Let's assume you're essentially right about that even if the number of days isn't accurate. If so, that's the policy now. Who is to say with great certainty that they won't eliminate the need to phone home if they decide to discontinue the product?
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Let's assume you're essentially right about that even if the number of days isn't accurate. If so, that's the policy now. Who is to say with great certainty that they won't eliminate the need to phone home if they decide to discontinue the product?
As I noted, I may be misremembering. Guess it's time for a website visit. Memory is a weak reed.
On the first point all their CC software keeps doing regular checks that you have kept paying. It is a rental scheme. If they didn't do this many people would stop paying.
Quote from Adobe help page:
"The desktop apps attempt to validate your software licenses every 30 days. Annual members can use the apps for up to 99 days in offline mode."
On the second point I completely agree. I have all my photos and back them up as I want. I would never trust the only copies to a cloud, no matter whose cloud it is. The Adobe DNG converter is not part of CC and will work forever. So even if Adobe stops business you can still convert your raw files.
It would be interesting to use the subscription service for more than 30 days without ever being connected to the Internet to see what happens. Anyone wanna volunteer?
Has there ever been any subscription-based application that resides on the users' hard drives that stopped working purely because the developer in any industry discontinued it? In the image-editing photography industry?
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Yep. Adobe used to write an update to a file that resides inside the application package contents that told the program that it was a legit license. People were able to quickly get around it by simply replacing the existing file with a "hacked" file that never needed to go back and validate with Adobe. That's around when CC came out and it was to protect their license.
Microsoft and Adobe were/are the two most pirated pieces of software by a long shot and they are the two that made software as a subscription popular among app developers.
Mine is weak in read/write! Sigh!
If you pay annually you will get the 99 days before it stops. If you pay monthly, it will stop after 30 days. But I assure you it will stop.It would be interesting to use the subscription service for more than 30 days without ever being connected to the Internet to see what happens. Anyone wanna volunteer?
Has there ever been any subscription-based application that resides on the users' hard drives that stopped working purely because the developer in any industry discontinued it? In the image-editing photography industry?
Rental (i.e. subscription) software has been checking dates and shutting down with a message in effect saying "you didn't pay so no more service" since at least the 1960's. Back in those days the software was running on a mainframe or a minicomputer but it still wouldn't run any more. Nothing has changed. Switching to rentals has made Adobe much much richer.
Well, now it has happened to CS4, and this time there doesn't seem to have been an activation-free version at all:
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite.html
If anyone needs to re-install CS4 from now on, they are out of luck. Paid $2500 for the Master Collection as recently as 2010? Sorry, Adobe has unilaterally decided your software is worthless, and registration wouldn't have helped. Clearly my copy of CS6 is on borrowed time. The last thing I will be able to install will probably be the activation-free version of CS3 I stumbled upon in the brief period they were making it available, unadvertised (it works fine under Windows 10).
A company that treats its paying customers this way will not be getting my custom in future. The Affinity suite is a decent substitute for most purposes, and doesn't require online activation if you buy it directly from their website, so they can't take it away from you later.
One of the supposed justifications for the switch to CC was to fight piracy (CC is still pirated), but when a company can simply prevent you making use of the CS product you bought in good faith, you have to wonder who the real software thieves are. One customer over on the Adobe forums threatened them with legal action when a purchased copy of Acrobat Pro could no longer be activated, and received an updated version in return. Adobe may well realise they are on dubious ground here, whatever the EULA claims, and it would be interesting to see the result of a legal challenge that went all the way, e.g. in the UK Small Claims Court.
Sorry to see this. My CS6 is no longer usable on my MacBook Pro that I bought late last year. I feel the pain there. I won't go to CC either and will continue to use software that doesn't mandate subscriptions.
This is a slap in the face and the fact that it was expected doesn't make it sting any less. In fact, the idea that Adobe is nuking the activation servers while refusing to provide a work-around is doubly insulting. There may be an option for intrepid, adventurous Windows users though.
"...use a P2V converter (Physical to Virtual). Most of the major virtualization software packages have a tool to perform this. This is one of the major use cases for desktop virtualization: virtualize a physical machine running some legacy software so that you can decommission old hardware. Because it's such a major use case, there are very mature tools to assist you."
https://www.parallels.com/blogs/ras/p2v-physical-to-virtual/
Microsoft also provides a tool for this:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/disk2vhd
What this means is you continue to run your now obsolete software on your computer until you know it's time for a machine upgrade. Then you virtualize your old computer with a suitable app and continue to run Photoshop, old OS and all, on a new machine. This assumes that activation remains intact after the virtualization. I haven't done it yet myself so I can't know for sure, but I haven't read anything to the contrary.
Also, be sure to load up your new computer with plenty of RAM. If you're using 32GB now, you'll want at least that much or more for the new box since you'll have a larger memory footprint when the VM is running.
Finally, while it's possible to run a virtual copy of your current computer on that same computer, you'll run into Windows licensing issues unless you have two licenses. One possible way to escape licensing problems is to run a Windows 7 or 8 VM on Windows 10, assuming you had licenses for those older systems. And that's about all I know on the subject so I apologize if it raises more questions than I have answers for.
EDIT: No idea if this avenue exists for Mac users. It may, but... Mac.
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If you are going to sell software that requires activation servers, then it seems to me that you have a duty to keep those servers running forever and ever. A company like Adobe can easily afford this. The number of activation transactions will steadily drop over the years, as the number of CS reinstalls will be very small.
I wonder what the CS license says. Did anyone ever read it all?
The potential problem with CC is greater than with CS6, since if Adobe went bust or decided on a new method without the CC activation servers, then every copy of CC would soon stop working.
By the way Adobe's change from CS to CC was never about stopping piracy, that was never remotely possible. Their aim was to generate a steady revenue stream, and lots more of it. It has been enormously successful.
(Regarding virtual machines, I use Oracle's Virtualbox. It is very easy and efficient. I can run Windows 10 with one window open with XP Pro in it, another windows with CentOS 64 bit UNIX in it, and more, all at the same time. XP provides backward compatibiliy right back to before Windows 95 came out, since it supports the original 16 bit software that was still popular.)
I wonder what the CS license says. Did anyone ever read it all?
The potential problem with CC is greater than with CS6, since if Adobe went bust or decided on a new method without the CC activation servers, then every copy of CC would soon stop working.
By the way Adobe's change from CS to CC was never about stopping piracy, that was never remotely possible. Their aim was to generate a steady revenue stream, and lots more of it. It has been enormously successful.
(Regarding virtual machines, I use Oracle's Virtualbox. It is very easy and efficient. I can run Windows 10 with one window open with XP Pro in it, another windows with CentOS 64 bit UNIX in it, and more, all at the same time. XP provides backward compatibiliy right back to before Windows 95 came out, since it supports the original 16 bit software that was still popular.)
I expect there's something in the small print that says they do whatever they like, but when a licence conflicts with local consumer law, that may not let them off the hook. The costs of either keeping the activation servers running (which are probably on some cloud infrastructure these days, anyway) must be trivial. They've also shown they are perfectly capable of releasing activation-free versions if they want to - why wasn't the CS3 page that provided these in exchange for your original keys left up? The costs of maintaining that must also have been negligible for a $300 billion company.
I seem to recall there were reassuring statements about providing activation-free versions if the service were ever discontinued back when the requirement for online activation was (somewhat controversially) brought in with CS (PS7 hadn't required it, and still runs under Windows 10 if you have a <1TB partition). This was honoured for CS2, and technically honoured for CS3, but not any more.
I agree that CC is all about making (much) more money from a guaranteed revenue stream - many of us used to skip multiple versions when the new ones only added things we didn't care about, but of course that's no longer an option. CS4 activation was killed about 11 years after it was replaced by CS5, so I'm guessing they'll do the same to CS5 either next year (11 year after CS5.5 came out) or in 2023 at the latest (11 years after CS6 was released). CC succeeded CS6 in CS6 in 2013, so they might want to kill CS6 in 2024, though because CS6 had an extended afterlife and was sold until Jan 2017, perhaps it will get a reprieve for a couple more years. Then again, they might kill it tomorrow if they think they can get away with it. LR6 also depends on online activation, though I don't think previous versions do.
I suppose virtualisation might be one option, or the kind of hack mentioned previously in this thread (in some countries, such hacks are perfectly legal in order to make something work that you paid for, but may not be in others, and this sort of thing generally involves downloading a library from a sketchy site, which comes with its own risks).
It's particularly tough for users of old Macs, because Adobe won't let them install the old versions of PS that work, but new versions aren't compatible. And if an old system still meets our needs, we should be able to use it. My D800, launched in 2012, is now prehistoric by digital camera standards, but continues to work very well, and I have film cameras going back to the 1930s, so I don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge!
I seem to recall there were reassuring statements about providing activation-free versions if the service were ever discontinued back when the requirement for online activation was (somewhat controversially) brought in with CS (PS7 hadn't required it, and still runs under Windows 10 if you have a <1TB partition). This was honoured for CS2, and technically honoured for CS3, but not any more.
I agree that CC is all about making (much) more money from a guaranteed revenue stream - many of us used to skip multiple versions when the new ones only added things we didn't care about, but of course that's no longer an option. CS4 activation was killed about 11 years after it was replaced by CS5, so I'm guessing they'll do the same to CS5 either next year (11 year after CS5.5 came out) or in 2023 at the latest (11 years after CS6 was released). CC succeeded CS6 in CS6 in 2013, so they might want to kill CS6 in 2024, though because CS6 had an extended afterlife and was sold until Jan 2017, perhaps it will get a reprieve for a couple more years. Then again, they might kill it tomorrow if they think they can get away with it. LR6 also depends on online activation, though I don't think previous versions do.
I suppose virtualisation might be one option, or the kind of hack mentioned previously in this thread (in some countries, such hacks are perfectly legal in order to make something work that you paid for, but may not be in others, and this sort of thing generally involves downloading a library from a sketchy site, which comes with its own risks).
It's particularly tough for users of old Macs, because Adobe won't let them install the old versions of PS that work, but new versions aren't compatible. And if an old system still meets our needs, we should be able to use it. My D800, launched in 2012, is now prehistoric by digital camera standards, but continues to work very well, and I have film cameras going back to the 1930s, so I don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge!
When the Adobe forums were a hotbed of CS3 anger and angst, those who missed out on the activation-free version were told, "tough luck". An Adobe "Community Pro" named Nancy O'Shea had these empathy-free comments to complainers (user's comments in bolded quotes):
It's now 2020. As an update, CS3 activation servers are gone. And Adobe ended access to activation-free installers and replacement serial numbers. Customer Care agents cannot help with this matter. CS3 is officially dead and gone.
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12 year old software is of no interest to anyone anymore. It's time to modernize.
A Photography Plan costs only $10/month.
Or get Photoshop Elements 2020. No subscription needed.
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I'm sorry. There is nothing anybody can do. Even if you could re-install, CS3 was built to run on Vista and XP with SP2, not Windows 10 with latest updates. There's no guarantee it would install much less run properly.
Gimp is open source.
Paint Shop Pro is another option.
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"Do you know of another antiquated version of Photoshop that I can open without paying a fee?"
Nope. You missed the opportunity to upgrade your Creative Suite software. Adobe stopped selling Creative Suite 6 in 2017. If all you want is freeware, do a Google search for free graphics apps.
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After 12+ years, Adobe ended all support for CS3 and earlier. The aged out activation servers are gone. And the replacement program is no longer available. Sorry.
You need modern software now. The Photography Plan is a great option. For $10/month you get a deeply discounted bundle of Adobe's latest apps and services including Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic and much more...
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"All subscription based marketing methods, including Adobe's Creative Cloud are bullying and gouging practices."
15 million Creative Cloud subscribers don't share your opinion. But hey the subscription model isn't for everyone. So good luck to you and your G5 Powermac.
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Regarding Adobe's obligation to keep the servers online, the lovely Ms. O'Shea had this to say:
Read your EULA. English starts on page 419.
https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/legal/licenses-terms/pdf/CS3.pdf
Adobe owns the software. There's no such thing as a "forever license." Every product has an End of Life. CS3 was no exception. Had you upgraded to CS4, CS5 or CS6 when you had the chance, you would still have working software for a while longer. But you didn't. And now that option is no longer available.
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"I don't see why we can't do a law suite."
Go right ahead and file an unwinnable nuisance lawsuit. In the end you'll have gained nothing and have become $10K poorer in the process. Or you can spend $10/month for modern software. Your choice.
I'm locking this discussion now. There really is nothing more to say that hasn't been covered. CS1, CS2 and CS3 are dead. It's time to get over it and move on.
I nominate Nancy O'Shea for Adobe snark queen. Take a bow, b----.
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Some of the 'Adobe Community Professionals' seem to take any hint of dissatisfaction with Adobe's business practices personally, as if someone had insulted their mothers. As far as I know they aren't actually Adobe employees, but more like superfans who just get a free CC subscription for their efforts. Others can be pretty helpful, to be fair.
In a way you can't really complain as a subscriber, because if the software stopped working you'd only have grounds for complaint if it happened before the end of the current rental period. It's more of a concern if you bought what was advertised as a 'perpetual' licence, because it turns out that companies like Adobe and Autodesk have a special definition of 'perpetual', which means '10-11 years'.
While this isn't quite the same thing, there are lots of examples of companies using various forms of DRM as an anti-piracy measure that came back to bite the legitimate purchasers of media when the service was discontinued (e.g. MS PlaysForSure, Sony SonicStage), while pirates (of course) always found a way around it. As with a CS-CS4 installation today, your purchases die with your hardware.
Mine stopped when I was traveling for 2 months. During those months I did not use PS CC. Once I logged into my Adobe account, the product was taken off hold and has worked continuously since then.
Sounds like the civil war is still active
I'm running CS6 on a desktop PC with WIN10. It is not connected to the internet to keep it virus clean.
No need to upgrade to CC for me. Everything I like to do I can do with CS6.
Kind regards
Klaus
No need to upgrade to CC for me. Everything I like to do I can do with CS6.
Kind regards
Klaus
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