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Author Topic: Photoshop CS2 activation - rant  (Read 11239 times)

AdrianW

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« on: November 04, 2006, 09:48:52 pm »

A while ago I bought Photoshop CS2. Recently I decided to beta test another version of Windows. All good so far. All legal too.

However... Now Photoshop refuses to take my serial number under this version of Windows.

Why? Well according to their website, this is because I've already installed Photoshop - on the copy of Windows I'm not currently using.

Apparently if I want my legitimately purchased Photoshop to install, I have to call them to get it activated again before I can use it. Oddly I'm sure the cracked version would run without any problems at all - is it me, or is that counterproductive???

If you make a pro product, why cause the very people who are actually buying it inconvenience? They seem to be sending out a message that by pirating the product you'll actually have a better user experience than those who parted with their hard earned $$$.

Now I'm sure people will jump on this and explain the advantages of running legally, you know things like support - which I've never used it until now, and only now have to use because the product is broken by design.

About the only "advantage" buying over pirating has is you're fractionally less likely to have law enforcement officials kicking down your door. I won't mention the financial advantages of not buying it - I think there are about 650 of them...

Right, I'm now off to waste an hour listening to hold music - do carry on ;)
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Greg_E

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2006, 10:47:58 pm »

Maybe they should just start using a hardware protection device of some kind. Then you could use it on any computer that has the key connected to it! Yes they can be a pain in the neck, but at least then if you lose a hard drive or some other component, you can go on using the software that you shelled out a bunch of hard earned money to aquire. The Rainbow dongles cost about $50 each, most of the other options are a similar price. In a large scale operation like Adobe would be, I bet the price would go down to about $25 each.
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AdrianW

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2006, 11:00:22 pm »

Quote
Maybe they should just start using a hardware protection device of some kind.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83669\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Perhaps. To be honest I'd rather they just didn't use copy protection though - it's user hostile. Sure some folk will take advantage, but most of those folk are already using the readily available cracked versions, so what difference will it make? Those who are legit will still be legit. All the copy protection does is cost everyone time and money. It must cost Adobe to run those toll-free numbers and the systems behind it. It certainly costs me in time lost when it doesn't work.

Anyway I've managed to sort out my install now - the registration line kept asking for an activation code, which apparently appears "during the install" - if it does, it appears for such a short length of time I've never seen it... In the end I hung up, since it wouldn't let me proceed without that mythical code.

So I speculatively removed Photoshop and all profiles, and tried reinstalling it again. Seems to be working fine now. *shrug*

That's an hour of my life I wont get back, thanks Adobe...

Now did I hear someone mention TheGIMP? ;)
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Paul2660

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2006, 02:34:30 pm »

Not that I agree with their 2 machines per licence rule, but on Cs2, you can easily deactiviate and reactivate.  

If you have a valid installed license on one machine with one version of windows, you can go into the program and tell it to deactivate, you can then install that instance of CS2 on your new machine.  You have to make sure the original instanace doesn't come up as CS2 I believe does to a web check.  

With C2 you had to call each time.  Using the activate-deactivate feature I have moved CS2 around to several diff. machines for testing.

Paul c.
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Paul Caldwell
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bob mccarthy

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2006, 03:38:22 pm »

Since I went Apple,with a dual boot setup,  now need two copies of CS2 to have photoshop on each OS.

I talked to Adobe about it, but I just got a shrug. and a sorry.

Bob
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kaelaria

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2006, 10:40:40 pm »

Serial based copy protection is as useless as USB hardware encrypted keys.

The ONLY thing it does is 'keep honest people honest' and get revenue from people too ignorant to know how to get a cracked copy.  

The ONLY valid protection is online-only validation, something that hardly anyone uses due to strict requirements of the environment - it pisses too many people off to be worth it.
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Peter McLennan

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2006, 11:23:07 am »

My experience with hardware protection devices is unspeakable.  I've had dongles fail twice (Sentinel), rendering a $15K software tool unusable until new dongles were shipped.  You can imagine what clients say if you miss a deadline due to this problem.

Peter
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mahleu

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2006, 10:20:52 am »

You should be able to reinstall it by first running a registry cleaner and getting rid of any other ps related files. Then try a fresh install. Otherwise download a keygen; you've paid for the software so in my mind there's no ethical or legal worries
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BernardLanguillier

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2006, 05:15:42 am »

Quote
If you make a pro product, why cause the very people who are actually buying it inconvenience? They seem to be sending out a message that by pirating the product you'll actually have a better user experience than those who parted with their hard earned $$$.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=83664\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yep... Those who pay would pay even if there were no activation (I am one of them), those who cheat still manage to cheat, and would not have paid the price anyway if there had been no way to cheat.

The net outcome is indeed more burden for the honnest guys, not much more income for Adobe (especially if you consider the cost of maintaining an activation infrastructure...) and no real hinderance anyway for those using illegal copies.

Cheers,
Bernard

kaelaria

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2006, 08:11:32 am »

It's exactly like gun control laws!  All they do is inconvenience and limit those of us legal owners - criminals don't abide by laws in the first place!
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Graeme Nattress

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Photoshop CS2 activation - rant
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2006, 11:13:58 am »

Make software that works, at a price they can afford, with a featureset that's useful, and superb tech support. Make sure only registered paid users get that tech support. That's the only recipe that has any effect on software piracy at all.

Graeme
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