Given information that Pantone palletes will be removed from Adobe software libraries this March, and Pantone focusing on promoting their Pantone Connect extension subscription model, i was wondering if anyone heard anything about it regarding Corel software.
If the Pantone color libraries are not removed from the impending release of CorelDRAW 2022 I figure it will only be a matter of time before they are removed. Give it a few months or maybe a year. But we'll have to see what kinds of consequences take place in March and the months following that after Pantone's color libraries are removed from Adobe software.I don't know what Adobe, Corel or any other vendor is having to pay Pantone to bundle those color libraries into the graphics software (or even if they're paying Pantone anything at all). Whatever the terms may be I think Pantone, X-Rite and the higher ups who own those companies are making a really stupid mistake by letting those libraries be removed from Adobe's software. I can't see this being a good thing at all for Pantone. I think they're taking a big gamble and it's going to backfire on them.Pantone is not the only color library standard. There are other spot and process color systems available (and bundled into many graphics applications, such as CorelDRAW). I always looked at the existence of those color libraries within software like CorelDRAW as a form of advertising. Pantone makes a bunch of its money selling physical swatch books and other kinds of products. The little color palettes within graphics applications are a way to sell those physical products. If those Pantone electronic swatch libraries are removed from the applications it's going to make Pantone a lot less visible. Pantone may end up seeing sales levels of their physical products drop.Some users will be forced to pay $60 per year per computer to use the Pantone Connect service. But I think a great deal of users will just adapt around the removal. Some users may put the Pantone color palettes in the nice to have but do not need category. Thanks largely to the Internet many companies already use RGB, CMYK or even L*a*b values to describe the official colors of their branding in addition to Pantone values. With Pantone's swatches removed from Adobe's applications it may lead to many firms to just stop using Pantone in color specifications. Adobe claims they're developing some kind of work-around, but no details have emerged about that yet.
Bobby Henderson said:Whatever the terms may be I think Pantone, X-Rite and the higher ups who own those companies are making a really stupid mistake by letting those libraries be removed from Adobe's software.
I can envision the executives at Pantone convincing each other around a boardroom table that they are providing essential, critical, and irreplaceable technology. To the point where they think they have a monopoly on color.
Pantone has a good and unique business, but seeking predictable ongoing revenue through a curiously expensive subscription model is excessive. Perhaps they have too many staff to feed (100+ staff) and are frantically trying to justify keeping everyone.
I'm wondering if it would be considered a kind of anti-trust violation if Adobe introduced its own spot and process color libraries. They still haven't mentioned details of their work-around. A new color library system could be a possible work-around.
Bobby Henderson said:A new color library system could be a possible work-around.
Great point... and Adobe has the cash resources to do that. Literally start fresh.
Plus... they could even market Adobe-branded swatch books and color scanning equipment, to have a comprehensive in-house solution.
The Adobe Integrated Color Accuracy Systemᵀᴹ
OK, I just made that up.
If Adobe is irritated with Pantone? Adobe can bury them in 5 years - or at least cause huge damage.
I wonder kind of production costs are involved in making the spot and process color swatch books sold by Pantone (and others). Pantone recommends you replace the swatch books at least once a year. But when a package of Pantone Plus Series spot color swatch books (coated and uncoated) costs $150-$200 or more most people will keep them quite a bit longer. It would be interesting if Adobe could sell a similar product for considerably less money.
For a long time Pantone had a pretty stable list of spot colors. In recent years they've gotten into the habit of adding a few more colors each year, probably as another way to push people into updating their swatch books. My workplace has to have those things on hand. I'm jealously protective of mine. From time to time various people want to "borrow" those swatch books, be it a customer or a co-worker who works out in the fabrication shop or on one of our install/service trucks. Nope. They don't leave my desk.
Bobby Henderson said:Pantone recommends you replace the swatch books at least once a year. But when a package of Pantone Plus Series spot color swatch books (coated and uncoated) costs $150-$200 or more most people will keep them quite a bit longer.
When I was starting out, I bought a gently used Pantone spot color swatchbook (coated and uncoated) from a medium-sized print shop For $50.00. I thought that was fair for both of us. They wanted the most current swatchbook for their operation, which is plausible.
I was so green back then... I didn't realize the difference between spot colors and process colors. What I really should have asked for was the 4-color process color guide, as all of my projects were CMYK.
Oh well... meeting with clients with that swatchbook in hand implied that I knew what I was doing. Why else would I have any kind of swatchbook?
Bobby Henderson said:I wonder kind of production costs are involved in making the spot and process color swatch books sold by Pantone (and others).
A printer I was talking to to outlined the massive cost difference between making the books. Think about the unique colors that would have to be loaded in each ink fountain to run the spot swatches.
Bobby Henderson said:It would be interesting if Adobe could sell a similar product for considerably less money.
This is what I mean... They could lose money for years to crush Pantone - out of spite. But Adobe doesn't need to lose anything. If Adobe announces their own swatches and system, it's an easy sell to their users as something that's integrated, new, and fully compatible with ALL Adobe products, and the "New Standard". Due to Covid, we'll are familiar with Mandatory Compliance.
Starting 2024, Say Hello to Adobe Color Complianceᵀᴹ.
OK, I made that up too.
But in 2024, artists and customers could be called on the carpet to explain themselves for why they are *not* Adobe Color Compliantᵀᴹ.