One of the major complaints of Adobe’s move to the Creative Cloud has been the fear of losing access to files if and when a user ends their subscription to Creative Cloud. However, early reports suggest that files created in Photoshop CC can be opened in older version of Photoshop, including files that have been altered with Photoshop CC-only effects/features.
Dave Cross, who has access to an early version of Photoshop CC took this concern to task and created Photoshop CC files, including Photoshop CC-specific features. He then saved those files and re-opened them in Photoshop CS5.
The result?
The image looked the same as it did in Photoshop CC.
As a result, he can still print the image or render it out as a JPEG, TIFF, PNG or some other format. However, the layers that used features only available in Photoshop CC could not be edited without causing the Photoshop CC effects to disappear. Layers that consisted of effects available in previous version of Photoshop acted normal and editable.
So, at least some of the concern with files not being accessible after a Creative Cloud subscription ends can be put to rest. Of course, there are plenty of other concerns on the table that have yet to be addressed.