$600 per year for Photoshop Extended though.... that's a bit steep for a rental...
Seems so, but perception is a tricky thing. If you commit to a year at a time, Ps CS5 Extended is $49/mo., so compare that with $999 initially and a $249 upgrade about every 1.5 years (product release cycle average). You'll find that your break-even point is at 25 months. Before that, you'll have spent less renting.
In fact, the true break-even is further out, since you don't shell out $1000 right off the bat to rent.
ETA:
For those with long-term requirements, a perpetual license is of course still the way to go. I can, however, see potential for small to medium size businesses that have varying requirements for number of licenses. If you need one or two additional licenses for a few months due to a spike in demand, just pick up a couple months subscription. Very economical.
I done some quick figures on the subscription vs. purchase on CS5.
I don't think it's the way to go if your planning on needing Photoshop beyond 12 months.
Reasons:
The subscription is nothing more than a rent-to-own without the OWN.
At 25 months you have paid for the original purchase and one upgrade. From that point on you overpaying.
Example:
I ran it out to 60 months (5yrs) comparing both purchase and subscription. At that point (if prices stayed the same on upgrade and monthly rate) you would have paid around $1600 for purchase vs. $2940 for subscription.
