Is adobe allowing free downloads of PS CS 2? NO.

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
January 11, 2013
5 replies
24733 views

I heard this in an illustration class I am taking, with some people claiming they have downloaded the program. I can't believe this is true.....somebody please advise. Thanks in advance.

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Correct answer J453

"Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers. While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers."

Noel Carboni

Legend

Doesn't anyone care to do what's legal and right if they're not absolutely forced to do so? Is this the generation we've raised?

If I leave my car parked with the windows open will the folks who feel "Photoshop is now free" come by and steal what they can?

What's wrong with these people?

-Noel

station_two

Inspiring

Noel Carboni wrote:
....If I leave my car parked with the windows open will the folks who feel "Photoshop is now free" come by and steal what they can?...

Sure they will.

Noel Carboni wrote:
...What's wrong with these people?

They're thieves, plain and simple.

Chris Cox

Legend

No, there are no free downloads. The downloads are there for people who bought CS2 and have a valid license.

mytaxsite

Inspiring

Chris Cox wrote:
No, there are no free downloads. The downloads are there for people who bought CS2 and have a valid license.

So why is there a link for downloads with full serial numbers. Are you saying that the Adobe Staff are completely stupid to leave it there despite knowing it. See my previous post where I posted the link. Remove the link or please clarify the facts after you have checked with your superiors.

Noel Carboni

Legend

juggalord2k13 wrote:
I totally get what you're saying Noel. Here's a missing piece of the puzzle too.. Suppose that you're Joe Casual. It's January 7th. You're doing your Twitter thing and one of your friends tweets that Adobe is giving away CS2 for free. He read it on legit sites like Gizmodo or Forbes and wanted to pass it on. You download it. You install it. You use it. You never give it a second thought. In fact, like everybody else that day, you've got no reason to think that it's not free. You're not likely to lurk on the Adobe forums and you got the direct page link second hand. What then?
A guy like that, who probably represents the average person, will never know what's being talked about on these forums. He certainly wasn't misled, as credible sites repored that CS2 was free. He's not a criminal and has no cause to believe that he is; Adobe did, after all, leave it out in the open as they would any other free download. He's not trying to get away with anything either.

I don't disagree that Adobe screwed the pooch...(wouldn't be the first time Adobe made an announcement that was flat out wrong). The motivation was, however, trying to do the right thing for the legit users of CS2 that would be impacted by turning off the activation servers for CS2. Why that happened and what prompted the turning off of the activation servers isn't clear (it may never be). But Adobe acted to try to help out legit users.

Was this a total FUBAR situation? Yes...

Was Adobe trying to help out the CS2 users? Yes...

Did Adobe screw up? Yes...

However, Adobe is "trying" to correct the situation...prolly sticking a finger in the dam to try to prevent a flood. But, CS2 is old tech...it won't run well on ANY currently shipping OS. So, those people who think they've scored a cool freebie will find out the moment they buy a new computer with a modern OS will be shyte out of luck...they'll have to go out an BUY Photoshop to run it (I can see the tech support nightmares now–hey, you guys–Adobe-gave aways CS2 and now I have a new computer and why aren't you updated the software I though was free to something that runs on my new computer?

Anybody here should know that only license holders of CS2 are entitled to download and install the non-activation versions of CS2 and use the serial numbers provided.

You guys can go on slugging it out here if ya want...but the bottom line is if you read this thread you know darn well that downloading the non-activation versions of CS2 without a legit licence is bogus (even if it's Adobe's fault it happened).

You have to admit, it's an interesting internet dynamic, though...

By way of analogy...

Premise: A local jewery shop with some nice stuff inside has bars on the windows, armed guard inside 24/7, dogs, laser perimeter monitoring... They've had it for years.

Then one day they pull down the bars, send the guard home, put the dogs in a kennel, turn off the lasers, and leave the door unlocked when they go home. They put the good stuff in a safe, but the older jewelry they just leave in the cases.

Would passers by notice the complete change in security stance, and make the leap that everything in the store must now be free for the taking?

That's the kicker. In the real world, by the turnaround from "locked down hard" to "walk on in", people would not generally assume the contents of the store is theirs for the taking; most have learned that other people's stuff is still other people's stuff, even when it's not locked down.

Yes, maybe the shady characters that might have tested the door when it was locked would now avail themselves of the merchandise, but the average joe wouldn't. Nor, I suspect, would the local paper just make the assumption that "all the old jewelry is now free."

I hope that this isn't a glimpse of the future, and we're not headed toward a society where everything that's not locked down hard can just be expected to be taken. We're already part of the way there to be sure, but in my experience in most places still you can forget to lock your car and everything's still there when you get back.

-Noel

J

J453Correct answer

Legend

"Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers. While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers."