How long do you think before someone produces copies with the activation and online check code stripped out or the activation period updated to 1000 years?-Carol Haynes
Probably a month or two - but I don't think the casual pirate or copy "borrower" is their real concern. It's really not cost effective to actively pursue them. And Adobe knows it.
If anyone thinks this will stop piracy they are not in the real world - this is a HUGE gauntlet to throw down to hackers and what's more some loyal customers who feel ripped off will contemplate using cracked software rather than be extorted on a monthly subscription.
True. But no business or professional in their right mind
would since the downside far outweigh the benefits.
Don't know if they do this in the UK , but I'm seeing more and more contracts over here that require the vendor assert that it has legal rights to all resources used in the performance of the contract. It's mostly put in there for things like artwork. But companies have also argued it applies to things beyond simple IP (which software increasingly claims to be) since they could be accused of abetting an illegal activity by availing themselves of its benefits while turning a blind eye to any license violations on the part of the supplier.
So no, pissed off or not, I can't really see too many people who use CS to make money trying to do an end run around Adobe. At least in the markets Adobe is interested in serving.
I think this may actually be less about personal paranoia, and more about corporate IT and management just wanting to get out from under the whole license and compliance issue once and for all. Most businesses are pretty good about paying for the software they use. Where they're terrible is in keeping track of the licenses they already bought. These software services get them out from under it.
It also eases deployment and updates (as long as you always want the latest version - which is not always the case) and provides flex since most of these services seem to have realized "no-contract" is definitely the way to the purchase department's heart.
For medium and large businesses with heavy duty connections to the Internet, this sort of deal is very compelling. Great for tax purposes (no "first year expensing" nonsense and related considerations) since it's a pure expense item. And it's flexible. Just add or drop licenses as needed. Which is great for temporary employees and interns working on short term projects. No more boxes and boxes of undeployed software sitting in storage after a project is finished. No chance of any "extra" copies being "liberated" either.
And did I mention there's no more license compliance worries yet?
No. Much as it galls me what this represents politically and philosophically, it still makes pretty good
business sense doing things this way.
Businesses are already familiar with renting and outsourcing. And they never did like all those complex (thank you Microsoft!) site contracts, software "assurance" programs and similar deals they were offered. This can all be presented as "outsourcing your business' software holdings" and it will virtually sell itself. Especially if there's no contract commitment.
What this means for the one-off purchaser or home user is anybody's guess. But it's not like anybody is asking them. Adobe and Microsoft would rather
not deal with individuals and small organizations with no in-house expertise. That can quickly become a support nightmare and money-losing proposition, as anybody who ever tried to provide "tech support" to very small businesses or individuals invariably discovers.
Especially since so much of that market doesn't need "support" so much as it needs basic
training in the use of the product. Training they're frequently unwilling to invest in. ("Hey, I don't need to know all that! I just need you to show me how to do
this.") And forget about actually doing any of the
supplied tutorials.
Dunno...maybe part of the motivation (beyond cash flow) is also to weed out the casual and amateur users when it comes to big complex products like CS. Their real market is corporations and design professionals. Maybe pissing off all those PITA "amateurs" is considered an unanticipated benefit?
