I've had a chance to talk to Adobe folks about the switch to the CC and why they dropped the perpetual license. For the most part, Adobe claims they were caught off guard by how people gravitated to the CC. While they didn't provide actual numbers, they did claim the vast majority of people who upgraded did not purchase CS6. Rather, they bought into the CC. Adobe started preparing CS7, but at a certain point they realized that the cost of preparing two versions of the same software—one that would be updated and one that would not—was going to not be a wise use of their resources. Ergo, drop the less popular option.

If you want a perpetual license for the Adobe Suite, go out and buy CS6. Yes it's a year old, but a year from now you will still have the same suite, no more payments, it will always be on your desktop. Today at Adobe MAX, Adobe announced that the Perpetual license, that which you buy and you are done, will no longer be sold. Now, if you want the latest from Adobe, you rent it. This is a mixed bag, truly.