I travel in Europe quite a bit, and the fact is, everything there is more expensive, because, apparently, the cost of doing business is a lot more -- in addition to VAT, Adobe also has to pay higher taxes just to operate there. I am always amused to see (French) people lined up at McDonalds in Paris to buy burgers and fries, because it's the cheapest food in town, although even McDonalds is half-again as much as it costs in the US. In theory, you get it back in such things as universal health care and long vacations. My advice, at least for you Germans and Scandinavians, is immigrate to the US. We'd be happy to have you, and there isn't a hell of a lot of difference between northern Germany and Wisconsin. Names, food, people, cows, beer, all the same, and there's no VAT and the cost of buying software is lower.
JC