New Activiation Scheme for Adobe CS 2

My company has purchased multiple copies of the Adobe Creative Suite for our Macs, but I'm still uncomfortable supporting software which requires activation. Nothing good will come to us because of it: A lower price? Better margins for Adobe? Lower pirating rates? The only thing that affects those of us who use the software are negatives, like potential problems down the road if the computers crash hard or get upgraded. We even still use Adobe PageMaker, so believe me when I say that can see this being a thorn in our side for many a year. I'll probably buy the upgrade eventually, but only once I've seen how the new features will directly and substantially benefit our workflow. Because of the activation requirement, I'll likely wait a year to upgrade to CS2 instead of waiting just a few months.

Bill V - so Adobe is required to supplement your hobby? That's a new one. If you do it for fun, then it isn't /required/ is it? You mean to tell me that there is no other application other than Photoshop that you can use for whatever your fun/creative/hobby endeavor might be? Perhaps Photoshop Elements is more affordable for you? Or Graphic Converter ($35 shareware that kicks Photoshop's ass in many respects)? I stand by statement. If you need it to make a living - you buy it. If you don't need it to make a living and you can't afford it, you DO NOT steal it - you either justify the expense in some other way or find the money to buy it - or you use a more practical alternative.. You are not entitled to it and Adobe (or any company) is not required to provide you with it.

Laurie: "Adobe has pretty generous academic pricing. Students can buy Photoshop for $299 and the entire CS Suite for $399." Maybe some of us haven't been struggling college students who work student jobs that pay 6.50 an hour between classes. Generous is $299 for a drivable used car, not a piece of software. "Furthermore, if you gain absolutely no [monetary] benefit from it - why do you need it to begin with?" And people who paint (or do anything creative) for fun, and not for profit, have no need to do it?

So, to follow the logic from the above sentiments... It would be okay to steal a Mac if you don't intend to make money with it? Why would hardware be any different than software? How about fonts? Ever pay for a font? Ever pay for shareware? Why would one form of software be different than another? Ever download an image from someone's site? "Borrowed" a piece of code? I could easily ask how many of us drive the speed limit or resist taking home sticky pads from the office. Some things are fuzzy... lesser sins, right? Well... it's all theft/breaking the law. And I say this not from a horse any higher than anyone else's because I do it, too. But it's silly to see what nonsense people come up with to rationalize it. Evil begetting evil... sheesh, what a load! What kind of sissy pirate are you? Just own up. We steal. Not for any reason other than it's in our nature. Save the politics. Photoshop could be a 5-cent download with no DRM and we'd still manage to get it on the sly. With pride, no less. However, there is a moral to the story: One doesn't become a criminal by getting caught. Cool with that? Aight! Rawk on. It's your psychospiritual dime, man.

Collin, it's just the whole mental thing that you own it. It's like saying you own a Ferarri but live on a small island with no roads, just the dock. Or something... get it? It's why everyone else I know who has it, just to say they do.

for those saying they need to pirate Photoshop CS for their personal photos and the like: you are why Adobe makes Photoshop Elements. It does everything even an advanced intermediate user needs. And the interface is the same, so when you really need the full power version, you'll already know the program.

I can't believe how many people are complaining about copy protection nowdays. The supposed "hassle" factor is trivial at best. Most people will never have to deal with the issues that one might have when a logic board is upgraded and the serial number clashes with the new logic board serial number. And as much of a hassle as there might seem to be to *GASP* get on the phone and talk to people, it's painfully trivial in contrast to any other time one needs to talk to a company. I've done it dozens of times while working on (forgive me) Windows machines and if your patient, all is good. If you have a legit copy, all is good. And while most are protesting Laurie jumping to conclussions about people pirating stuff and whining afterwards, I have to agree. Nobody I know legitimately has copies of legit software ever complains about stuff like that. Move along folks. Complaining about Adobe protecting it's product from theft is about as productive as complaining about how difficult it is to get money out of a bank if you don't have something silly like proper identification. I'm against an Orwellian state where everyone can track anything about anyone, but I think that Adobe--like every software vendor--has every right to protect their investment.

And how long will we be able to call them up and get an authorization? Three years? Four? Five? After which our stupidly expensive software suite will be not just obsolescent, but absolutely worthless.

This is a significant change in Adobe's licensing. Now, I must tell Adobe who I am and where my computer is in order for the program to continue functioning. That's valuable information to me, and I'm not interested in selling it to them.

LOL, Jorge that is so true. I can't wait to get my hands on the new CS2. MMMM. Gonna be so good. I don't use it to make money though, I use it for my own personal picture editing, photochopping, and just playing around for fun, not making any money off it whatsoever. It's not worth it to buy for me, since I'll never get my money's worth just by making my teeth whiter, lol.