Photoshop CS4 vs. CS4 Extended Student Edition

To amplify on my last post:

My son is in the process of applying for colleges. He is interested in graphic design. We went to one school for a presentation from the graphic arts faculty about their program. It sounded absolutely fabulous. Some of the courses were, in essence, Photoshop, Advanced Photoshop, InDesign, advanced InDesign, Illustrator, Advanced Illustrator, etc. (I decided that I should enroll under my son's name.)

Adobe is a huge beneficiary of schools such as this. Its Student licensing program simply enables students to use its products while they are learning and makes them likely to be customers for life. If a student from that school won a design award and then sold the rights, there is absolutely no way Adobe would try to stop that from happening. Adobe would be delighted.

Let's think about practicalities. If, due to confusion over, or misunderstanding of, the restrictions imposed by the Student edition (assuming there are restrictions on commercial use), a user creates an image that is popular and sets up with Cafepress to sell T-shirts and such, or sells photo albums to relatives through Blurb.

Let's assume that's a commercial use that would be prohibited by the Student license but permitted by the Education license. The user makes all of $35 for the t-shirts with the image or for the photo albums. How is Adobe damaged? At most, it would seem to me, Adobe could claim that the user should pay the difference between the Student and Education license fees, since a student would have been eligible for either and chose the one over the other due to the lower price and the lack of any clearly articulated limits.

Obviously, Adobe isn't going to go after someone just because they used the Student edition license to produce something that got sold on Cafepress or Blurb. But even if the student designs something that ends up on a hot album cover or in People magazine, Adobe doesn't really have serious damages to claim, so it has no reason to pursue such cases.

My guess is that the Student Edition licensing scheme is simply a way to legitimize what schools were likely doing outside the scope of their preexisting volume licenses that were supposed to be restricted to the school's owned computers. Of course the programs made their way onto students' computers despite those restrictions. Adobe wasn't about to shut off relations with academic institutions that were its best marketing agents, who annually created huge numbers of Adobe product users. The Student Edition licensing system provided a route for legitimizing that conduct for a minimal fee.

In the absence of any clearly stated restrictions against commercial use of Adobe software puchased under any kind of discounted student or educational licensing program, I personally say "go for it".

If you have concerns about not being able to use the software for commercial reasons, certainly an inquiry to Adobe could be done, but even there you might get a wrong answer, so you should ask for specific documentation of such restrictions. In the absence of that, the burden of prosecution lies upon Adobe to pursue violations of a "no commercial use" rule and showing it was clearly stated for the product in question at the time of purchase. I suspect Adobe has a lot better ways to invest their time and money than in trying to identify an artist whose work they suspect was created using Adobe software, tracking down that person and, getting legal authorization to have an investigation performed into conclusively proving said artwork was created by Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. as opposed to other capabale digital imaging applications (Corel Draw, The GIMP, PaintShop Pro, etc.).

Zero reason for Adobe to offer such a discounted price on their software? I think not...for years we saw, and perhaps still do, Adobe software that was normally very expensive yet was greatly discounted when bundled with hardware. By the same argument of zero reason for a discounted student license, I could say the same would be true to those hardware/software bundles...but, there is good reason to offer the software at reduced prices in both cases: NEW CUSTOMER and FUTURE SALES, or at least the potential for that. Conversely, one might just opt instead for a lower-cost software package and happily stay with it for years to come.

I started using Photoshop with version 3.0 that was in a scanner bundle, and I've upgraded to nearly every version ever since. Sure, Adobe would've made even more off me if I'd paid the full price initially, but that is something I'd not have done...in fact, I even remember buying Micrografx Picture Publisher because it was inexpensive and yet pretty highly regarded at the time. After a bit of time using PS, I hated Picture Publisher, and as my experience grew, I also found my recommenations to others was to go the Adobe route. So, maybe that lower-cost investment in Photoshop paid off more in the long run for Adobe than if I'd paid full price or even a modestly higher one at the time. I think the same is true today, in Adobe offering their software at greatly reduced prices to students or anyone qualifying for a given discounted license.

I also believe that a discounted software license should come without any restrictions on commercial use, because:

1) Burden of proof is going to be more costly than the profit loss on the product in question unless pursued on a large scale, in which case the software manufacturer would (or should?) garner a strong customer backlash.

2) If a student qualifies to purchase discounted software and is talented enough to use said software to create marketable artwork, and if they can offset some of their cost of education by selling this artwork while still in school, then that's great!

3) Just because a student's education is later completed, shouldn't restrict them from commercially using software they purchased while still a student.

Regards,

Daryl

>There would be zero reason for the student edition to exist if it didn't carry any restrictions above the regular academic version.

There's the worry. Why do they still offer the 'education' version? Adobe is severely confused and it does not help customers. A student customer from the US should get the licensing explained in writing. A verbal explanation on the phone from Adobe customer service or sales is useless.

The student version is actually a spin off of a volume licensing program that has been offered to educational institutions for a long time. That volume license

• prohibited resale or transfer
• limited installation to only one computer (and that had to be owned by the institution - a separate education license had to be purchased by educators to run on their own home computers)
• prohibited commercial use

right bob. adobe.uk. if that's where the person's at then those are the terms. is she us based? then she needs to look at the US terms.

>why isn't Adobe more specific about it?

Even Adobe is confused. Student licenses did not appear until CS3. This is new territory for them.

It is unlikely that any student will be prosecuted for not fully understanding a license in regard to commercial use ( or for Adobe's failure to explain their licensing more clearly). However, if anyone seeks a student or education license with the clear intent to abuse it (I'm not saying anyone in the present conversation is), they should not waste their money on a purchased, discount license. It is no better than a free pirated copy.

>I suppose if Adobe doesn't say specifically in the EULA about it, then it's okay

that would be my read.

Hi Daryl,

I'm trying to figure this out, as well. I'm interested in purchasing the student version of CS4 Design Premium soon because I am a college student, but want to know if it can be used for commercial work once I get a design job. I've been searching Adobe's website all night and can't find any specifics on commercial use. I found restrictions listed for the student versions, but they say nothing at all about commercial use like you say; just restrictions on license purchase and use only on a private computer. Some people say you can use it, others say you can't, so I'm getting conflicting information. It's weird, because the U.K. site specifically says you cannot use student versions for commercial use. I know it differs by region, so why isn't Adobe more specific about it? I suppose if Adobe doesn't say specifically in the EULA about it, then it's okay, but I really want to make sure before I buy it.

I hope this becomes more clear in the future. Maybe I'll just get the academic version, although I really don't want to spend any extra money if I don't have to.

-Sarah

I agree Bob, it is definitely worth noting, and unless Adobe has made an oversight on their USA website, the commercial use restriction doesn't apply here or I've just yet to find it. I've given up searching for it and have only found a detailed page on eligibility that seems to be written up mostly pertaining to educational use, presumably both Student Editions and educational/academic licenses, and it states no commercial restrictions. But, to be more specific and go to the PS CS4 Extended - Student Edition purchase page, the "Restrictions on use of Student Editions" states the following: "You may purchase only one license of any Adobe Student Edition product. This license may be used only on your privately owned computer. Student Edition products may not be resold by the end user."

I'd say that unless Adobe clarifies this, a student is free to use the software for both educational and commercial reasons.

With regard to an earlier question about upgrades of the Student Edition, I found that yes that can be done as per http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/student.html. While one cannot upgrade from one Student License to another when a product version is updated (e.g., CS4 Student Edition to CS5 Student Edition), a normal commercial upgrade (e.g., CS4 Extended Student Edition to CS5 Extended Upgrade) would be permitted.

Regards,

Daryl

However, if you go to the "United Kingdom" student site and read the very bottom: Sums up to be commercial use is not allowed.

http://www.adobe.com/uk/education/students/studentedition/eligibility.html