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Afro1989

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 16, 2005
612
1
Hello again people. I was wondering if I could borrow my friend's Photoshop CS2 disk if he bought it for the retail price. I've heard that each disk comes with "2 activations" or something. Is this true? Thanks a bunch.
 
Okay, I always get the same response. I am only 16.5 years old and I cannot afford to go off and buy a $600 program. I do work and this would be a total waste of money if I could just use my friend's disk. If it's illegal, then why do they give the buyer 2 activations per disk?
 
Afro1989 said:
If it's illegal, then why do they give the buyer 2 activations per disk?

Perhaps in case they have 2 computers (maybe laptop+desktop).
 
From the CS2 licenses agreement:

2.4 Portable or Home Computer Use. The primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer.

I added the bold.
 
You could always try buying an older version. I bought my copy of 7 from my art teacher who had it just lying around after upgrading. Just make sure that it's been deacvtivated if it was used, because Adobe probably wouldn't like that too much.
 
Afro1989 said:
Okay, I always get the same response. I am only 16.5 years old and I cannot afford to go off and buy a $600 program. I do work and this would be a total waste of money if I could just use my friend's disk. If it's illegal, then why do they give the buyer 2 activations per disk?

Do you absolutely need to have CS2? It is a waste to go and buy a $600 program if you don't plan on using it professionally (or at least as a serious hobby), so why haven't you considered getting a copy of photoshop elements which has a lot of the features CS2 does for MUCH cheaper (around $100)? That way you'd own it legitimately.

You could even go the free route to photo manipulation with something like the Gimp.
 
I second the alternatives mentioned
though I haven't used Gimp, I hear good things
AND older versions of photoshop retain a lot of the functionality. CS2 is the only one to have activation codes. The others are just serial # based.

BTW, I've been using PS for 3 years and I feel your pain. To be honest, My dad bought 7, I stole CS, and I bought CS2. So I'm not perfect, but hey... It's Really expensive when you're not making money off its use. On the other hand, a lot of very talented people put a lot of hard work in to the product and Adobe (and the people here) are completely justified in tryin gto keep you from stealing it.
 
As other people have stated, this is illegal - plain and simple. If you really need the software, you must buy a copy. That's just the way it is. :cool:
 
One more thing, DON'T BUY IT!!!


To explain that further, the educational version (which, if you're in school, you qualify for) is $149 Full Version (I think–but I'm sure about the eligibility)

HUGE waste of money otherwise!
 
ibilly said:
One more thing, DON'T BUY IT!!!


To explain that further, the educational version (which, if you're in school, you qualify for) is $149 Full Version (I think–but I'm sure about the eligibility)

HUGE waste of money otherwise!

One could also argue that it would probably be a good idea to wait for CS3 and the universal binary version to be released as well before purchasing. :cool:
 
ibilly said:
One more thing, DON'T BUY IT!!!


To explain that further, the educational version (which, if you're in school, you qualify for) is $149 Full Version (I think–but I'm sure about the eligibility)

HUGE waste of money otherwise!


The academic price of CS2 is $299.99 on Adobe's website and any other authorized education seller (it's not legal unless its from an authorized seller). Academic versions while good for a design class, and the hobby user after they take the course is of no use to a professional as it cannot be used for commercial purposes. Academic licenses cannot be upgraded or transferred either.

Ed
 
Ed H said:
The academic price of CS2 is $299.99 on Adobe's website and any other authorized education seller (it's not legal unless its from an authorized seller). Academic versions while good for a design class, and the hobby user after they take the course is of no use to a professional as it cannot be used for commercial purposes. Academic licenses cannot be upgraded or transferred either.

Ed

I didn't realize taht it was so limited...

Perhaps a nice version of PS Elements is the best solution (it was made for ppl like us after all... I just use almost all of all the features it lacks regularly.)
 
grapes911 said:
I'm assuming that price is just for Photoshop. The entire CS2 is about $400.

The academic pricing for the Creative Suite is $399.99, good guess :)


Ed
 
Afro1989 said:
Okay, I always get the same response. I am only 16.5 years old and I cannot afford to go off and buy a $600 program. I do work and this would be a total waste of money if I could just use my friend's disk. If it's illegal, then why do they give the buyer 2 activations per disk?

It wont cost you $600. Use your student discount or try the genius creation called eBay!
 
Ed H said:
The academic pricing for the Creative Suite is $399.99, good guess :)


Ed

It wasn't a total guess. When CS2 was first released we were pricing it for a computer lab I work at on campus. We got even a better deal than that because we purchased 40 licenses.
 
You can buy a student copy of photoshop cs2 under $150. Check out ebay as well. If you want to give it a tryout they have a 30 day demo which I used just fine until my license came in the mail ;) Give the demo a tryout and if you like it buy a copy for under $150 on ebay.
 
truz said:
You can buy a student copy of photoshop cs2 under $150. Check out ebay as well. If you want to give it a tryout they have a 30 day demo which I used just fine until my license came in the mail ;) Give the demo a tryout and if you like it buy a copy for under $150 on ebay.
Which is almost certain to be not legal. Simply, Adobe does not permit selling or transferring of an Educational version license.

..."Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may not transfer education, pre-release, or not for resale copies of the Software. "

And a good proportion on ebay will be CD-Rs or counterfeit disks with cracked serials.
 
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