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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 09:36 AM

Title: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 09:36 AM: Surprizing:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2013/01/07/download-adobe-cs2-applications-for-free/
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Renegade on January 07, 2013, 09:43 AM: Holy crap! That's awesome! Thanks for posting it! :D :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Renegade on January 07, 2013, 09:52 AM: Seems a bit popular:

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 10:00 AM: @Renegade
If you have AdobeID:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?pid=4485850&e=cs2_downloads
Took me 10 minutes to see it.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Renegade on January 07, 2013, 10:08 AM: Getting the same error. :(
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: rgdot on January 07, 2013, 10:10 AM: Same error.

Thanks for posting it
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: eleman on January 07, 2013, 10:17 AM: Yeah, their site time-outed on me a couple times. But I managed in.

Thanks for the share, fantastic tip.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 10:26 AM: Still haven't been able to get to it. But thanks for the heads up! I'm still using a *really* old version of photoshop, so this is welcome! (If I can get to it, that is. :o)
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Jibz on January 07, 2013, 10:39 AM: Nice one :Thmbsup:.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: KynloStephen66515 on January 07, 2013, 10:48 AM: If anybody manages to actually download this, please let me know!
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: eleman on January 07, 2013, 10:53 AM: I actually did.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: pastakiller on January 07, 2013, 11:22 AM: As fenix ordered me to, I'm pasting direct download links. You can create account later and get the code (same for all).

CS2:
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/CreativeSuiteCS2Disc1.exe
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/CreativeSuiteCS2Disc2.exe
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/CreativeSuiteCS2Disc3.exe

CS2 Extras:
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/CS_2.0_WWE_Extras_1.exe

Video Tutorial:
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/VCS2.zip
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 11:47 AM: Install notes:
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/creativesuite/CS2_EOL/MLTI/CS2_install_Win.pdf
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: dr_andus on January 07, 2013, 12:09 PM: @pastakiller and fenixproductions

Thank you very much for this. The install notes also mention CS_2.0_WWE_Extras_2.exe. Would you happen to have a direct link for that too?

BTW, what does it take to get the serial number for this? I do have an Adobe ID but I wasn't able to load that page. Would there be a direct link to that page as well?
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: eleman on January 07, 2013, 12:11 PM: @pastakiller and fenixproductions

Thank you very much for this. The install notes also mention CS_2.0_WWE_Extras_2.exe. Would you happen to have a direct link for that too?
-dr_andus (January 07, 2013, 12:09 PM)

Extras_2 is not included in the offering. Apparently it is part of CS2 Premium, and the offering is just for CS2 Standard.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: cmpm on January 07, 2013, 12:18 PM: More info via ghacks update3 and slickdeals-

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/87488/adobe-adobe-creative-suite-cs2-standard-pc-or-mac-digital-download
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: mrHappy on January 07, 2013, 12:42 PM: Apparently the codes are not unique according to slickdeals.

Win 1130-1414-7569-4457-6613-5551, so those of you that have been able to get a code, can you confirm that you have the same code?
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Carol Haynes on January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM: Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Stoic Joker on January 07, 2013, 01:45 PM: Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM)

I'm still using Photoshop from CS3 on Win7 x64 so hopefully CS2 will still run ok.

More info via ghacks update3 and slickdeals-

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/87488/adobe-adobe-creative-suite-cs2-standard-pc-or-mac-digital-download
-cmpm (January 07, 2013, 12:18 PM)

Good info in the comments there regarding above compatibility question.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: dr_andus on January 07, 2013, 03:23 PM: There is some new info now at the original Forbes blog site:
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 03:36 PM: (Edit 5: I just see even Acrobat 8 Pro was on "offer" - wow, what a scam. Well, perhaps I'll buy Acrobat 9 now, as a triple pdf "printer", for 120 bucks or so. Buy used sw - don't enrich the original developers! (Especially when it's Adobe.))

(Edit 4: Christmas was over, and we should have known better. Edit 6: From sites such as slickdeals, this outcome is what is regularly to be expected from them, mydealz in Germany, hundred of such sites: all they offer is crap - but Forbes has got me. Even when you're paranoid, you'll never be paranoid enough, as we've seen today.)

(Edit 3: Just see the doctor is faster than me every time today, but for Adobe - or just for the man with the three names, it's April's Fools' Day on January 7, this year? And as for the "you ain't legally entitled", forget it, since Adobe products (even from 2002/2003) invariably phone home! What CRAP! (cannot say what I think about that "X Y-Hughes over there", would be censored here. Let Forbes go bankrupt!)

(Edit 2: What about that awful Forbes post???!!! The update I mean.)

(Edit: Just see I'm not the only one who's caught the interest of this kind offer for just Acrobat alone.)

This is the scoop of the year, imo. I've got quite a pack of their sw (almost 3,000 bucks over the years, so this comes as kind of a "fidelity reward" to me (if it comes), so I have an ID with them, don't get "in" (300 fruitless tries or so), but this will hopefully change. As a student, you can get even their current package for a very decent price, but for non-students, this "old" package is what we need! (I've got many rather old versions from them since their update prices ain't but for updating the last 2 versions; if yours are older than that, you'll pay full price, and in Europe, that's about 2 times the U.S. price anyway - I'm not blaming Adobe, I want just to explain why in Europe, they sell a lot less of their stuff than they could, with a more decent pricing scheme.

Don't overlook a "hidden" (= easily overlooked) gem here, which is Acrobat Standard 7 (and perhaps even for more than one pc)

The current version is 11 (not X anymore), and even one-comp-only (!) OEM versions of Acrobat Standard 9 cost about 80 bucks, the same for up to 3 comps 120 or more, so Acrobat 7 for free comes extremely handy - I know since I use Acrobat Elements 6 (which just offers a virtual pdf printer, but then, it's the "original", "legit" one), on just 1 comp.

There are endless discussions in the web (and here) about what third-party pdf "printers" and such deliver acceptable results, and in what circumstances, so even if you don't use your Acrobat 7 but as a genuine pdf "printer" on all your comps, it's of the highest interest. This is a real blow to third-party pdf offerings, as would indeed be even more so some more realistic price policies for Acrobat in general, in the future (which will probably never come). Even my crippled Acrobat 6 produces flawless pdf's, even for hundreds of pages, so I look forward to Standard 7 with big expectations (and I would be very pleased to replace my Nineties Adobe graphics softwares with the about 2002/2003 "CS2" ones).

And this is not speaking of all the powerhouses there, Photoshop (for many), Illustrator (for some), etc.

The scoop of the year, I say, won't be toppable. More than just great. Nobody should say, "I don't do graphics, I don't need it" - just install Acrobat 7, for a beginning, and then for the other applics, the day will come you'll be happy to have this or that, within the collection.

And now for the task of registering this little wonder!

(And if they offer you an update for less than 600 bucks - remember, under normal circumstances, CS2 would not even be upgradeable anymore (since more than 2 versions "old") - take it: It's state-of-the-art sw, even my ages-old versions are top-notch. (Without such an exceptional planned update offering, why would they give CS2 away now, so expect that to come your way afterwards - begin saving up for it!))
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: f0dder on January 07, 2013, 04:02 PM: Saw it mentioned on Twitter earlier today, contemplated grabbing a copy... then scratched my beard and tried to think of what Photoshop would offer me that Paint.NET doesn't. And then there's the rest of the stuff that I don't even know what is, so... yeah.

(If I was into doing PDFs, Acrobat might have been interesting; other stuff I've looked at has been howwible, not the least XSL-FO + FOP).
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 04:05 PM: I very much like your signet, f0dder, totally represents my present mood. But their products are fine stuff, that's why they get such prices.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: 40hz on January 07, 2013, 04:11 PM: Like the saying goes: If it sounds too good to be true - it isn't.

This (http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2013/01/07/download-adobe-cs2-applications-for-free/) from Forbes and Adobe:

Update: Following a frenzy of Internet activity — and some confusion — it appears that Adobe isn’t giving away free copies of Adobe CS2.

Adobe scientist Dov Isaacs clarifies:

On behalf of Adobe Systems Incorporated …

You have heard wrong! Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2!

What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don’t require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download.) See <http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930>.

:)
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 04:24 PM: Forbes has now Schrödinger's cat on their page ;)

YOU CAN'T USE IT
YOU CAN USE IT

They should, least, use < s > tag for old info…
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 04:42 PM: Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Jibz on January 07, 2013, 04:53 PM: I think after making a page with downloads available to anybody with an Adobe ID, and letting half the internet download the version that does not require activation, that is probably slightly too late.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: Carol Haynes on January 07, 2013, 05:01 PM: Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM)

I'm still using Photoshop from CS3 on Win7 x64 so hopefully CS2 will still run ok.
-Stoic Joker (January 07, 2013, 01:45 PM)

CS3 is fully Windows 7 compat - CS2 isn't
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: dr_andus on January 07, 2013, 05:04 PM: It surely would be interesting to see an official Adobe statement on this, rather than a comment on a comment on an Adobe forum. Later on another Adobe staffer (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974775#4974775) says:

I don't think you have to worry about Adobe coming after you for this [referring to user who had downloaded the files in good faith]

As soon as our execs have approved an official statement on this issue, I or another Adobe staffer will post it here.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: tomos on January 07, 2013, 05:12 PM: Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM)

I'm still using Photoshop from CS3 on Win7 x64 so hopefully CS2 will still run ok.
-Stoic Joker (January 07, 2013, 01:45 PM)

CS3 is fully Windows 7 compat - CS2 isn't
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 05:01 PM)

are you talking about officially or do you mean you've run into trouble on 7 with it?
EDIT/ I see you say 'officially' in an earlier post
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 05:24 PM: Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?
-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 04:42 PM)

Why? No matter what happens, it's still not forum spam.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: 40hz on January 07, 2013, 05:32 PM: I think after making a page with downloads available to anybody with an Adobe ID, and letting half the internet download the version that does not require activation, that is probably slightly too late.
-Jibz (January 07, 2013, 04:53 PM)

You still need a valid license and serial number to install it. The only difference is that it no longer needs to be activated online once it's installed

It surely would be interesting to see an official Adobe statement on this, rather than a comment on a comment on an Adobe forum. Later on another Adobe staffer (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974775#4974775) says:

-dr_andus (January 07, 2013, 05:04 PM)

Out of curiosity...where was the official announcement from Adobe saying it was going to be free to begin with?

Oh...that's right! They never did say that did they? ;D

I don't think you have to worry about Adobe coming after you for this [referring to user who had downloaded the files in good faith]

As soon as our execs have approved an official statement on this issue, I or another Adobe staffer will post it here.

As far as that statement goes, I think you need to very carefully read what's actually being said - and not read anything else into it.

This Adobe staffer does not say that you're free to install and use what you may have downloaded in good faith.

It simply says Adobe has no intention of going after people just for downloading it.

That's very different than what some people seem to be reading into it. At least from what I'm seeing on the social channels.

And besides - you still need a serial number and license to use it legally no matter what else does or doesn't get said. Because Adobe never did release CS2 for free to begin with. So the existing license requirements for CS2 still remain in effect.

Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?
-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 04:42 PM)

Why? No matter what happens, it's still not forum spam.
-wraith808 (January 07, 2013, 05:24 PM)

+1 w/ Helmut85...

I think it would be more accurate (and fair to Adobe) if it read: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (NOT TRUE)

8)
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 05:38 PM: I am waiting for tomorrow to see if I will have to uninstall it but something interesting from forbes comments and from here:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974633#4974633?PID=4485850

The licence terms which you agree to when you install this software say your use of the software is legal if you have “obtained” it from Adobe. It doesn’t say “purchased” or “bought”. If they want to make it illegal, they must change the licence. Until they do, saying that it’s illegal in a forum post doesn’t make it illegal. It certainly appears that it’s not what they intended, but that’s different.

No high hopes now though.

And I agree for changing thread titles…
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: tomos on January 07, 2013, 05:45 PM: Due to their past record I dont have any love for Adobe, and would have no sympathy for them if this is easily installable (does it even need a key?)

If they had an ounce of sense or creativity (yes, yes :p) they should treat it as an offer, and as advertising - and allow upgrade pricing to all downloads (it's possible that this is currently the case - if you can actually access any adobe pages).
They would pull in a lot of illegal users, most of whom simply could not afford the full price, and I reckon they would make a pretty penny.
Title: Re: Adobe CS2 for free? (NOT SPAM)
Post by: 40hz on January 07, 2013, 05:46 PM: I am waiting for tomorrow to see if I will have to uninstall it but something interesting from forbes comments and from here:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974633#4974633?PID=4485850

The licence terms which you agree to when you install this software say your use of the software is legal if you have “obtained” it from Adobe. It doesn’t say “purchased” or “bought”. If they want to make it illegal, they must change the licence. Until they do, saying that it’s illegal in a forum post doesn’t make it illegal. It certainly appears that it’s not what they intended, but that’s different.

No high hopes now though.

And I agree for changing thread titles…
-fenixproductions (January 07, 2013, 05:38 PM)

I don't know how it would work in other places. But in the US, unless you got a really stupid or snarky judge (not an impossibility), trying to mount a legal defense by arguing that the definition of "obtained" does not equate to "purchased" in the context of a software product wouldn't fly in most courtrooms. From my experience, that only happens in movies or TV shows. (Although there's always the chance I suppose.)

;D
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: rgdot on January 07, 2013, 05:46 PM: This is the most confusing thing on the internet ever :D

People are downloading straight from Adobe servers and making it work or not? (Yes I am aware how 'normal' online activation and licensing work)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: cmpm on January 07, 2013, 05:51 PM: this 'confusion' is Adobe's fault


On behalf of Adobe Systems Incorporated …

   You have heard wrong! Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2!

   What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don’t require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download.) See <http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930>.

should have said that to begin with
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 05:54 PM: Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?
-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 04:42 PM)

Why? No matter what happens, it's still not forum spam.
-wraith808 (January 07, 2013, 05:24 PM)

+1 w/ Helmut85...

I think it would be more accurate (and fair to Adobe) if it read: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (NOT TRUE)
-40hz (January 07, 2013, 05:32 PM)

Changing thread titles is cool, and a good idea... but it's still not spam. And there's still useful information to be found in the thread, IMO.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 05:54 PM: @40hz
I agree with you but we are living in he world where you subscribe games (Steam does not sell games any more) and some people need warnings on hot coffee cups.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 06:07 PM: @40hz
I agree with you but we are living in he world where you subscribe games (Steam does not sell games any more) and some people need warnings on hot coffee cups.

-fenixproductions (January 07, 2013, 05:54 PM)

Valve hasn't helped themselves with their use of terms as they are on the fringe of what a subscription might be, but if you read the TOS (http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/), then it's pretty clear that they're selling you a revocable license. A subscription usually implies that there is an ongoing payment, and that's what people that use it in the negative towards Steam like to imply. Their terms are crafted to insulate themselves from a subset of customers (not agreeing with that approach). But to dirisively say that you subscribe to games is IMO propagating the incorrect view of the TOS to solidify arguments that might not be applicable.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 06:08 PM: "This Adobe staffer does not say that you're free to install and use what you may have downloaded in good faith. It simply says Adobe has no intention of going after people just for downloading it."

Brilliant discernment, 40hz, a textbook example of logic applied (as it should be applied)!

Wraith888: Technically, you're perfectly right, and I knew this even before I made my request. But since the thread starter insisted on his thread being NOT SPAM, then all of us had us in a big way, to change NOT SPAM into SPAM would be just retaliation and more elegant at that then saying something like, all those who did this to us are big a...

So why not change the subtitle to [ATTN: SCAM, WORSE THAN ANY POSSIBLE SPAM]

Or something. ;-)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on January 07, 2013, 06:20 PM: @40hz
I agree with you but we are living in he world where you subscribe games (Steam does not sell games any more) and some people need warnings on hot coffee cups.

-fenixproductions (January 07, 2013, 05:54 PM)

Oh I agree. No argument there.

My point was mincing definitions doesn't play too well in US courtrooms. At least not in situations where the intent of the wording plus a huge amount of everyday common understanding is concerned. They save that for constitutional issues - not commercial license disputes. Those are usually straight forward debates. :)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 07, 2013, 06:21 PM: Out of curiosity...where was the official announcement from Adobe saying it was going to be free to begin with?

Oh...that's right! They never did say that did they? ;D
-40hz (January 07, 2013, 05:32 PM)

Good point. Though clearly now their staffer thinks there will be one. So that's a bit of an admission that there is a "situation."

In any case, it does seem a bit unusual that a software company would post the download link and the licence key underneath it on their website and then announce that fact on their public forum... It's hardly surprising that even a reputable publication such as Forbes would misunderstand that and would publicise it. Adobe has made it infrastructurally possible for this situation to arise.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 06:38 PM: Wraith888: Technically, you're perfectly right, and I knew this even before I made my request. But since the thread starter insisted on his thread being NOT SPAM, then all of us had us in a big way, to change NOT SPAM into SPAM would be just retaliation and more elegant at that then saying something like, all those who did this to us are big a...

So why not change the subtitle to [ATTN: SCAM, WORSE THAN ANY POSSIBLE SPAM]
-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 06:08 PM)

It wasn't by any means malicious or intentional- he was just posting a link to an article, and what he thought was helpful information. And the NOT SPAM is because most of these types of posts are assumed to be so.

So no retaliation necessary. :)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 07, 2013, 07:16 PM: If they had an ounce of sense or creativity (yes, yes :p) they should treat it as an offer, and as advertising - and allow upgrade pricing to all downloads (it's possible that this is currently the case - if you can actually access any adobe pages).
They would pull in a lot of illegal users, most of whom simply could not afford the full price, and I reckon they would make a pretty penny.
-tomos (January 07, 2013, 05:45 PM)

of course, I forgot: what they want is for us to join the subscription parade - the ad on the relevant download page is for 'Creative Cloud'.

See, it's working already for them ;-)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 07, 2013, 07:22 PM: @helmut85
I may apologize for first improper title but I don't feel guilty for spamming. I do not consider it spam.
My posting was more naive than malicious. As wraith808 wrote: I thought it was helpful.

I remember from the past situation where small company called Ritlabs released WinRAR keys for free for one day for everyone.
It quickly had became DDOS for them and I remember waiting more than about 4 hours before I've got my key. Some of my friends were not so lucky.
I thought it may be the same for Adobe.

So as I value people here - after thinking about it - I've shared news. Partially hoping someone will validate it too - for installer and legal side.

I'd like to notice that I hate spam appearing on forum boards. I hate spam in emails (so much that I deleted 90% of my address book because people couldn't stop bothering me).

On the other hand: I will not be surprised when Adobe pulls it back. As matter a fact: I've expected them to do it as quick as it possible and not being quiet for so long.
It may sound like spoiled kid words but I expected them to be "evil" right away. I've been on lot of Adobe seminaries and presentations. And while many companies always tried to be remembered somehow (sometimes by giving goofy stuff like posters or free keys for some quiz winners), Adobe just did their excellent presentations and that is all. I've yet too see Adobe ballpoint ;)

They have awesome evangelists and very good graphic tools. But they also are the kings of the hills sometimes.

As for title: it's up to mouser to decide.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: x16wda on January 07, 2013, 07:24 PM: For my part, a purchaser of Photoshop 7, CS1, CS2 and CS3, I heartily applaud the result, no matter how incredibly absurdly it has been handled. Adobe licensing assistance is THE PITS. A valid licensee can install the software on two PCs, but heaven help you if you have a head crash on one of them because they won't talk to you over the weekend. I have had to sneak time in a busy workday and remote into my home PC to get it licensed again. Heavens, Microsoft is far far better!
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 07:27 PM: EDIT: fenixproductions, 100 p.c. on your side, was a little bit mixing up the culprits and the messenger. Sorry!

wraith888, I'm sure the op was as excited about this chimeric "find" as most of us were.

The above-mentioned Adobe discussion

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974633#4974633?PID=4485850

is highly instructive in part, search for "Matthileo" (several posts) for marketing considerations, similar to what I said above when I thought it was legitimate but tried to find their purpose / motivation behind it,

"(And if they offer you an update for less than 600 bucks - remember, under normal circumstances, CS2 would not even be upgradeable anymore (since more than 2 versions "old") - take it: It's state-of-the-art sw, even my ages-old versions are top-notch. (Without such an exceptional planned update offering, why would they give CS2 away now, so expect that to come your way afterwards - begin saving up for it!))"

Also, search there for "Ozpeter" (one long post): He explains why he seriously thinks Adobe might have given out valid licenses in the end, and I judge his argumentation serious indeed.

This brings us to the question - also in the case of possible ex-post acknowledgement of this scoop by Adobe - that many of us (even Adobe ID owners like myself) didn't understand very well the functioning of this downloading business and just downloaded the files in question from the links given here, not by accessing any page - the inaccessible one? - by their respective Adobe ID.

The technical problem here is, in the Adobe discussion they speak about activation codes for every program, while we were given, here, just ONE such activation code (activation code meaning here, a code you put into the program in order to "activate" it locally, the point being that they shut down their activation servers, hence their need for giving out activation codes functioning without the program phoning home): So, is it ONE code for the whole package, as I had thought by just reading posts here, or is it a whole bunch of activation codes, 10 different such codes for 10 different programs in the package, from which most of us will then only have got one?

In order for not being censored, let me make clear that I ask this question under the provision that the download itself, together with its intended purpose, the use of the program(s), might be considered perfectly legal, and in this case only, e.g. because Adobe will say so, after all:

Then, we'd need those missing codes if there are any, right? Since the page on which those codes are presumed to be available if there you enter your Adobe ID, is not accessible anymore, and highly probably never will become accessible again, we'd probably be in the situation we didn't think of: Our files are perhaps legal, but unusable by lack of the necessary codes! (When before, we thought we had all in our need, except for the legal foundation to use it.)

So, anybody having installed the whole package, with that only code given here? No other codes needed?

And then, if really they have shut down their activation servers: I've got (expensive AND NEEDED) software from them that phones home on activation, older than CS2 - without these activation servers, will I get the needed activation by phone, from them, in case I change my pc, or just my hdd? If such was needed, this is the first big occasion upon which that "activation by phoning only" scheme will perhaps be proven to be too unfavorable to users, even with a big company (except for MS where there's always the fall-back by phoning to physical people in extremis) - not speaking of sole developers going out of business, but speaking of a heavyweight like Adobe where your bought, legitimate license perhaps will not be transferred anymore to your new computer (with an old, compatible operating system): legally, that's dispossession, and I think there will be some problems for Adobe, by (and if) them shutting down activation servers and not procuring any "human fall back".

And finally, as for their motivation, either it's a set-up in order to create update revenu, as mused upon above ("We'll make you an offer you can't refuse"), or it's blatant stupidity as one man in the Adobe forum said... or, perhaps, it's been a scheme set up by somebody there that will not be thrown out now, but who had already been given notice, and who then had inadvertently be given the occasion to be remembered forever, in this company. It seems that so many people got aware of this that Adobe has to react in some way that will not put off anybody but the hardest-core graphists using their very latest versions anyway - but this will not mean they will give away those missing codes if there are any. At best, they will say, ok it's legal if you've got all what you need - but they will certainly not help anybody to gather anything else, be it codes, or be it further files not downloaded yet.

And, to tell you the truth, it's highly probable that "Ozpeter"'s right, but only for those happy few that can prove they downloaded the files (and code(s)) BY USING their Adobe ID's - so for most of us, it'll probably be illegal use if any, since we got the files, but not by going by an unaccessible intermediate stopping page.

And such a setup, where there's only a fraction of legitimate users in the end, updating or not, strongly indicates not a purposeful scheme by Adobe, but simply sabotage from within Adobe.

In other words, if they ever had had the intention to legalize it afterwards, in order to get new, updating customers, they would have ensured that this intermediate "enter your Adobe ID, then get code(s) and download link(s)" page had stayed accessible - remember, file download was high-speed in spite of the run.

So, let's safely assume most of us are empty-handed whatever the outcome.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Edvard on January 07, 2013, 07:44 PM: However this shakes out, I agree it's a huge PR spectacle for Adobe, and they may even make sales (of the newer suite) from it. I mean, they're not losing anything but bandwidth at this point, and folks who balked at the price previously can now get a taste of the forbidden fruit. No, they probably didn't intend for this level of feeding frenzy, but I do find it curious that they are still allowing it to be downloaded at this point.

Downloading it anyways; My XP partition could use a visit... :P
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 08:01 PM: Edvard, this point goes to you, and that's reason for mild optimism re the outcome for us. By leaving the download servers online, they'd produce more and more future enemies if in the end they didn't legalize it all and for all.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on January 07, 2013, 08:04 PM: I think some of us are running away with this a bit.

I think the most likely scenario might be a simple misunderstanding or confusion on the part of some journalist about the difference between offering a "free version" of CS2 - and - a "free download to CS2 users that no longer requires online activation."

If you're not a "software person" that can be confusing. Those of us who are geeks can easily understand the difference between the two. And also see where something like that would likely be confusing for the average Joe - or a financial news reporter anxious to be the first to break the news that Adobe was supposedly doing something both unprecedented - and quite frankly insane if you think about it for more than a minute.

As far as finding new customers, I don't think that's their motivation. CS is the de facto standard in print publishing - and a major player in e-pub, web, and media development. So it's not like they need to get a huge influx of users. Especially since their Creative Cloud (http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html) offering brings any and all of their products within financial reach of just about anybody that actually needs them.

In case you don't know, Creative Cloud is a "subscription" plan. You download and install whatever CS apps you want on your local machine for $50/mo. (with a 1 year contract) - or $75/mo. (with no contract.) Individual CS apps can be subscribed to for $20/mo.)

Once you download them, they work just like the retail product. The only difference is you'll need to be able to connect to the internet at least once per month on order to download an authorization token which allows your Creative Cloud apps to continue working.

I personally think Adobe cracked the problem and figured out how to make "cloud" work. Web-based apps are too dicey for production environments. And graphics apps would consume too much bandwidth anyway. So what Adobe has put in the cloud is just the product authorization piece. Everything else stays the same. And by offering subscriptions on a monthly basis, they made it both affordable and good for cash flow.

I personally think its a brilliant move. Even better executed than Office 365.

If I ever decide I need Adobe's CS, I'll probably "buy" my copy this way. And I generally dislike (and distrust) cloud or online anything when it comes to what used to be traditional desktop-type software.
8)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 08:49 PM: 40hz, this is interesting input, and I agree they have a very clever business model here that you adequately described.

The part where I don't follow is about this frenzy which has started some 48 hours ago, meaning Adobe should have reacted in some way to close the dam. I mean, even if the start of this affair was purely normal business of Adobe's, just without them not taking into account our "general joe" reaction (generated by generalized, worldwide wishful thinking), they now LIVE with this totally new situation, but without an adequate reaction to this. In fact, what'd be needed on their part, is - in this scenario -, reopening of the "middle page", but with a message, "in view of what's going on, we closed this down and will soon propose a better solution for our existing customers", and especially, the closing down of the download facilities. But these are open, as Edvard rightly reminds us to, whilst the "enter your ID" page is down - so this doesn't make sense. 48 hours within such a hurricane, and no biz-like reaction from Adobe (ok, it's not 48 hours after the week-end yet, they might take their time!) when they KNOW that a 5-, perhaps a 6-digit figure of people out there WAIT for something positive - well, if you're right, and you might be right, it'll be time to discuss outrageous arrogance on the side of Adobe: at this moment, they don't do anything in order to contain this hurricane, and if they really presume they can LIVE with 100,000 or more deceived would-be users, well...

Please remember there are the professional graphists who are in their subscription scheme, but how many are they? 100,000, worldwide? A little bit more? On the other hand, I know several people who own Photoshop (the expensive, "full" edition, not something light, don't know which version, didn't follow this subject so eagerly before today), just for tweaking their holiday photos, and all those people, the "amateurs" with expensive cameras and Photoshop at home, might be affected as many of us here are: All these people will judge Adobe from a moral pov ("can be trusted / cannot be trusted in the end"): they ain't as "objective" as the real professionals here.

And what's their number? And then, what's the number of all those people out there who're dreaming of Photoshop, but can't justify the expense? One thing is for certain: That number goes into the millions. And here, in this potential market, the potential damage goes into the hundreds of millions: It's one thing to hear of such a lost opportunity, too late for yourself, but knowing people who knew about it got something out of it (with, or without then updating and bringing revenue) - but hearing, for somebody "wanting" Photoshop but not daring buying it, from his income, and with two children, that there had been such a revolt, and then, nothing - Adobe, "you all were just wrong. you all misunderstood. you all are dumb." - such a story will estrange such potential, future Photoshop buyers even much more from their wanted object.

I'm speaking here of some "extra" money even fathers of two get, here or there, and with the wife saying, for once buy something YOU will be happy with - then, our father of two will sense, well, Photoshop, that's for professionals only, it's far away from my horizon of reality, and he will buy another update of AC DC or such, spending the rest on the family (well, that would be preferable in the end, right?).

My point is, if you're right, 40hz, and that's possible, Adobe is driving high-speed into a global image desaster, and 36 hours after the week-end, they haven't done anything yet in order to even contain that image desaster-in-the-make.

But then, there are antecedents: Their burial of FreeHand (bought together with Flash, from Macromedia), for lesser Illustrator (of their own) showed their arrogance to some (angry on them even today, 10 years later) - but you're saying they're ready to redo the same unnecessary creation of an Adobe haters army, now, with that number multiplied by 1,000 or more?

I tend to believe you, though, all the more so since that was my first impression after the news of that journal update there - while seeing much more optimism around myself, and wishing to be pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, chances are high you're perfectly right - I said it myself: Whatever the outcome, they will find ways to contain their give-away lot.

Which will be a mistake. SC2 doesn't work on "modern" machines, or not smoothly at least, not many amateurs would subscribe a subscription... but then, many people would take this offer, play around with it, then update, for 250 bucks, to the latest non-subscriptive version of Photoshop, instead of turning their back to Adobe in order to minimize their regrets: "didn't want it so much anyway".

I'm wondering if their marketing guys do sleep these nights, or are awaken for 36 hours or more now, on coffee and more. There's subject to think about, on their side, and fast!
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: f0dder on January 08, 2013, 03:14 AM: I personally think Adobe cracked the problem and figured out how to make "cloud" work. Web-based apps are too dicey for production environments. And graphics apps would consume too much bandwidth anyway. So what Adobe has put in the cloud is just the product authorization piece. Everything else stays the same. And by offering subscriptions on a monthly basis, they made it both affordable and good for cash flow.
-40hz (January 07, 2013, 08:04 PM)
"Software as a Service", except it isn't really. Please gut the greedy Adobe bastards, somebody.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on January 08, 2013, 04:24 AM: Please gut the greedy Adobe bastards, somebody.
-f0dder (January 08, 2013, 03:14 AM)

I don't "get" that mentality. Seriously.

Why does a program have to be vilified simply because most people prefer using it rather than its competition? GIMP has been around for years, but I don't see a huge number of people dropping Photoshop to embrace it.

All anybody would have to do is write an equivalent program to replace Photoshop. And then give it away - or sell it for next to nothing. But I don't see too many coders interested in doing that.

Hmm... "Software as Socialism" anybody? ;)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 08, 2013, 04:27 AM: Looks like the download frenzy has subsided because the Adobe page with the download links and serial numbers (http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html) is now up again.

Given all the information that has emerged in the past few hours, it's surprising that The Register still decided to run with the title: "Adobe offers free trip to PowerPC era: 'Free' download of CS2 is real, but crusty (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/08/free_adobe_cs2_download/)" (and the URL helpfully says: free_adobe_cs2_download)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: InstantFundas on January 08, 2013, 05:32 AM: Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM)

I'm using Photoshop Cs2 on Win7 64bit
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 08, 2013, 06:34 AM: Well, this looks like the official statement (http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2013/01/update-on-cs2-and-acrobat-7-activation-servers.html) then:

Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers. While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers.

They seem to agree that the situation is open to interpretation... They are only explaining their original intention and motivation here. But apparently now the download page doesn't even require an Adobe ID any more, i.e. in the last 12 hours they've decided to make access even easier. Hmm... Conflicting messages...
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: rgdot on January 08, 2013, 07:06 AM: Confusing, conflicting and fishy too, 'technical glitch' shouldn't require anything being turned off permanently.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 08, 2013, 07:36 AM: Whether it was a mistake or not, they can only really do what they are doing - anything else would be really bad PR.

As far as finding new customers, I don't think that's their motivation. CS is the de facto standard in print publishing - and a major player in e-pub, web, and media development. So it's not like they need to get a huge influx of users. Especially since their Creative Cloud (http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html) offering brings any and all of their products within financial reach of just about anybody that actually needs them.
-40hz (January 07, 2013, 08:04 PM)
what corporation doesnt need/want more customers ;)
I dont know the figures but I rekon Adobe have only gotten really huge with the advent of digital camera and the popularity of Photoshop amongst amatuer enthusiasts.

They've been promoting the Cloud lately (per email at least) - and this episode, whether intentional or not, has gotten them an awful lot of promotion for the server cost.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 08, 2013, 07:37 AM: Why does a program have to be vilified simply because most people prefer using it rather than its competition?
-40hz (January 08, 2013, 04:24 AM)

I personally dislike Adobe for killing Macromedia Freehand - but really Macromedia is to blame there. It was possibly illegal for Adobe to buy and kill Freehand thereby giving themselves more or less a monopoly in the vector drawing market, but again, I have to admit that Freehand really failed -in spite of being the superior product- because of Macromedia.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 08, 2013, 07:58 AM: They've been promoting the Cloud lately (per email at least) - and this episode, whether intentional or not, has gotten them an awful lot of promotion for the server cost.
-tomos (January 08, 2013, 07:36 AM)

Note the Cloud ad right above the download links ;)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on January 08, 2013, 08:41 AM: Why does a program have to be vilified simply because most people prefer using it rather than its competition?
-40hz (January 08, 2013, 04:24 AM)

I personally dislike Adobe for killing Macromedia Freehand - but really Macromedia is to blame there. It was possibly illegal for Adobe to buy and kill Freehand thereby giving themselves more or less a monopoly in the vector drawing market, but again, I have to admit that Freehand really failed -in spite of being the superior product- because of Macromedia.
-tomos (January 08, 2013, 07:37 AM)

FYI - it was probably not illegal under US law. Our antitrust rules are different than such are in many other countries since they're not intended to protect competition in general, but rather to prevent "unfair" business practices that interfere with competition.

And buying out a competitor is an accepted and time honored strategy in US business.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 08, 2013, 09:17 AM: (EDIT after uploading: When I wrote "legalize" here, on several occasions, I always meant "legalese" of course - sorry from a non-native speaker.)

EDIT before uploading:

40hz, I wrote this down, a little bit unordered, then thought by myself, don't bother people with such a long, disparate thing, with all its repetitions (and not having the time to edit it properly). But your insistence on the legal-moral aspect here bothers me; your argumentation doesn't take into real account the very special position Adobe has in the current world of sw. I don't vilify them at all, but I think we, customers, have some moral rights, too, whatever the legalize, and I'm rather positive about even the legalize developing in our sense here, in this affair. So finally, I think, in order to counterweight what you pretend to be "right" here, my arguments are needed, even in this sub-optimal arrangement that follows:

"I dont know the figures but I rekon Adobe have only gotten really huge with the advent of digital camera and the popularity of Photoshop amongst amatuer enthusiasts." - tomos, that's what I tried to explain to 40hz above, and argued Adobe had to take into account, in the very first place - and they did! And we concur here, I think: It seems to have been a mistake, or even sabotage, then they panicked, shutting down the codes (but knowing netherless they would spread all over the web within the next days anyway), then their marketing staff indeed didn't sleep this night (and how could they have?), and now they've come out, as the doctor has found out some hours ago (while I had given up), with the "professional" reaction to such desaster, i.e. they're really containing it both from the marketing side as from the legal pov:

- They've made it technically possible for anyone, now, to use everything in that package (= the codes were to be spread in the web anyway, but here, they "deliver" them anew, which psychologically is very different)

- At the same time, they don't actively allow for use, except for genuine CS2 / single products within that package customers; at the same time, they know that masses of "illegitimate" users will now use CS2 or some product out of the package technically (but not legally) given for free (and in fact, I think it's the very first time in sw history that the illegal codes are spread - and now deliberately spread, after downing, then reconnecting the web page in question - by the developing house itself - never ever heard of such a thing)

- They will obviously never intend any action to anybody taking advantage of their current, "illegal" "offer" (= whilst being "illegal", it's a deliberata offer in full knowledge of what people will do, in masses)

- So their next best step would indeed be to offer upgrade, and these without checking the codes of your current version (as they do now), or with communicating that any such code, incl. these general ones here, will be accepted (this will bring really satisfying numbers of both new Photoshop and new Acrobat users, and then many other users here and there for the rest of the package altogether. Take my example: I use my (very old version of) PageMaker, but if I got a current InDesign (update) for perhaps 300 euro, I'd be more than tempted, and the same would apply for many potential users of some of the programs there who cannot justify professional prices for professional sw, since, very simply, they don't make professional use of these programs. Note that for such an update, if Adobe accepted these general codes, without inquiring about more legitimate, previous, individual codes on top, many of us would get into such a "brand-new InDesign for me now" business, on such an update offer, even WITHOUT installing now "their" illegitimate copy of the program in question! I further insist on this core point of this affair (core point from my pov of course):

- If Adobe are smart (and I think / hope they are further on, their move today (= reconnection of the codes / links page, knowing they technically do it for everyone) BEING smart imo), they will offer an update to "anyone with the general codes", meaning, at some point in time (only), everybody being interested in their products will pay for Illustrator, InCopy, Photoshop, say, 250 or 300 bucks instead of 1,000 or 1,200 bucks (see below) - and then, these people (= non-professionals) are out of their dreaming-of-Adobe but within Adobe's regular-updates scheme, i.e. many of those will then update further on, here and there

- Now for the Adobe's normal prices. 40hz, your minority view here is perfectly justified: developers ought to be paid, no discussion upon that.

- In practice, though, we all convene here, but then love getting sw with coupons, - 70 p.c. off on bits, at student prices without being students anymore, in cases developers are "easy" re the documents to produce in order to get the special price, and so on: 90 p.c. of us love to pay less: this is a general rule that even applies to sw less expensive than Adobe's

- Now for Adobe in particular: For most sw, if a non-pro dreams of it, he buys it. Not so for Adobe, since Adobe's prices are tailored to professionals, and to professionals only: no clemency with dreaming amateurs, and no -40 p.c. at bits here, either (of course) - no chance for dreaming amateurs to get Adobe for a decent price, except if he's got student kids who deliver the needed documents for pops in order to get his beloved Photoshop, and really cheap then

- Furthermore, Adobe's European prices are almost two times the U.S. prices, and have always been. Now you can buy in the U.S., then you will be told there's no after-sales service, since the European one is for European-version customers only, and the U.S. one is for U.S. customers only - you'd fall between the two groups here

- Since exactly this was my problem, last year, for a simple activation of legit Adobe sw, it cost me FIVE HOURS of telephoning to about 8 or 9 different people, just in order to get my product activated, and this ninth very kind man presumably did something "illegal" in the eyes of Adobe, by finally activating my paid product; before, I had the "pleasure" to speak with people all over the world, and I particularly remember a woman from Russia or from Ukraine: I'm shuddering even now, when just remembering this conversation

- This all meaning, Adobe isn't any sw house as any other: Adobe is very special, hence some passionate reactions here and elsewhere, or to put it in other words: Adobe's so arrogant (this not being an accusation but a simple fact) that they simply won't let gone away with such a big error: When elsewhere people say, "well, was wishful thinking, will not be, I move on", with Adobe (or with MS, for that, but less so lately, since from villain, they more and more get the victim bonus, bec/of Apple having overtaken the "big winner" (and for some of us, the villain) role), there's big passion having been let out of the box, and it's not with a shrug that people are willing to close that box.

- You, 40hz, have been looking at this subject very cool, and you were alone to do so, from a professional's pov, but then, professionals are paid, they get their sw from their employer, or in the case of freelancers, they pay for their sw, but at the same time justify their prices vàv their customers with their expensive equipment incl. expensive sw (and they tend to exaggerate here a little bit, rather often) - even MS is there for the professional, AND for the amateur, with different ranges of products, but where the amateur products ain't totally crippled (as is the case with Adobe's "cheap" "Element" versions)

- So, as with SAP and other real "professional" sw no amateur will ever touch, Adobe is for professionals only, by their prices (and for a happy few who can, by their income, justify such prof. prices for their amateur use); the hick here being, Adobe's the only such sw house that in fact produces sw FOR amateurs, but not selling it with prices in concordance with this fact. I mean, what amateur's interested in traduction sw, in crm sw, in legal case M sw, and so on, let alone SAP product?

- But with Adobe's "professional" product, lotsa amateurs crave to have those! In this prof. league, then, Adobe is unique, by constantly making masses of amateurs' mouths water.

- All this has to be considered in such a PR desaster - Just saying, "if you want a prof. product, pay prof. prices, or clear off" wouldn't have been the smart Adobe reaction here, after the initial big-mistake they made: What they've got on offer is simply too attractive for millions of non-professionals. And it seems - they're very smart people - they are following the right strategy here, today, codes and links are available again, to everybody; any other move would have left them with some loyal professionals and fuming masses. It's up to them now to offer un upgrading scheme that will bring them lots of money when they don't ask for too harsh a price, for every product - bear in mind CS2 isn't that easy with modern computers / operating systems, so many people will be happy to upgrade, at a half-way decent price.

- Even at this very moment, the download speed is irreproachable, and considering the traffic they must get, I can't say but that I'm deeply impressed.

- But what about that little a... that did this to them, or was it just one big error on their part? Only one thing is for certain: Their codes / links page being down yesterday was on purpose; proof: download speed yesterday and today: they decidedly do NOT have technical problems over there. So it's now probable that they panicked yesterday, then thought about: With the best possible results for everybody, it seems to me. Hats off to them, they're real professionals even in the face of disaster.

- 40hz, you said, somebody else just do something equivalent. Well, that's planning without their extraordinary expertise. So they've got their quasi-monopoly in graphics, let alone pdf (any little office manage will say, well, there are competitors, but they are not 100 p.c. compatible, so in order to comply with authorities, etc. we must buy the original, whatever its price!), and hence their prices - but for amateurs, here and there, a big-mistake on their part, a little breach into this out-of-reach pricing scheme, is very welcome. And finally, let's not forget we're speaking of 8-years-old sw that no professional would touch anymore. (As for the monopoly aspect: sw competing with Acrobat Prof. costs 100-200 euro, whilst Acrobat Prof is available for over 500 euro, meaning, Adobe has recouped their pdf investments long ago, it's almost all net profits - and dont' forget, their pdf is a standard now, so some price correction re Acrobat would have been needed long ago. I don't blame them; I just say, some correction is very welcome.)

- The optimists have been proven right: They didn't cut off their servers to begin with, and now, obviously, they're preparing for the largest possible updating customer base. Is this to be blamed? Even themselves seem to move in our direction; do they need defendors of their most prominent (past in part, hopefully) arrogance?
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 08, 2013, 11:18 AM: ^ I'm not sure why you're picking on 40hz -I know he's well able to talk for himself- but the way I see it, he's right and well, you're right too :p

Note - initially I was also thinking upgrades but forgot that Adobe doesnt offer upgrades once the software is a couple of numbers back, so, as said by various people above, the subscription model is really what's on offer.

I dislike hating - someone on dc lately said/quoted that it was like taking poison and hoping the other person would die. But when I think of Adobe's European pricing, I tend to hate - it's already expensive in the States. I dont know are they worse than other companies that way? For hardware you could argue that the market is much more fragmented. I suppose Adobe have to make websites in various languages (oh the strain) but not to the cost that they charge us poor beggars (well, we will be after purchase). But really we're rambling a bit here imo...
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on January 08, 2013, 01:47 PM: ^ I'm not sure why you're picking on 40hz -I know he's well able to talk for himself- but the way I see it, he's right and well, you're right too :p
-tomos (January 08, 2013, 11:18 AM)

;D Thx Tomos! But I'm not offended by anything helmut85 is saying.

I think where we differ is in how he and I see this particular incident along with things in general regarding software.

My point is simply that from what I've seen, Adobe had nothing to do with this misunderstanding. It was a piece of misinformation that made it up on the web and began snowballing. Then it was picked up and misreported by Forbes (who should know better since they have the resources needed to verify stories before going to publication) and that lent it an air of authenticity it obviously didn't deserve.

I haven't heard anybody responsibly say (or even infer) that Adobe was somehow behind this mistake - or attempting to profit from it. So when people start saying that Adobe should be stepping into the breach and going through major gyrations to "fix" or "contain" or "make good" on the misunderstanding (as some commenters on other websites have argued), my eyes start to roll.

With regard to it being a PR fiasco, I don't see it that way at all. Again, Adobe (whom I'm not particularly fond of either) did what they needed to do - which is say that the information circulating about free copies of CS2 being available for the asking was incorrect. Period.

If some people were offended or disappointed by this news...well...that's a shame. But I still don't see where Adobe has any responsibility for that. I'd much rather know how this mistake got started and by whom. If people have an issue with anybody, it should be the party responsible for that. And so far, that person doesn't seem to be part of Adobe.

Regarding how many people desperately want a copy of Photoshop - but are not able to afford it - about the best I can say is: Such is life. I want a mint condition Rickenbacker 4005 Bass - but don't have the $7-10,000 they're currently selling for either. Too bad for me too! ;D

It's important to remember that a program like Photoshop also isn't the same thing as food, prescription drugs, or medical care. You can live a very full and rich life without owning or having access to a copy of Adobe CS. It's not a necessity of life. So (to me at least) it's not like you can make a strong moral argument about it being somehow "unfair" that Adobe doesn't just hand out copies to everyone who begs them for one.

As far as increasing customers goes, I don't think Adobe really wants to see the masses start flocking to Photoshop CS in droves. That would be a tech support nightmare. They created Elements for the amateur and semi-pro photography crowd who don't need all the 'print' specific features of Photoshop because they won't be creating files for digital printing presses. And a huge amount of what's in PS (as opposed to Elements) is purely for press production and color matching. For pure image manipulation PS is absolute overkill. And there are equally capable and far less expensive products such as PaintShop Pro (my fav) that will handle photo manipulation equally well.

But so be it. I'm already tired of the subject. ;D 8)

@T - P.S.

I too am really pissed that Freehand is no longer available. That was my 'go to' illustration app for many years. And I used it for as long as I had a machine that could still run it. Freehand made sense to me. I have never really got the hang of using Illustrator or CorelDraw. And FWIW I also completely blame Macromedia for blowing their market leadership position and ultimately selling out to their catch-up competitor. But that's the way it goes.

I felt the same way about Microsoft ceding the personal finance field to Intuit when they discontinued Money. Ditto when they took FlightSim off the market and then, in a pure "dog in the hayloft" move, refused to release it as open source. :-\
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Carol Haynes on January 08, 2013, 04:31 PM: Note - initially I was also thinking upgrades but forgot that Adobe doesnt offer upgrades once the software is a couple of numbers back, so, as said by various people above, the subscription model is really what's on offer.
-tomos (January 08, 2013, 11:18 AM)

Actually they do - I have CS3 and I can still buy an upgrade to CS6 if I really want to.

Much as I hate the idea of subscription software it sort of makes a lot of sense with Adobe if you use one of the big suites. If you buy even alternate versions it is still likely to work out cheaper subscribing. Persoanlly I think I will stick with CS3 until Windows 9 breaks it!
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Stoic Joker on January 08, 2013, 06:17 PM: Persoanlly I think I will stick with CS3 until Windows 9 breaks it!
-Carol Haynes (January 08, 2013, 04:31 PM)

+1 - Me too!
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: helmut85 on January 09, 2013, 06:12 PM: - I expected the guitar thing, with a Porsche, now it's a very expensive bass guitar, but the argument was in the air. Well, there's net profit in the price of such physical goods (in the European price of a Porsche, that would be 25,000 euro; perhaps it's less in the U.S.), but there's also lots of cost in order to produce them - now compare with sw where any additional copy only produces very low marginal cost.

- It's right that you can't compare Photoshop with Aids drugs for South Africa, hence the intervention of the authorities for the latter, whilst we won't get same for the former.

- I personally am only very mildly interested in Photoshop, but this is the piece in the package that the masses want (no pun intended), so I spoke mainly about that.

- We're not speaking of forcing Adobe to give it out, at a "social" price (hence no authority action needed or asked for), we just discuss the INTEREST of Adobe to do the best here, with the situation given, whatever might have lead to this new situation for them: And that's an update / upgrade scheme without questions asked for codes previous to the given ones here.

- Why do I say they it's in their interest, now? The situation is a fact, anybody wanting to use Photoshop CS2 is henceforward technically able to do so, with tweaking his modern comp or buying an older comp for this. So, many amateurs will do exactly this, and they will not upgrade to a subscription scheme but use their (probably illegal, but even that's not sure, see below) copy of Photoshop CS2 for long years. So many of them would not have bought the CS5 or a subscription anyway, but some of them would have; now, with their "free" CS2 version, they will NOT do: since, from CS2-free to CS5/subscription-very-expensive, it's a jump most amateurs will never make. Here, my point is: With the availability of "free" (if legal or not) CS2, Adobe BLOCKED a big part of its amateur market, for years, hence their interest to DE-BLOCK it by luring a max of these possible prospects of a future day but which are now blocked into their old-version use, into a new product, by correctly pricing this for them.

- Thus, a special update / upgrade for these special codes / CS2 is of high interest, since for many of those happy, "served" amateurs, it would not be a jump from old-and-free to new-and-very-expensive, but from free-but-old, to something brand-new and decently priced (for them). Here, many amateurs would make the jump indeed (depending on the upgrade price: I'd say Adobe should not take more than 40 p.c. of the full version's street price if they want to generate big sales here).

- It's not a valid argument imo that somebody else just program something similar, then sell it for 200 bucks instead of 800 / 1,000 bucks: We all know this will never occur, since nobody else can make up for the advance in expertise Adobe has got over the years. No, it's the other way round, we're speaking of a de-facto monopoly here, with the monopolist realizing his abusive price policy by way of his monopol power.

- As for tech support for amateurs, the tech support I, as a 3,000-or-more bucks customer (as said), has been abysmal (and thus very cost-effective for them), and then, it should be possible to couple the special upgrade scheme with a special tech support scheme where you would have to buy service vouchers, say 25 bucks apiece.

- And now my legal AND marketing core argument (no morals here). We all know there are special sites giving away illegal (activated) copies, or illegal codes (in order to activate copies): You download the sw here, you get your illegal code there, and you're done. I've never even visited such sites, and all my sw in any comp I have is legal / paid for (that's way quite some of them are quite old).

- But I never ever have seen such illegal downloads, such illegal codes ON THE SITE OF THE DEVELOPER HIMSELF, NEVER EVER IN 25 YEARS OF PC. Have you? Where? From whom? What sw house ever published themselves, their own illegal codes? Now you. Not by accident, not deliberately.

- And here, it's deliberate now. Whatever their possible accident might have been, one day later the "illegal" (= illegal for non-CS2 users with previously bought code) page was on again, together with the download links, together with the codes, and not even any question for "your Adobe ID" anymore.

- Whatever might have happen on January 7 and before, there's a NEW SITUATION from January 8 on: It's deliberate now, and that changes a lot.

- Here, we get, for the very first time in the history of the personal computer (incl. Mac), a developer who publishes himself the "illegal" codes, which means, he incites people to "steal" his sw - if really he wants it to qualify this way, and not by accident, but because he pretends this to be a "normal" way of sending codes to paying customers,

- when in fact this way of doing things

(instead of e.g. sending them by mail to paying customers upon request, or even in a mass sending, and afterwards, upon request, in cases paying customers had changed their mail address, so didn't get the code, etc.)

- IS A WORLD PREMIERE,

- as would be a home owner who does not only put the key of his front door prominently on the top of his letterbox (= the download links), but also put a sign there, on which he wrote the code of his safe (= the activation code).

- From this DELIBERATE way of doing things, I deduct that in many jurisdictions, and perhaps even in the U.S., they would LOSE their case if ever they brought an action against some NO-bona-fide downloader-activator.

- And they know this, and they do it this way all the same. So they do it on purpose, or because they've got delusional. They're smart people, so I opt for the former. You know what they invariably say on bits when they prolong a sale for the second day?

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Curt on January 13, 2013, 04:06 PM: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/get-adobe-cs2-suite-free-not-officially.htm
-Gizmo

Does any one know if this CS2 (from 2005) will install & run on a 64-bit Win 7?

:tellme:

oh, I've found the answer:

Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 12:45 PM)

I'm still using Photoshop from CS3 on Win7 x64 so hopefully CS2 will still run ok.
-Stoic Joker (January 07, 2013, 01:45 PM)

CS3 is fully Windows 7 compat - CS2 isn't
-Carol Haynes (January 07, 2013, 05:01 PM)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 13, 2013, 05:12 PM: ^ I've seen a few comments though saying it worked fine

... I think on the slickdeals thread:
More info via ghacks update3 and slickdeals-

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/87488/adobe-adobe-creative-suite-cs2-standard-pc-or-mac-digital-download
-cmpm (January 07, 2013, 12:18 PM)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Curt on January 13, 2013, 06:15 PM: ^ I've seen a few comments though saying it worked fine ... I think on the slickdeals thread:
More info via ghacks update3 and slickdeals-
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/87488/adobe-adobe-creative-suite-cs2-standard-pc-or-mac-digital-download
-cmpm (January 07, 2013, 12:18 PM)
-tomos (January 13, 2013, 05:12 PM)

-very fine link, cmpm + tomos :up: Scroll 2/3 > 3/4 down and begin reading.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: fenixproductions on January 14, 2013, 03:41 AM: Just as endnote: Adobe forum thread with clarifications from Dov Isaacs (mentioned in Forbes article) seems to be deleted.
I wonder if it's not my VPN issue?
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 14, 2013, 05:59 AM: Just as endnote: Adobe forum thread with clarifications from Dov Isaacs (mentioned in Forbes article) seems to be deleted.
I wonder if it's not my VPN issue?
-fenixproductions (January 14, 2013, 03:41 AM)

Nope, it looks like they've rewritten history, as the other staffer's comments were removed as well. They've been all replaced with the official (?) line
(http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930?start=40&tstart=0)

we are aware that the software is available for all users with an Adobe ID. You will want to have a valid license for a software title affected by the activation server outage. Please also keep in mind that due to the age of these software titles it is likely that they will not function properly on modern operating systems.

Although this is inaccurate now as well, as you don't need an Adobe ID to access the page and download the software and the serial no.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: f0dder on January 14, 2013, 06:24 AM: Nope, it looks like they've rewritten history, as the other staffer's comments were removed as well. They've been all replaced with the official (?) line
(http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930?start=40&tstart=0)
-dr_andus (January 14, 2013, 05:59 AM)
How typical big-corpy.

They could've let the original statements be, but kept them ~~clearly marked~~ and with a note saying "official statement down below". History rewriting is such a nasty thing, bloody fascists.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 14, 2013, 06:46 AM: Just as endnote: Adobe forum thread with clarifications from Dov Isaacs (mentioned in Forbes article) seems to be deleted.
I wonder if it's not my VPN issue?
-fenixproductions (January 14, 2013, 03:41 AM)

Nope, it looks like they've rewritten history, as the other staffer's comments were removed as well. They've been all replaced with the official (?) line
(http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930?start=40&tstart=0)
-dr_andus (January 14, 2013, 05:59 AM)

the official line seems to be still this - (Post # 68 on the same page)
Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers. While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers.
-
I'm not sure what exactly was removed/changed, but I think other comments were/are from Adobe staff that are more, eh, realistic...

Still quite a mess for people who actually bought the software and need to reinstall - many 'titles' are still not available:

89. Jeff A Wright,
10-Jan-2013 17:28 in reply to -X-Man

-X-Man I apologize but I don't have any specific updates to report at the moment. We are aware that the following software titles are currently unavailable:

   Production Studio Premium
   After Effects 7.0
   GoLive 9.0
   Creative Suite 2 for additional languages
   Acrobat 7 Professional
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Carol Haynes on January 14, 2013, 07:47 AM: Makes you REALLY confident in Adobe Activation servers (and activation servers in general!!!)
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on January 14, 2013, 07:51 AM: ...we issued a serial number directly to those customers...
-tomos (January 14, 2013, 06:46 AM)

...doesn't sound quite right either. Wouldn't "issuing directly" mean that it is only accessible to "those customers", rather than everyone in the world and his dog?

You will want to have a valid license

...is also an interesting use of the English language. It doesn't quite mean the same thing as "you must have a valid licence." Plus the fine distinction between "having a valid licence" and "having a valid serial number" might get lost on non-geeks and those without a legal background...
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on January 14, 2013, 08:08 AM: ^ yes, there is a certain amount of uncertainty even there.

Also, I was wondering had they delayed uploading the remaining titles because they were looking to find a more secure way of doing it. Or maybe it's just incompetence...
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Curt on January 14, 2013, 08:44 AM: [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

64-bit Win 7

:up:
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: dr_andus on February 18, 2013, 08:16 AM: It looks like Adobe have updated the page (http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html), adding a message of clarification about the policy:

The serial numbers below should only be used by customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products.

At the same time they've removed Acrobat Pro 8 and Photoshop Elements 5.0 from the list and added After Effects. There must be a reason...
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: Carol Haynes on February 18, 2013, 09:27 AM: Its all very strange - you would think Adobe would restrict downloads and serial numbers to people who already have registered copies of CS2 - just put the links in their account. They could even issue individualised replacement serial numbers.

They don't seem to be too bothered about anyone downloading and installing given they have published all this openly.

Presumably they take the view anyone still on CS2 is unlikley to pay for an upgrade - especially as CS6 can only be upgraded from CS3 onwards as far as I can tell. Making CS2 freely available may tempt some non-buyers into buying a package they try for free.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: 40hz on February 18, 2013, 01:07 PM: I think Carol has it correct. They're looking the other way because it isn't worth forcing the issue. And if it does become an issue they still have legal recourse if necessary.

When Microsoft was attempting to establish Office as the de facto productivity suite they overlooked a great deal of the casual piracy taking place. Once Office was established; and WordPerfect, Lotus, Harvard Graphics, Smart, and other rivals were safely out of the way, Microsoft started getting serious about their licensing by introducing a much more real activation program that included Genuine Advantage. As some competitors pointed out back then, how can you compete when Office is effectively free?

I think a little of that is also in Adobe's strategy.
Title: Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)
Post by: tomos on February 18, 2013, 02:13 PM: [...] they've removed Acrobat Pro 8 and Photoshop Elements 5.0 from the list and added After Effects. There must be a reason...
-dr_andus (February 18, 2013, 08:16 AM)

Acrobat 8 was only there because they couldnt successfully get a version of 7 out there (7 was the version that came with CS2).

As of Jan.10, these were missing (i.e. for owners of same to reinstall)
Production Studio Premium
After Effects 7.0
GoLive 9.0
Creative Suite 2 for additional languages
Acrobat 7 Professional
-https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=33583.msg314367#msg314367