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Earlier this week Adobe made a surprise move by putting its Creative Suite 2 software, as well as individual programs like Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2, up for download on its website along the corresponding serial numbers. Initially it was believed the company got tired of keeping the activation servers running to support legitimate installs of ~8 year-old software and decided to give it away. But that's only partly true.
Turns out Adobe did retire the activation servers used by CS2 back in December, but when legitimate owners of the suite started complaining that without these servers they'd be unable to reinstall their copies if needed, the company began offering versions of CS2 that didn't need activation.
Adobe later clarified that in order to legally use CS2 users still require a purchased license, and that the move was just meant to assist its existing customers. Yet the download page and serials are still live.
Considering the software is being offered directly from Adobe's servers, we'd say most people probably won't lose sleep at night for grabbing a copy. If anything, having access to an old but still serviceable copy of Photoshop might deter some from pirating the latest CS6 release. Perhaps Adobe feels the same? Curiously after the news broke a new CS2 download page went live without the requirement to provide an Adobe ID.
User Comments: 33
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Well, I downloaded Acrobat Pro 8 for someone else with an XP laptop and they haven't said anything to me, so I'm guessing it worked.
The ones I downloaded for myself were Premiere and Illustrator for my Win7 machine and they work fine. The only issue there seems to be is with a dialogue box that appears when Illustrator boots up asking me to register with Adobe for updates, but that's always easily clicked past.
I could download Photoshop as well, but I still use PS7 which I'm very comfortable with, which does make me laugh at the warning they have at the top of the download page saying that CS2 may not work on a later OS. PS7 works absolutely fine on Win7 64bit, but then, I always did think that PS7 was one of the best versions of Photoshop they ever produced
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Well, I downloaded Acrobat Pro 8 for someone else with an XP laptop and they haven't said anything to me, so I'm guessing it worked.The ones I downloaded for myself were Premiere and Illustrator for my Win7 machine and they work fine. The only issue there seems to be is with a dialogue box that appears when Illustrator boots up asking me to register with Adobe for updates, but that's always easily clicked past.Unless Photoshop is already present on this computer, you could alternatively download the entire CS-2, and you'd have Premier, as well as all the others.
OK, the registration warnings may time out after 30 days. We'll have to wait and see.
Assuming you have the install disc for your PS-7, and are fairly fearless, you could uninstall PS-7, and replace it with CS-2 as a test.
Drivers are more responsible for compatibility problems than are programs.
Oddly, "DVD Shrink 3.2", runs impeccably under Win 7 64 bit, in spite of the fact it hasn't been updated since maybe July 2004.
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[link] It worked for me and I have been seeing that irritating thing for as long as I've had CS2 on my Win7 machine.
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Smart move........its putting a CS product on every computer on the planet if they want it. Then you like it but want modern features........so you purchase to latest version sat some point possibly.
Ask yourself an old CS2 or 3.9 Picassa.........well there you go!
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Nicole P said:
So will this work at all on a 64 bit? Because that's what I have. Windows 7, 64 bit. Is it that it will work, but just not correctly or it won't work at all??
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So will this work at all on a 64 bit? Because that's what I have. Windows 7, 64 bit. Is it that it will work, but just not correctly or it won't work at all??It's sort of a crap shoot. If you have Win 7 Pro (or better), you can download "XP Mode" and a virtual machine program directly from M$, free of charge. A majority of 32/64 bit issues are caused by drivers, not by program incompatibility. (Mind you, I'm not saying it doesn't exist). Windows does install 32 bit programs to an "x86" folder, then runs "Windows (32 bit) on Windows (64)bit.
You should probably just opt for only the Premier and/ or Photoshop offerings, and not try the entire creative suite.
The problem with an early version of PS is not so much the problem with the program running under a later OS, but rather the"Camera RAW" plug in. The latest camera RAW plug in for PSCS-2 will handle files from my Nikon D-80, but not my D-90.
If you shoot JPEG, this isn't an issue. But, if you're using a late model DSLR, or any late digicam, you won't be able to import RAW files, which does limit the quality you can get from your work.
Adobe knows this well, and it's one of the prime reasons they don't update camera RAW plug ins, thereby forcing you to newer and newer versions of ANY of their products which involve direct importing of image files.
I run Photoshop Elements 7.0 (*) under Win 7 Pro, and the only glitch I run into is the program won't initialize the file system on any hard drive, unless you change the import file type to "all files". IMO, a small price to pay, you just need to be aware of it.
Most people don't need PS anyway, and can live in bliss with PSE, or possibly the newer "LIghtroom". < That's definitely not a freebie though.
(*) I also have a copy of PSE-3.0 installed on a Vista laptop. Windows lectured me about "how much the OS had advanced since that program was created", and somewhat reluctantly installed it anyway. And yeah, it runs pretty OK under 32 bit Vista.
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The title needs to be renamed, it is misleading to readers.
Adobe made a statement the downloads were for those who have previously purchased the software. They needed to release a free of activation version, because they were taking down their activation servers and no longer monitoring who activates. The software is still under license agreement to the original owners. The download is not offered for free.
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The title needs to be renamed, it is misleading to readers.Po-tay-toe...., poh-tah-toe.
Adobe made a statement the downloads were for those who have previously purchased the software. They needed to release a free of activation version, because they were taking down their activation servers and no longer monitoring who activates. The software is still under license agreement to the original owners. The download is not offered for free.
With that said, I do think your sense of decency is commendable....
I would say, if it isn't worth their time and effort to maintain their activation servers, they are probably acutely aware of the repercussions from that decision.
Did you sign up for your 50 dollar a month subscription to Adobe CS yet?
Did you ever read the disclaimer attached to music "tabs" on the web? It goes something like, "this is a interpretation of an original work, and may only be used for for private study, and in no way be utilized commercially". While that isn't a direct analog of this situation, it seems to have a similar,
, innuendo.The title needs to be renamed, it is misleading to readers.Besides, the article title and content say exactly this. And any information or suggestions I may offer, have been obtained through my personal experiences with duly purchased, licensed, and registered copies of Adobe software, of which I have many.
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