You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks • Hacker News Board

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#371

Post by driverdan » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

firefoxd wrote: post #100

It's 2020, the ipad is 10 years old. It was a revolutionary product. Some people stood in line for hours to be the first to own it. Well that reminds me, i do own one! Get it out of the closet and ah, the battery is depleted. Who expects it to hold charge after... 8 years? I don't have a cable either. I have lightning though, even usb-c. But nope, it's the old 30 pin charger. Order it online. Still works! Except, I h…

This is one of the reasons I no longer buy iDevices. Last time I tried to get my iPad 2 working it was stuck on the activation screen. I shouldn't need to "activate" hardware I own, I should be able to use it however I want.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#372

Post by otterley » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #358

interestica wrote: post #76

I seriously think this was the last straw for Adobe and I. I just wanted to install an older version of an app (that I've paid for!) on an older computer. I've literally spent thousands of dollars on software that I can no longer use for no reason other than that they will no longer allow me to. The worst part seems to be that they've just killed links and information about this - so you have people presuming they ca…

Just use a pirated copy of the software you own. There are plenty of versions out there that don't require any activation, and for the most part, just work. As long as you own a legal copy, I can't see owning a cracked one as being illegal. Definitely not unethical.

Attorney here! (Not legal advice.)

You are wrong. Software is generally licensed, not sold. The only person who "owns" Photoshop etc. is Adobe. The rest of us get mere licenses that we are subject to the terms of. Violate the terms, and you're subject to civil and potentially criminal penalties.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#373

Post by BuildTheRobots » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

Lammy wrote: post #86

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #14

I discovered this at the start of lockdown when our hackspace got donated some older iMacs and full copies of CS3. Apparently if you got in contact with them when they first announced the retirement they were giving out activation-free installers to people who could prove ownership. It'd be lovely if someone has these archived somewhere for those of us that weren't quick enough.

It'd be lovely if you had contact information in your profile ;)

have just updated it - @gmail.com :)

You have the potential to make a couple of our more creative members extremely happy :)

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#374

Post by Moru » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

bborud wrote: post #363

jjeaff wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use a pirated copy of the software you own. There are plenty of versions out there that don't require any activation, and for the most part, just work. As long as you own a legal copy, I can't see owning a cracked one as being illegal. Definitely not unethical.

It would actually be interesting to have this tried in court.

In Sweden it's totally OK to fix a program you own so you can use it, no matter what the license says. This includes disassemly if necessary.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#375

Post by BuildTheRobots » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #207

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #14

I discovered this at the start of lockdown when our hackspace got donated some older iMacs and full copies of CS3. Apparently if you got in contact with them when they first announced the retirement they were giving out activation-free installers to people who could prove ownership. It'd be lovely if someone has these archived somewhere for those of us that weren't quick enough.

Why not just pirate at that point?

Because we're a hackspace so I couldn't risk getting caught doing that. Totally had nothing to do with my failing to find useful OSX installers and cracks for the version we had :)

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#376

Post by warmwaffles » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 3:54 PM UTC

red_admiral wrote: post #261

I'm sure I've read an old Joel on Software post somewhere about how Adobe/Photoshop got big in the first place, but I can't seem to find it anymore. The story as I remember it went like this: X had a practical monopoly on professional image editing and printing, everything else was for amateurs. (Was that Quark? not sure). Then X did something that pissed off a lot of their users, and within a few months everyone had…

> Whoever authorised the new UI for firefox on Android might want to think about this too.

The new ui on android isn't bad. I actually like it. But I can see how changing from the original normal can make people angry.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#377

Post by egonschiele » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC

dorkwood wrote: post #147

egonschiele wrote: post #77

In the last month I've returned two pieces of Adobe software and canceled a yearly subscription. I've been seeing ads for the AI features in photoshop all over twitter this week. It's pretty clear what their business strategy is -- just keep working on the tech and assume people will buy their software because it's the only one with the hot tech thing. It's ironic that for a company that caters to designers, artists…

> It's ironic that for a company that caters to designers, artists and product folks, all their products have such poor UI. That's not really who they're catering to anymore, though. Not primarily, anyway. If you pay attention to the way Adobe communicates in recent years, it's all about the "democratization" of design tools. They want their new tech to look like magic to regular consumers. It doesn't need good UI. I…

Do you feel like they are succeeding at that? I've been using Adobe products since the early 2000s. I recently bought Premiere Elements and it was my first time doing any sort of video editing. I found it awful to use. I've switched to Final Cut and it's a ton better. iMovie was better too.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#378

Post by archon810 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

And yet Adobe's stock is trading near all-time highs. They must be doing something right on the business side.

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#379

Post by tim333 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 4:30 PM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #145

StillBored wrote: post #138

I've been a firm believer that copyrights should expire when the item isn't commercially available anymore. And to keep people from abusing the obvious issues, it needs to be available at a reasonable cost relative to its price when originally released, or the copyright renewal needs to have an exponentially growing fee. I've also been considering what it means if copyright was to assure something for the public good…

It's outrageous that copyright protection applies to DRM-encumbered material. Simply outrageous. Copyright is supposed to be a bargain with the public domain, and DRM explicitly renounces that bargain. This is a great example to point to... but as usual, nobody cares who has any power to change things, and nobody with any power cares.

I don't get that. Say Disney has a Lion King DVD. Why should attempts to stop you pirating it with DRM tech mean they shouldn't have copyright protection?

Re: You can no longer reinstall CS 2 or 3 even if you have the original disks

#380

Post by Silhouette » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 4:30 PM UTC

kmeisthax wrote: post #359

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is like arguing that front doors shouldn't have locks because burglary is illegal. Legal status and practical enforcement are unrelated issues. You seem to be attempting to conflate them because you just don't like the idea of copyright. But that's a different issue. In fact it's perfectly consistent to enforce copyright through a combination of DRM and legal challenges. Legally copyright is the default. Nothing…

In 100 years from now, you will have software that is nominally in the public domain, but cannot legally be used, because all practically available copies will have DRM on it. The prohibitions of the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions do not merely prohibit you from breaking DRM on a copyrighted work. If that was the case, then this wouldn't be a problem: once the work falls into the public domain the DRM wrapping w…

I doubt anyone really believes that today's DRM will be any impediment to copying software 100 years from now. The problem is that DRM by its nature doesn't distinguish between uses that should be prevented by law anyway and legal uses that are only disrupted by the technology. If those anti-circumvention provisions you mentioned were abolished, that would be much less of a problem in practice.

That still leaves all the other questions about the duration of copyright protections, what fair use or the equivalent concepts should mean in an era of technological protections, and whether it's healthy for society to encourage perpetual rental models for creative work rather than permanent rights to access any given material, but these are separate (and potentially complicated) debates to be had.