Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?

Quote from: Carol Haynes on January 07, 2013, 06:45 PM

Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.

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

CS3 is fully Windows 7 compat - CS2 isn't

Quote from: Stoic Joker on January 07, 2013, 07:45 PM

Quote from: Carol Haynes on January 07, 2013, 06:45 PM

Note CS2 isn't compatible (at least officially) with Vista or later.

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

CS3 is fully Windows 7 compat - CS2 isn't

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

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.

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 says:

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?

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.

Quote from: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 10:42 PM

Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?

Why?  No matter what happens, it's still not forum spam.

+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)

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.

This is the most confusing thing on the internet ever

People are downloading straight from Adobe servers and making it work or not? (Yes I am aware how 'normal' online activation and licensing work)

Quote from: wraith808 on January 07, 2013, 11:24 PM

Quote from: helmut85 on January 07, 2013, 10:42 PM

Could one of the moderators change the subtitle of this thread from (NOT SPAM) to (SPAM), please?

Why?  No matter what happens, it's still not forum spam.

+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)

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.

@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.

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, 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.

@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.

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. 

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]

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.

@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.

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.

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.