Adobe plans to halt boxed sales of its Creative Suite software, making its packages for creative pros available online or by subscription only.

“As Adobe continues to focus on delivering world-class innovation through Creative Cloud and digital fulfillment, we will be phasing out shrink-wrapped, boxed versions of Creative Suite and Acrobat products,” an Adobe spokesperson told TechHive in an email. The company continued, “Electronic downloads for Creative Suite and Acrobat products will continue to be available—as they are today—from both Adobe.com, as well as reseller and retail partners. We are in the process of notifying our channel partners and customers, as plans solidify in each region.”

This confirmation follows two stories that appeared on the websites of two of Adobe’s resellers, Toolfarm and SoftwareMedia. Both blogs cite a May 1 cut-off date for boxed availability.

Given that many laptop computers do not feature optical drives anymore, the demand for disc-based software has faded over time, so this long-anticipated move by Adobe is not surprising. Moreover, over the past year, Adobe has come out with its new subscription-based software distribution channel, Creative Cloud, which charges individual users $50 per month for its entire slate of creative software.

Over the last year, Adobe has made a concerted effort to sweeten the Creative Cloud environment for its customers. It has offered new and exclusive features to them for joining the cloud-based service and added software packages for web design into the mix.

The software that will now be available electronically only or via subscription includes the entire Adobe Creative Suite family, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, Speedgrade, Prelude, and their companion apps.

This move affects both Mac and Windows platforms.

This story, "Adobe plans to halt boxed sales of Creative Suite software " was originally published by TechHive .