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

I seem to recall it was introduced in the CS2 products, but I could be wrong. I have InDesign CS (first CS version) that doesn't require activation so I assumed all CS1 apps don't require it. Somewhere in this or another thread, somebody said activation in CS2 was a nightmare so maybe it started with CS2.

I don't have any CS2 licenses because I skipped to CS3. I heard about all the CS2 problems with activation not working and figured it would be a waste of money.

Reading all of these threads about this phenomenon will just give you a headache.

There's a lot that's unsaid, so our imaginations can run a bit...

Imagine, for a moment, that perhaps somehow the technology to manage the activation server itself grew stale and stopped working.

Adobe, in taking on the responsibility to manage Activations, made a committment to its customers buying "perpetual" licenses to allow them to run the Adobe software perpetually, right?

How do they solve the problem?

They might provide a build of Photoshop that accepts a special serial number, and which contacts no activation server, avoiding the old, non-working activation system.

Now, how they roll that out is not fixed... Maybe a bright spark in marketing figures they could win/win/win by making it publicly available. This would:

Fix the problem for licensed customers.
Reduce service cost - fewer folks have to call in, or the ones that do get a link and finish the call in 15 seconds, which makes Customer Service seem like heroes.
Adobe goes viral and Photoshop comes to the forefront in the minds of millions more people. Some of those people try it, say, "gee, not bad!" and buy a current subscription to Photoshop.

All this is speculation, but it's what I might do.

-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."