Thinking of buying from eBay?

[BobLevine]

Edited October 23, 2008

The original article that this post referred to has expired but there's still quite a bit of good information in this thread.

The point is that eBay software is a risky purchase with much of it illegally pirated.

Bob

[_vid83_]

I contacted Adobe chat. I chatted with two customer service representatives and both have informed me that my serial number is a legal/legit and that it not registered to anyone. On both occations, neither mentioned anything about it needing to be sold with a computer. Both times I asked whether I can use the serial number with the upgrade CD of CS4 and they told me that I could and I need not worry.
Also, my OEM CD came with manuals.

[Guest]

ya. good luck with that come upgrade time. :)

[BobLevine]

That was a very old version of Premier Pro...There may well have been
OEM versions of that back then.

But there's none of that for the CS4 apps though I've seen Acrobat
Standard distributed with document scanners.

Bob

[John T Smith]

>That was a very old version of Premier Pro...There may well have been OEM versions of that back then

My understanding is that during the change from Premiere 6x to Premiere Pro 1 Adobe sold a bundled version (to Sony for Vaio?) that was called either Premiere Standard or Premiere 7 (I have seen both names used when people ask questions)

Every now and then someone drops into the Premiere 6x or "latest" Premiere CS forums... and they are directed to the Premiere Pro 1x forum for "close enough" answers

As far as I know, there were never any updates for that bundled version... I don't know if Adobe ever offered a discount to update to any later version

PS - I started with Premiere with version 6, which was bundled with a Pinnacle Dv500 analog to digital card... I later used that to upgrade to PPro 2 (don't remember the discounted price, but it was a good sized savings over regular retail)

[Guest]

>PS - I started with Premiere with version 6,

which would be around ps version 5.5... about the last time i think ps was OEM'd... mighta been some 6 as well but that's the time frame.

[_stevefoobar_]

Obviously there is much confusion and lots of "opinions" about this and I'll never understand why companies like Adobe cause this confusion in the first place, then don't apparently do something to clear it all up.

They can certainly read this and many other threads and respond if they wanted to. Either they have licensed legal OEM copies of CS3 in the past or they haven't. I suppose only they know for sure!

And then they wonder why people create crack versions of their software, even just one day after they release a new version.

Very frustrating for those that either can't afford or can't justify the full price for the latest version but would be willing to buy a legal copy of an older version for a reduced price. That seems like a legitimate and vibrant market segment to me.

Are you listening Adobe? Do you care?

[Guest]

>Either they have licensed legal OEM copies of CS3 in the past or they haven't

they haven't. they've stated that here. just passing it on.

>And then they wonder why people create crack versions of their software, even just one day after they release a new version.

because some people will pay for it... a lot less than adobe sells it for.

>Are you listening Adobe? Do you care?

no. they're not, and they don't. ;)

[_Derrick_Moore_]

My first Photoshop was version 4 and it came bundled with a scanner for a
$200 extra fee. It was not called OEM, however - it was something like "For
bundled purchases only" or something.

[D__McCahill]

That is about the time that Photoshop stopped being bundled. For one thing, scanners dropped from the $1500 I paid for my first one, to the under $250 range (and lower since). It no longer became worth it to scanner makers to include Photoshop in their package, even if the OEM fee was only $100 or so. (Actually, if you paid $200 extra, then the OEM fee was probably a bit higher). They wrote their own limited software, and let the users buy Photoshop or get something else when they discovered how limited the included software was.

[_stevefoobar_]

Don this sounds plausible but are you really sure about CS3 being the right time-frame for OEM bundling to have stopped? I would have thought bundling because of scanner prices dropping would have occured a LONG time ago--more like Photohop version 6!

It would be so simple if Adobe would just state when they last licensed OEM copies in the U.S.

[D__McCahill]

Did I say CS3? The OEM for Photoshop probably ended before version 5.5.

I don't think Adobe has to publicly address this issue. OEM has not been available for over 10 years, and this is well know by, at least, the regular users of these forums. Anyone claiming to be selling OEM since then is pirating.

[_stevefoobar_]

OK, that does make much more sense and explains a lot. I'm now convinced there's not likely a legitimate OEM version of CS3 out there so I won't bother to pursue this.

Reading this thread and other online articles about piracy, I understand it's sometime nearly impossible to even recognize pirated software because of the sophisticated packing done by the more serious pirates.

That leaves me with the only logical conclusion--it's much safer to just download a cracked version of Adobe products where you know you can rely on getting a valid and fully working version and always be assured you have the latest version available.

OK, just kidding....just kidding...just kidding!

I guess I'll have to consider buying Adobe Photoshop Elements instead. I just wish the Adobe site had a clear comparison feature for feature of the differences between the two versions so it would be easier for me to decide (for example, I don't do any advanced color management or color profiling of my hardware and I know this is just one of the differences between the two versions).

Oh well...maybe I'll ask that on another thread.

Thanks everyone for your input and from keeping me from potentially wasting money and time with these pirated "OEM" versions.

Steve
Chicago, IL USA

[Guest]

how about taking a night course at a local college and getting photoshop at an educational discount?

[_stevefoobar_]

Wow...that's thinking "outside the box" Dave. Nice. I'll have to check that out. Chicago is large enough to probably have very low-cost classes (much lower than the price difference I would bet) but I'll have to check the Adobe requirements to qualify. It just might be worth it not to mention fun!

[John T Smith]

check www.studica.com for prices and requirements

[Guest]

>much lower than the price difference I would bet)

about 400 bux savings on standalone photoshop!

[_stevefoobar_]

Thanks again guys. I would bet you're right...quite a savings and I might actually learn something about Photoshop also (although I won't have any high expectations of that). Hey I don't actually have to attend classes after I register and pay right? :-)

[John T Smith]

You need a student ID to buy from www.studica.com

I don't think they require a grade report... go check

[Guest]

Also remember that academic licenses don't permit the commercial use of the product... so you can't use it for work purposes!

[BobLevine]

Adobe academic licenses permit commercial work!

Bob

[BobLevine]

I should add that this is for North America...different regions have
different rules.

Bob

[_stevefoobar_]

Yes, thanks. That makes sense. I wouldn't use it professionally or for business purposes anyway.

[_stevefoobar_]

Software licensing is such a complex subject, second only I'm sure to book publishing and music licensing! I'm surprised there aren't any software licensing "police" yet like the music industry has (ASCAP, BMI). :-)

[Guest]

check http://www.bsa.org/

[Guest]

http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/pdfs/Gen_WWCombined-combined-20080623_1026.pdf

Section 16.3:
Educational Software Product. If the Software is Educational Software Product (Software manufactured and distributed for use by only Educational End Users), you are not entitled to use the Software unless you qualify in your jurisdiction as an Educational End User.

That pretty much sums up that it can only be used for Educational purposes.. if you're using it in a commercial capacity, you aren't an Educational End User.. you're a commercial end user.. you may have qualified to BUY the Educational version, but that doesn't mean it can be used commercially.

J