaker and Pierce Arrow are gone too, but that doesn't mean Ford can vanish overnight.
It might be what part of the industry uses, but they’re steadily losing the rest. E.g. UX design has overwhelmingly moved from Photoshop to Sketch and Figma.
Yes there are alternatives, Affinity, Pixelmator, etc, but all that's being taught in educational institutions is Adobe, and it's what the industry uses.
Private/small business users are a very small part of their business, but one that requires as many (if not more) support resources as large customers, so if anything they're probably happy to see them go elsewhere.
And no, i haven't used Adobe since they introduced subscriptions. I'll subscribe to media and cloud storage just fine, but not pay annual fees for micro software increments that 99% of the time doesn't add anything i need.
If they had something like Jetbrains where your subscription also gives a perpetual usage license for that specific version, then i could subscribe and upgrade when they actually added something i needed, and i'd likely reconsider.