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Is adobe allowing free downloads of PS CS 2? NO.

New Here ,
Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

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I heard this in an illustration class I am taking, with some people claiming they have downloaded the program. I can't believe this is true.....somebody please advise. Thanks in advance.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

"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."

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Advocate ,
Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

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Community Expert ,
Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

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Participant ,
Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

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PS2 is free but will not work on newer macs because it requires powerpc, which is not compatible with newer macs.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jan 11, 2013 Jan 11, 2013

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"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."

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Jan 12, 2013 Jan 12, 2013

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No, there are no free downloads.  The downloads are there for people who bought CS2 and have a valid license.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 16, 2013 Jan 16, 2013

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Chris Cox wrote:

No, there are no free downloads.  The downloads are there for people who bought CS2 and have a valid license.

So why is there a link for downloads with full serial numbers.  Are you saying that the Adobe Staff are completely stupid to leave it there despite knowing it.  See my previous post where I posted the link.  Remove the link or please clarify the facts after you have checked with your superiors.

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Jan 16, 2013 Jan 16, 2013

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The serial numbers should be gone (that was a mistake).

And the download is there for people still using CS2 (legally) who need to reinstall.

We have clarified (repeatedly):  the downloads are only for people who have a valid CS2 license.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 16, 2013 Jan 16, 2013

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Chris Cox wrote:

We have clarified (repeatedly):  the downloads are only for people who have a valid CS2 license.

I think we could all accept the intention more readily if there was a clear note to that effect on the public download page.

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

I think that's baffling everyone given the vehemence of the staff being communicated in these forums. Very mixed, confusing messages are being received.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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John Waller wrote:


I think we could all accept the intention more readily if there was a clear note to that effect on the public download page.

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

THAT is what is needed, yes!

There will be amoral individuals who will get away with what they can get away with.

There will be law abiding citizens who will be mislead to think the software is free, then find out they were mislead, and maybe even provide feedback on the sites they originally were mislead by.

-Noel

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Guest
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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Noel Carboni wrote:

There will be amoral individuals who will get away with what they can get away with.

There will be law abiding citizens who will be mislead to think the software is free, then find out they were mislead, and maybe even provide feedback on the sites they originally were mislead by.

I totally get what you're saying Noel. Here's a missing piece of the puzzle too.. Suppose that you're Joe Casual. It's January 7th. You're doing your Twitter thing and one of your friends tweets that Adobe is giving away CS2 for free. He read it on legit sites like Gizmodo or Forbes and wanted to pass it on. You download it. You install it. You use it. You never give it a second thought. In fact, like everybody else that day, you've got no reason to think that it's not free. You're not likely to lurk on the Adobe forums and you got the direct page link second hand. What then?

A guy like that, who probably represents the average person, will never know what's being talked about on these forums. He certainly wasn't misled, as credible sites repored that CS2 was free. He's not a criminal and has no cause to believe that he is; Adobe did, after all, leave it out in the open as they would any other free download. He's not trying to get away with anything either. Other companies do give away old software all of the time, some far more expensive than CS2. A guy like this will never, ever know that what he did was allegedly illegal or even (subjectively) immoral.

Honestly, you can't demonize or criminalize these people. The fault falls squarely on the shoulders of Adobe. They did, and continue to do, everything in their power to make CS2 appear as free as every other free download on their site. People have no real way of understanding or knowing that this is not the case. That'd be like me putting an assortment of fruit on the table, telling everybody that they can take some, but forgetting to tell them that the apples are just for certain people. Can I blame them for grabbing the apples? No. I didn't warn them. The apples seemed as free as the oranges, pears, or grapes right next to them.

If you're Joe Casual and you're linked to the download page, how will you ever know? If you never visit the forums, how will you know? If your daily internet routine doesn't include trolling the tech sites, how will you know?

And to the notion that people downloading CS2 had no intention of every buying CS6... I'm not sure that I believe that. There are a lot of newbies and aspriing artists who would rather not pirate software. They'd rather suffer silently with GIMP while they saved away their pennies for CS6. For those people, CS2 might seem like a gift from the heavens and their introduction to the world of the Adobe products they've been saving for. The people innocently downloading CS2 aren't just a bunch of freeloaders. I firmly believe that a fair number are potential Adobe customers. I can't speak for everybody, but I'm a member of a several art communities and know people who think like that.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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juggalord2k13 wrote:

I totally get what you're saying Noel. Here's a missing piece of the puzzle too.. Suppose that you're Joe Casual. It's January 7th. You're doing your Twitter thing and one of your friends tweets that Adobe is giving away CS2 for free. He read it on legit sites like Gizmodo or Forbes and wanted to pass it on. You download it. You install it. You use it. You never give it a second thought. In fact, like everybody else that day, you've got no reason to think that it's not free. You're not likely to lurk on the Adobe forums and you got the direct page link second hand. What then?

A guy like that, who probably represents the average person, will never know what's being talked about on these forums. He certainly wasn't misled, as credible sites repored that CS2 was free. He's not a criminal and has no cause to believe that he is; Adobe did, after all, leave it out in the open as they would any other free download. He's not trying to get away with anything either.

I don't disagree that Adobe screwed the pooch...(wouldn't be the first time Adobe made an announcement that was flat out wrong). The motivation was, however, trying to do the right thing for the legit users of CS2 that would be impacted by turning off the activation servers for CS2. Why that happened and what prompted the turning off of the activation servers isn't clear (it may never be). But Adobe acted to try to help out legit users.

Was this a total FUBAR situation? Yes...

Was Adobe trying to help out the CS2 users? Yes...

Did Adobe screw up? Yes...

However, Adobe is "trying" to correct the situation...prolly sticking a finger in the dam to try to prevent a flood. But, CS2 is old tech...it won't run well on ANY currently shipping OS. So, those people who think they've scored a cool freebie will find out the moment they buy a new computer with a modern OS will be shyte out of luck...they'll have to go out an BUY Photoshop to run it (I can see the tech support nightmares now–hey, you guys–Adobe-gave aways CS2 and now I have a new computer and why aren't you updated the software I though was free to something that runs on my new computer?

Anybody here should know that only license holders of CS2 are entitled to download and install the non-activation versions of CS2 and use the serial numbers provided.

You guys can go on slugging it out here if ya want...but the bottom line is if you read this thread you know darn well that downloading the non-activation versions of CS2 without a legit licence is bogus (even if it's Adobe's fault it happened).

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LEGEND ,
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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You have to admit, it's an interesting internet dynamic, though...

By way of analogy...

Premise:  A local jewery shop with some nice stuff inside has bars on the windows, armed guard inside 24/7, dogs, laser perimeter monitoring...  They've had it for years.

Then one day they pull down the bars, send the guard home, put the dogs in a kennel, turn off the lasers, and leave the door unlocked when they go home.  They put the good stuff in a safe, but the older jewelry they just leave in the cases.

Would passers by notice the complete change in security stance, and make the leap that everything in the store must now be free for the taking?

That's the kicker.  In the real world, by the turnaround from "locked down hard" to "walk on in", people would not generally assume the contents of the store is theirs for the taking; most have learned that other people's stuff is still other people's stuff, even when it's not locked down.

Yes, maybe the shady characters that might have tested the door when it was locked would now avail themselves of the merchandise, but the average joe wouldn't.  Nor, I suspect, would the local paper just make the assumption that "all the old jewelry is now free."

I hope that this isn't a glimpse of the future, and we're not headed toward a society where everything that's not locked down hard can just be expected to be taken.  We're already part of the way there to be sure, but in my experience in most places still you can forget to lock your car and everything's still there when you get back.

-Noel

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Guest
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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Noel Carboni wrote:

I hope that this isn't a glimpse of the future, and we're not headed toward a society where everything that's not locked down hard can just be expected to be taken. 

Leave the store unlocked overnight and it's a mistake, one you'd hopefully not make again. Leave it unlocked everynight with the keys in the door and you invite theivery. When you do all of that AND move the inventory outside of the safety of the story, you're not simply inviting thievery. You're encouraging people to take what's now out in the open.

When I go out, I lock my door.  If I forget to lock it and somebody takes my TV, I got robbed. If I go out, lock my apartment, but  move my TV to my front lawn... Aren't I saying, "Take me." to any bypasser? People do that all of the time. Would that make dumpster divers thieves? One man's trash is another man's treasure, as they say.

I'm not exactly sure that I can blame people for likening the current treatment of the CS2 situation to that of a person discarding an old tube TV on the front lawn for any trash collector or dumpster diver to take. No amount of screaming by Adobe people on the forum will change that perception. Adobe might as well be screaming, "Don't steal my lawn TV." from the confines of the shower.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 17, 2013 Jan 17, 2013

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juggalord2k13 wrote:

Leave the store unlocked overnight and it's a mistake, one you'd hopefully not make again. Leave it unlocked everynight withthe keys in the door and you invite theivery. When you do all of that AND move the inventory outside...

You don't get to change my analogy at will. 

But you do make my point - most good citizens walking by a closed jewelry store wouldn't think to try the door or take anything.  We understand the context of the situation and the society we've learned to live in.

People can't be expected to be able to judge the context of a download page that provides serial numbers everyone can use.  Sure, I look at that page and think, "I would just download and use that" based on what's there.  When I made my earliest comments above I hadn't looked at that page in detail, and expected there must be a "this is for licensed Photoshop CS2 users only" sign there somewhere, which there is not.

It's hard to imagine that, rather than publishing them openly, Adobe couldn't just have Customer Support provide the same serial numbers to anyone who called and claimed to not be able to run Photoshop CS2 or earlier.  Perhaps they just feel doing that would be more expensive in support costs than the potential for lost sales of the new version.  Not everyone will find their way to that page, and so some of them will still end up calling in.

I don't believe that they published it the way it is out of incompetence.

Maybe in addition to eliminating support costs it really IS expected to be perceived as free (in the interest of "going viral"), but employees are advised when asked to say otherwise (wink wink).

And of course the buzz people raise is free advertising.  Controversy is newsworthy.

-Noel

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Guest
Jan 18, 2013 Jan 18, 2013

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Noel Carboni wrote:

Sure, I look at that page and think, "I would just download and use that" based on what's there. 

I think that some people live by the "nothing ventured, nothing gained" philosophy. I think that, at some point, we've all said the phrase, "Can't hurt to try." You might not download it, but there'll always be somebody curious enough to see if that thing that seems too good to be true actually is. Unlikely or not, they still want to believe.

They'll download it, assume that it won't work, hope that it does, and be pleasantly surprised that it did. Because it did work, they'll assume that it was indeed free and that they just found some hidden treasure. After all, Adobe charges for their CS products. They surely wouldn't leave it unsecured. Clearly, so the logic goes, they must want people to download it; never once suspecting that they only wantede SOME people to download it. Again, that's the logic.

Companies are made of people and people make mistakes. I get that. What I don't get is what has come after said mistake.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 18, 2013 Jan 18, 2013

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Leave the store unlocked overnight and it's a mistake, one you'd hopefully not make again. Leave it unlocked everynight with the keys in the door and you invite theivery.

But what do you do if you don't know how to correct the mistakes?  As I understand it (and according to Chris Cox), it was a mistake to include the serial numbers and it is nearly a month since this was known but the serial numbers are still there.  Either they are so incompetent that no one knows how to remove them or Chris Cox doesn't know that the Management have decided to to release all pre CS2 software for people to use.

Either way, I would expect somebody in the know to make a definitive statement or write a blog to clarify the situation.  Chris Cox is not the right person for this IMHO.  [ admin - removed personal attacks ] I bet people have started voting with their feet by this fiasco.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 18, 2013 Jan 18, 2013

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Photoshop and most CS software has third party color libraries from companies such as Pantone. They are licensed to Adobe and probably why Adobe can't officially make it free.

But,I don't know that for sure. So let's take them at their word. It's not free even if outmoded, and not eligible for support or upgrades.

Because of that,it's not worth it to Adobe to pay support personnel to scrutinize everyone who wants to download a copy. So they are fine with the way it is. Adobe Systems does have a legal department and I'm sure this has been vetted properly.

The rhetoric that anyone who downloads a copy of this admittedly dog-eared software is the same as someone who would reach through your open car window and run off with your stuff is a bit over the top.

But since the original discs are no longer useful, maybe it would be fun to lay it on the car seat, crank the window full down and see what happens. 

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LEGEND ,
Jan 18, 2013 Jan 18, 2013

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gener7 wrote:


The rhetoric that anyone who downloads a copy of this admittedly dog-eared software is the same as someone who would reach through your open car window and run off with your stuff is a bit over the top.

As it is now, maybe.  But I don't believe it would be an overstatement if there was a sign on the download page stating "Downloads for License Holders of Adobe Photoshop Only".

-Noel

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LEGEND ,
Jan 19, 2013 Jan 19, 2013

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BTW, wasn't product activation already introduced by the time CS2 was released?  Posibly even in an earlier Photoshop version?  I don't recall off the top of my head, but if that is the case, Adobe should be able to deactivate multiple copies of the application using the very same published serial numbers.

What am I missing here?  (I confess I haven't read the whole story of this curious phenomenon, and I do own a legitimate CS2 licencse.)

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Participant ,
Jan 19, 2013 Jan 19, 2013

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I seem to recall it was introduced in the CS2 products, but I could be wrong.  I have InDesign CS (first CS version) that doesn't require activation so I assumed all CS1 apps don't require it.  Somewhere in this or another thread, somebody said activation in CS2 was a nightmare so maybe it started with CS2.

I don't have any CS2 licenses because I skipped to CS3.  I heard about all the CS2 problems with activation not working and figured it would be a waste of money.

Reading all of these threads about this phenomenon will just give you a headache.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 19, 2013 Jan 19, 2013

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There's a lot that's unsaid, so our imaginations can run a bit...

Imagine, for a moment, that perhaps somehow the technology to manage the activation server itself grew stale and stopped working.

Adobe, in taking on the responsibility to manage Activations, made a committment to its customers buying "perpetual" licenses to allow them to run the Adobe software perpetually, right?

How do they solve the problem?

They might provide a build of Photoshop that accepts a special serial number, and which contacts no activation server, avoiding the old, non-working activation system.

Now, how they roll that out is not fixed...  Maybe a bright spark in marketing figures they could win/win/win by making it publicly available.  This would:

  1. Fix the problem for licensed customers.
  2. Reduce service cost - fewer folks have to call in, or the ones that do get a link and finish the call in 15 seconds, which makes Customer Service seem like heroes.
  3. Adobe goes viral and Photoshop comes to the forefront in the minds of millions more people.  Some of those people try it, say, "gee, not bad!" and buy a current subscription to Photoshop.

All this is speculation, but it's what I might do.

-Noel

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Participant ,
Jan 19, 2013 Jan 19, 2013

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Noel Carboni wrote:

They might provide a build of Photoshop that accepts a special serial number, and which contacts no activation server, avoiding the old, non-working activation system.

The only problem I foresee with that is all the hackers and pirates will circulate that special serial number to everyone along with the build of Photoshop.  Just like they're doing with CS2.

I'm sure you've seen all the tech boards that are still promoting CS2 as free.  I actually found one site that was the complete opposite.  They are saying you can build your own CS suite by using freeware and open source software from other companies.  However, they say there's a few Adobe programs that can't be replaced or the alternatives are nowhere near them.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 19, 2013 Jan 19, 2013

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I was speaking of CS2.  It was couched in "what if" terms because I don't know what motivated them to do what they've done.

-Noel

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LEGEND ,
Jan 20, 2013 Jan 20, 2013

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The bottom line is that Adobe is in fact giving CS2 away for free by posting it along with special serial numbers while at the same time relying on the honor system as they state it's only for legitimate owners of CS2 licenses.

De-facto Donationware without a donation channel. 

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