Participant

Answered

My Trial is limited to 7 days, Why?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
April 10, 2016
25 replies
104316 views

Just loaded the photography trial and it says 7 days only? I am pretty sure I am going to purchase, but would like to take advantage of the full trial,

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Pete.Green

Hi all,

From time to time we run tests on Adobe.com to help us ensure we are providing the best experience possible for our customers. These tests cover a range of items, including the duration of app trials, and may or may not be presented to all visitors to Adobe.com. We are currently running a number of tests in select countries that are testing for shorter and longer trial duration periods.

Regards

Pete

Show previous replies

A

Andreas Urra

Participating Frequently

I think the move to 7 days is very unwise, especially in regard to students and universities that do not run dedicated computer labs for video work, i.e. where students cannot be provided hard- and software and have to work with their own computers.

We often have groups of students with small video projects that would span about 30 days. The departments cannot afford to buy licenses for students and the university won't. The university's policy cannot force or expect students to buy software. The 30 day trial was ideal for such seminars. Seven days are no option anymore.

By now, we have to look for viable alternatives that we can recommend to our students. So far this leads to a migration towards DaVinci Resolve and Lightworks.

I cannot imagine that this is in the interest of Adobe. Especially with the market offering so many free or low cost alternatives (FCP, Resolve, Fusion, Incscape, GIMP, etc.)

Peru Bob

Community Expert

Andreas Urra wrote:
The university's policy cannot force or expect students to buy software.

Don't they require them to purchase books?

I really don't see any difference between books and software.

ProDesignTools

Community Expert

On average, the price of college textbooks costs over $1,000/year, for 3-4 months of use apiece. The first 12 months of an All Apps Creative Cloud membership for students costs $239, which could be the cost of one book and doesn't seem so bad by comparison

It's not uncommon for an individual book to cost more than $200, and some have price tags that go as high as $400, the report said. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but the College Board recommends that students budget about $1,200 a year for textbooks and supplies.Feb 10, 2016

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/students-are-still-saddled-soaring-textbook-costs-report-says-n516011

jaynim

Participating Frequently

I run a business out of my house and am here almost all the time and 7 days isn't enough to decide if I like a program, let alone try and figure out the basics if it is something I've never used. I will move away from all Adobe products if this is the case, I downloaded a 7 day trial of Premiere because I was looking at trying out some different video software and I have never used any Premiere Product prior to this. My trial then ended 2 days early and customer service couldn't even help me, and because of this I never even got a chance to use it. Customer Service then told me to actually PURCHASE it so I could continue trying it and then ask for my money back in 14 days. Um, but sorry no, a software company that doesn't know how to manage a trial properly or know how to extend a trial correctly? I'm not gonna now pay you to mess up even further than you already have.... Hopefully it decreases their sales, and maybe they'll see the stupidity, but I doubt it. I am not a Hollywood director or anything so I can accomplish my videos and am happy with Corel anyway and its cheaper so I can't complain.

Terri Stevens

Legend

I agree that 7 days is too short a time to evaluate software that can take years to learn before becoming competent. I would go for 14 days as that should be sufficient to get a flavour of what is on offer and know it installs properly with your hardware, but the trial period doesn't seem to have had any impact on sales with big increases in sales reported last year.

I think the reality is that if you are in the market with a real need for a photo-editor like Photoshop or a NLE like Premiere you will buy it irrespective of a trial being available. In the early days of personal computing there were no trials, if you needed Lotus 123 or Wordperfect you just bought it. What customer service told you is the best way to do it as you then get 21 days for free. The trial mechanism cannot be easily reset, if it could the pirates would learn the trick and piracy would be an even bigger problem than it already is-and that's bad enough.

jaynim

Participating Frequently

I was in the market for video software, so adobe clearly doensnt know what their doing, but I was also shorted several days and looking at everything probably didn't even have 7 days because I didn't have my clock set right on my computer. I understand that trips the system but seriously not everyone has their clock set right, I just didn't have it set up to change with dlst and hadn't fixed it, cause I only go on my computer for certain things and don't rely on that clock. They should be able to tell the difference in a software product with having the clock set wrong or intentionally change it to scam days. Also maybe I am one of the few that takes the full 30 days but when I am legitimately deciding, it takes sometimes more than a week. I think the issue with adobe has less to do with trying software and more to do with the market that uses its product, that they cant tell the difference between the type of people that use their products. Many people especially in schools and businesses are taught their skills on adobe products and it is the norm, so of course people will decide in less than a week, I am a photoshop person and know how to use it so its not an issue, but when I start going into other products it takes me time to learn them and more than a week if I am comparing it to another product....

N

nadinekkelly

Participant

I just downloaded the 2017 Indesign Trial, which it said upon startup that I have 7 days to use it. My laptop battery power ran out just after I opened it so I had to reopen the programme half an hour later. Now it says my trial has expired after being in the programme for 5 mins prior to my laptop shutting down! Can anyone help me as to how I can reactivate this trial? I cant see anythin in the creative cloud pop up box?

Peru Bob

Community Expert

Make sure that your system clock is set correctly.

J

jmegafauna

Participant

It would have been nice to know this before I installed it to get ready for when I can use it next week.

Terri Stevens

Legend

take a look at my post in this thread from 21st September.

BC947

Participant

Very disappointing to see that the Lightroom/Photoshop trial is now 7 days from the expected 30 days.

I currently use ACDSee Ultimate to manage my 10's of thousands of images. ACDSee performs very well as a DAM (digital assets management) program and is substantially cheaper then Adobe. However, from reading reviews and blogs I've had Lightroom/Photoshop envy for sometime and want to take a serious look at the Adobe industry standard to see if I should make the switch. Some blogs say that the ACDSee's DAM works better/faster than Adobe's, but the image editing/retouching is much better with Adobe, something that I am very interested in.

However, with an evaluation period of only 7 days the decision is likely made for me - stay with ACDSee. I'm not going commit myself to an expensive annual subscription just for testing purposes.

Terri Stevens

Legend

I have not used ACDsee so cannot compare with Photoshop/Lightroom, but programs don't get to be market leaders just because they come from big name companies they also need to prove themselves in a working environment. Many of us here think 7 days is too short to adequately assess the software, but others look on it as rather like watching a trailer for a movie on YouTube-you tend to know if you will like it very quickly. You can in fact get a three week free trial by a slightly surreptitious method -simply run your seven day trial and when it expires subscribe to the Photographic plan at $10/month. Use the product for 13 days and then cancel. Adobe have a no quibble money back guarantee in these circumstances and will refund your $10 to whatever credit card you used.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

I feel that educators expecting their students to use free trials is talking the mickey. Though I have heard of educators issuing cracked versions. They should be struck off.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Adobe perhaps feel that 7 days is long enough to make a purchasing decision. And perhaps they were fed up of people using trials to complete projects.

John Waller

Community Expert

Agreed. That's been my theory since the day the change was implemented.

Too many people using 30 day trials to complete short term projects.

Terri Stevens

Legend

Don't you think it's a question of getting a balance between those who want to get a one off project done and encouraging the millions of photographers , amateur and professional to try the products? If you look at the huge growth in the use of Photoshop since the introduction of the inexpensive Photographic Plan, it is fairly obvious Adobe have tapped into a completely new market of hobbyists and educational users who now can afford the product. The snag is Photoshop has always been perceived as software that is hard to learn and by shortening the trial period Adobe will inevitable enforce that belief. I have never heard of anyone opening Photoshop for the first time and saying 'wow this looks easy' and a short trial will just make some say it's too complicated for them.

Adobe must already know from their market statisticians how many trials at 30 days translated into closed sales and I suspect it will be a question of how the figures on the seven day trial compare with closed sales that will finally decide things. There is something to be said for not having a trial at all as it makes it easy for pirates to reverse engineer the trial mechanism and turn it into the real thing. It's a guess but I would suspect there are far more business' around the world using cracks than getting a trial to complete a short term project, but that's a whole different can of worms.

S

susanb46063357

Participant

I signed up for a 30 day trial and now only have 7. Why? I've scanned this thread and there is still no answer.

S

susanb46063357

Participant

BTW I downloaded it and started it today.

Terri Stevens

Legend

All the Adobe trials are now 7 days only Susan. It is completely inadequate for apps that can take years to learn but in their wisdom Adobe have deemed it enough. If you want 3 weeks its quite possible though. When your trial expires after seven days, subscribe to Creative Cloud at $10 a month and then cancel within 14 days. Adobe has a no quibble money back guarantee and will refund the $10 to your credit card without any questions and that way you get a 21 day trial. There is nothing to stop you from subscribing for real afterwards if you choose. If everybody knew about this I bet the trial would soon revert to 30 days as it does cost Adobe money the other way.

chrish60905594

Participant

I also was promised 30 days and instead recieved 7 on my trial. This is a dealbreaker for me. Adobe, there are a lot of free yet competitive programs out there that are easy to access, so why are you pissing off potential clients like this?