Illegal copies of Photoshop

So you don't want the inconvenience/risk of internet connection but you are happy to download a torrent hack ! sorry but that just does not add up - many hacks come with free malware.

If you want limted versions of the Adobe photography and video apps maybe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements will suit you , both being available on perpetual license.

One of the problems with old software and hardware though is that you also need to freeze the rest of your system including cameras. Once you start updating one of those (software/hardware/cameras) , the rest must follow.

Dave

Some unscrupulous sellers sold on "seats" that were part of volume licences (aimed at companies) as individual licenses. When that illegal activity is identified the volume licence is stopped and the "seats" also stop. I don't know if that is the case with yours but it is a possibility.

I do sympathise with those, like yourself, who have been ripped off by such sellers but it is those sellers at fault not Adobe.

I still have a legitimate older version that still works on an old PC so your feeling that all old SNs are revoked is incorrect.

Dave

I think the £ and $ prices are now the same in Europe as the US once the exchange rate is factored in. Before web based distribution came in though Adobe in Edinburgh often were charging 50% more than the American price. As a student I used to buy all my software from a company in Scottsville Arizona, there were many American companies exporting back then-legally I may add, and even with the carriage you saved hundreds of pounds.

It's funny how people who use cracked software seem to have a need to boast about it, almost saying aren't I clever like the guy above. I don't know if Adobe even try to track suspected pirates anymore as the fines are ridiculously small. The Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK was found operating cracked versions of Pagemaker a few years ago and was fined £20,000-not even the cost of an evenings print run.

Dave discovered a pirate here a few days ago when he asked for the System Info Log. I didn't know this but the pirated versions have Licence Type: Perpetual in the log not License Type: Subscription as with the legal copies. You can't make it a requisite of using the forum that a System Info Log is posted I suppose, but it would prevent pirates from getting any help. Of course the smarter ones would edit the log so a screen capture would be needed-unworkable isn't it?

And your workaround might be why Adobe only offers a 7 day trial rather than the 30 day trial now: to make it more of a PIA to workaround people getting Adobe apps for free. So now many people who really just want to try out the product are restricted thanks to people like you.

Lundberg02 wrote: Pirates will figure how to crack the cloud, too.

Through the circumstance that I moderated one of the biggest non-public boards for "free stuff" of all kinds for years, I have kind of a special relationship to some of the most active/popular/succesful releasegroups and can confirm, the cloud is already available "for free".

Gladly, this will not be as available to the "public scene" as the Master Collections with the keygens and hostfile workarounds that float around in the web.

It has and ever will be possible to crack/workaround software and services. There is just always a counterpart of private persons that are on the same or even a higher level than the companies when it comes to coding/programming/cracking. Just think anbout the Virus/Trojan Scene. You will never be able to stop piracy with the kind of software distribution we have now.

To me, it is very important though that stuff is available "for free". I would have never discovered my passion for graphic design and being able to experiment enough to become good enough to get the job I do have now with corel draw or paint net. I just didn't have the money for a legit copy of CS.  And even when applying for a apprenticeship (is that the right word?) you are expected to be (very) familiar with PS/ID/ILLU. Sure, there are educational versions. But sometimes even that is too much money.

In my opinion and experience people that are pirating professional software dont damage the business very much. Most of the people arent even able to use it on a professional base and just fool around with it and make a garage sale flyer once a month or so. Like all the people with Steinberg Cubase are just mixing/djing some stuff for their 12-people house party and the Maya rippers make a crappy, rotating 3D logo for their gaming blog. The few who use illegal software on a business purpose or actually make money out of it are marginal. Just like myself. As long as I wasn't able to purchase the software I wanted to try out, work and get familiar with, I pirated it. As soon as I got enough money I proudly bought my copy of the CS4 Master Collection and I know a lot of people doing it a same way.

I know you can't imagine and probably won't believe me, but many people of the pirating scene are not that bad. I can assure you, no matter if it is software, games or music, people tend do buy the product eventually. They're just making kind of their own demo versions that some "black sheep" abuse.