Old CS3 install & activation

[stefanor97904920]

As many other I read about inline, I had to change my old pc with a new one and I wasn't able to reinstall my old InDesign CS3 I do use very rarely with old files. My job doesn't require to purchase a subscription. Online activation no longer works, but I was able to install and older Photoshop CS2 because some years ago Adobe let me download an activating free installer. I do have two licensed PageMaker, two InDesign I bought as upgrade and a Photoshop CS2. A dozen years ago I paid almost 4000 euros for those apps and now Adobe's support tells me my licenses is wastepaper. Does anyone have the installer free for InDesign CS3 so I can open my files? I do repeat: I do have two purchased, regular licenses.

And don't tell me about "old software bla bla bla", because it worked ok with Win 8.1 and 10, and I don't need a new one as I use it very rarely.

Thanks

[Derek Cross]

If you do want to use a new version of InDesign that's compatible with your OS, but you only want to use it occasionally, you can pay a bit more and just pay by the month(s) you need it. Just a thought.

[reinier_1329]

It is weird that something you paid for and then Adobe decides you cannot use it anymore. Assume this happened with your car. Sorry sir, it is too old, you can only rent one.

In my opinion this is illegal, but we cannot win from those huge coperations and they know this. But no Adobe for me anymore.

[Derek Cross]

I think you need to offer more information. As mentioned, like all software companies, Adobe applications are updated to offer new features and to be compatible with new operating systems. If you want to continue to use an old version, don't update your system.

[reinier_1329]

The discussion here was about Indesign CS3. It worked fine and I use it once a year now, maybe 1 or 2 days. That is it. But my hard disk crashed, so I had to reinstall it and then Adobe 'said' you cannot reinstall it anymore, take a subscription.

It paid 100s of euro for the software and now I cannot use something I bought. I know I should clone a hard drive, but even then it might not work anymore. I never tried it, so i couldn't tell.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Did you ever read the fine print when installing the software? Might want to check that out before saying it is illegal. 

[reinier_1329]

In my eyes it is illegal and there is nothing in the fine print on the box.

Just like 15 year ago I bought an Epson printer which was fine, but they programmed to give a message after a certain amount of prints which said "it needs to be serviced". So I called Epson and they admitted nothing was wrong with my printer, this was just how they make sure to sell more printers.

So, I had to throw away a fine functioning printer with inkt and all. Nobody ever reads the fine print on a printer box, but it wasn't mentioned on it anyway.

New law prevented these companies from doing this with their printers, but it was too late for me. The useless service cost were twice as much as what I paid for it. And it was only a software reset. So, everybody who had such a printer threw it away, which of course is good for the enviornment and the climte.....

[reinier_1329]

Sorry, correction: It should be illegal is what I wanted to say.

When leasing a product of course they can change things or stop a service, but I think it is wrong when you paid for a product and then from a distance they can cancel your product. (there are exception if someone uses illegal keys i.e.)

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Hardware and software are Apples and oranges. You never owned the software--you just licensed it. 

[reinier_1329]

I own a lot of software, which I paid for and doesn't have small print they can shut it down whenever they feel like it. So it is not apples and oranges.

But the likes as Adobe or Windows do. These companies are just too big and can do whatever they want.

Adobe is losing a lot of customers now.. Maybe they finally see they should not treat their customers the way they do?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Really? What software doesn't have fine print?

Even software that has lifetime updates is only good for the lifetime the company decides on. Sometimes it's the lifetime of the company, sometimes it arbritary. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Adobe sold you the software in all good faith, assuring it would work on the specifed hardware and OS at the time of sale. You purchased nothing else. There was no promise, implicit or implied, that it would run on hardware 14 years evolved.

Adobe didn't shut down anything but the last dregs of support, a solid ten years after CS3 was well into obsolescence.

I'm not defending Adobe or any other maker here — just expressing my irritation at the flatly silly argument that "I bought this twenty years ago, and it should still be fully supported and work on any system I own." Do you feel the same way about all the expensive analog TVs you bought before 2000? Or game consoles that only have RF3/4 outputs?

[reinier_1329]

I have a 20 year old tv and it still works, the company doesn't remotely shut it off.

I don't ask for support, just to be able to migrate my software to a new disk. The software was 700 dollar, the same price as my tv btw, which still is fine and doesn't stop working when I use another power cord.

"There was no promise, implicit or implied, that it would run on hardware 14 years evolved."

There was no word they shut it down when buying a new hard drive either.

I thought we all had to care for the planet, I do, but I guess nobody cares. I don't buy a new computer with every new thingy that is out. And as long as my tv keeps working, I keep it.

Canon doesn't shut of my firmware in my camera either. They might not have parts anymore for certain models, which is understandable, but the firmware keeps working just fine.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

But I'd bet you don't have a 25-year old TV that works, other than to play from a VCR or show static. And you'd be just as unreasonable to complain to RCA or GE or whomever that your expensive set doesn't pick up DTV. It worked as promised... but the landscape changed.

Look, I understand your frustration and I am in no way saying that ending support for software is a universally okay thing.  But I've thrown away thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of software that was never going to run again unless I kept a Windows XP machine around to run it on. And if I should build a first-gen Pentium XP machine... I certainly wouldn't expect the software maker to drop everything and do whatever it took for me to get that software up and running. Software is not and never has been a product; it's a digital service. And services are inherently limited in useful lifespan, by one factor or another.

If you want to make the case you didn't get your $700 worth out of the software in, oh, say, the first ten years, maybe that's different. But none of this is underhanded or sneaky or prosecutable or, in the end, fixable. It's you who wants to use deeply obsolescent software; I'm sure there's some hacker site out there that can help.

[reinier_1329]

It is still the same computer, when a tv doesn't work anymore is different. Not too happy about it, because I hate throwing away something which works well. But if systems change, I get it. My Wifi (as good as new) set cannot receive the new digital service here, it has an analogue radio. So I have to buy a digital receiver or a new Hifi set.

But this was just the same computer, just a different hard drive. I used it only for a charity once and while. But when you enter the license code you get a notification you cannot use it anymore. So, it has nothing to do with support. And I don't want to use hackers and I doubt anyone bothers with CS3 anyway.

I know, it is what it is.But I would have appreciated if they let me just use the software I paid for just on my own computer. It is too hard for me to learn how the new versions work.

Oh well, life goes on.

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there,

I am hoping that your issue has been resolved till now. If not, please feel free to update this thread else let us know if any of the suggestions shared above helped you or not.

Regards,

Sheena

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi Sheena,

issues like that cannot be resolved. The only option not to subscribe is to install a legal perpetual version of InDesign CS4, CS5, CS5.5 or CS6 on the machine and work on with that.

That a once bought perpetual version of CS3 can be installed, but perhaps only as a 30-days trial, is very unfortunate.

That it cannot be activated, because the activation servers are down, are understandable.

But that the special CS3 version that once was offered instead is not available anymore is a scandal.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[ernst.w]

The problem ist that InDesign CS3 was the last version beein able to read PageMaker files. And sometimes (as an example technical manuals) is would be necessary to get rid of those very old files by transforming them to somethow actual useful file formats.

Whether CS4, CS5, CS6 or rent versions of Creative Cloud can solve this problem. Therefore I have perchased a additional licence of ID CS3 after recognizing that CS4 would not do the job. To by adobe licences was - from the vantage point of the present - the wrong way. There are a lot of licences from other software manufacturers normal working on my computer. Even with todays operating systems. Even ID CS3 could work with Windows 10 - but not long without activation.

[BobLevine]

That is all incorrect. CS6 was the last version that could open PM files, not CS3.

Additionally, CS4, 5, 5.5 and CS6 were perpetual versions.

[Laubender]

Hi Ernst,

why do you think, that InDesign CS4 cannot open and convert PageMaker files?

I think that's possible with CS4 through even CS6.

If you have a test PageMaker document I would like to convert it with CS6 to InDesign.

Put in on Dropbox and share a link.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[ernst.w]

Hi Uwe,

thanks a lot!

I thought it wouldn't work because I tried with CS4 and CS5 in former times and it did not work. Support told me at tis point that InDesign CS3 is the last version to open PM-files. Nobody would need this feature any longer.

As I am working with CS6 I tried again after your reply. And it works. I am more than astonished you can believe. And I had a nearer look on my CS6 installation with which I never tried to open PMDs since I installed. There is a PMReaderApp.exe which I had never recognized before. Could be the cause...

However: It work! And again: Many thanks to you!

P.S.: Seems I have to hurry up and change my working base. For me CC is not the solution. I'm not working for business any longer, just making books for me and my friends, at the moment with Adobe InDesign only. For me it's too much money and nobody else would pay the monthly rent. LR & Photoshop could be okay but does not help me and InDesign is to much money for my use.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

InDesign is more or less cumulative; you will probably find that all your existing skills, habits and processes work the same. but a little effort will gain you more powerful, flexible and streamlined tools as well.

I don't think you're being unreasonable for the "same" system to keep working. But with old software and setups, the best method is to clone the old drive onto a new one, if you can, and preserve all software, setup, configuration and things like activation keys. Adobe is far from the only maker who doesn't support new installations of old to very old apps.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

FYI--the Creative Cloud started with CS6 and I run InDesign CS6 from my subscription (along with the current version). I'm running Windows so its more backwards compatable than my Mac.