Is this fraud

[Bernie25489876s6z0]

When I brought photoshop cs3 and lightroom 4, I thought I owned them( the price was high enough), but now Adobe will not let me move my software from an old pc to a new one.  How is that legal?

[davescm · Accepted solution]

You purchased a licence to use the software and still can on your old machine, as long as you keep it installed. 

What has been closed down is the activation servers for that 15 year old software, which has been replaced by 12 major versions and many more minor versions since. 

Dave

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Aside from what @davescm already stated: Are you even sure this obsolete version would work with the OS on your new computer? 

To me it seems some people who decide to stick with obsolete software because they don’t see a benefit in the newer fearures forget that compatibility with newer OS’ and hardware are »features«, too. (edited)

[Derek Cross]

Hi Bernie

Welcome to this friendly forum.

Just so you know, you can get the latest version of Photoshop and updates as they become available plus Lightroom and some storage for about $10 a month. Why not download the seven-day free trial to see it on your brand new computer; there's lots of new features, and it will be compatible with your system.

[TheDigitalDog]

  How is that legal?

By @Bernie25489876s6z0

It's legal because you agreed to the EULA just to install the software (like virtually every software product you purchased only a license (and that's all you purchased), to use.

Did you read this entirely?

https://www.adobe.com/products/eula/tools/captivate.html

[Retune]

Whether it's legal or not may depend on your local consumer laws, which might override any EULA clauses judged to be unreasonable, especially as Adobe has a working solution they could reasonably be expected to offer you, an activation-free version of CS3 and matching key they used to provide on request via a support website but are now failing to distribute (activation queries are stonewalled by live customer support). I recall one poster on this forum was able to get Adobe to provide a (more recent) working version of Acrobat Pro when they could no longer activate their original by sending a formal letter to Adobe mentioning the possibility of legal action. I wonder how Adobe would respond to a similar request for the activation-free CS3 installer?

I was under the impression that versions of Lightroom before 6 don't require online activation, just a key, but I may well be wrong.

[Per Berntsen]

I was under the impression that versions of Lightroom before 6 don't require online activation, just a key

By @Retune

That's correct. You only need to enter the serial number, but if LR 4 was an upgrade from an earlier version, you'd also need to enter the serial number from the version you upgraded from.

Whether LR 4 will work on Windows 10 or 11 is another matter.

There have been reports from LR 6 users that only the latest version (6.14) will work properly.