[adobephile]

I picked my screen name over a decade ago and still wear it proudly as a happy Adobe professional user who uses all of their major applications.
I've experienced Adobe's new activation system from having been on a pre-release team, and I can say that it's simple and painless. You click on a couple buttons, and that's it. It takes a few seconds.
The way I look at it is that I'm pleased that Adobe is taking this added measure to simply enforce the same licensing policy it's always had so as to encourage and remind honest users to purchase and/or renew their licenses when required.
Piracy of whatever type--including "casual copying"--is a crime in that it allows people to get something of value for nothing. It "corrodes the character" as Steve Jobs once said. Industry-wide, it represents a huge financial burden. More narrowly, it factually discourages software companies from keeping their doors open or from even opening them in the first place.
As the Adobe rep said in the article, this new measure places little if any additional burden on the honest customer, as there are only a couple buttons to click, and it only takes a few seconds. The burden for the somewhat less-than-honest customers would be to have to buy more copies of the software. But this is simply enforcing Adobe's licensing policy. Nothing new. They're just making it more clear that they're serious about enforcing it.
The real bottom line for all of us is that it's a good thing that Adobe is doing this, as it will help ensure that Adobe remains prosperous and able to continue its enhancement of its products with which we honest customers benefit.

[Mississauga]

For all who would balk at an activation scheme; until a better method comes along, no one can blame Adobe in its effort to inhibit crime! And for those who refuse to buy software with such an activation scheme; soon you'll have NO professional software. Then what?
I would love to see all abusers of licensing put in their place! Then the legit folks in business could be truly competitive.

[joshrenney]

So with this new activation scheme, I assume adobe will be reducing the retail price of CS? After all they will no longer be suffering the lack of income resulting from these casual pirated copies.
Isn't that what we have all be told about pirated copies? It results in higher costs for the honest consumer? ahoy-matie!

[Uncle_Deercamp]

Whatever. Some pencil neck will come up with a way around this in no time. Just like the patches that get you around Quark's Anti-Piracy efforts.

[tbrianware]

I currently use many Adobe products, but I also use open source solutions that are very competitive in quality and functionality. GIMP is an amazing tool, and free to boot. Until Adobe realizes that they are not the only fish in the sea, they will continue to be pirated. $599 for a piece of software which has generally not changed in it's overall bloated coding in years and has either free or less expensive competition? Adobe learned the hard way with Premiere for the Mac.
That is my 2 cents....

[jmgalvin]

Being basically paranoid, Ive always had my machines set up the same way.
First I have 2 drives in the machine, one being a clone of the other. I do this so, if I have a hard drive failure, the other one is ready to go. I learned this lesson the hard way many years ago. For further insurance, I have an outboard Firewire/USB hard drive connected as another clone (used to have SCSI back in those days). I have CS premium on all the drives.
I also keep a backup machine (with 1 drive) with the same setup, in case I have a machine failure. It just sort of sits in a storage room, plugged in to keep the battery charged. Its always my older machine. I dont need it to work lickety split or anything. I just need it to work in case of catastrophe. Its sort of like my car and homeowners insurance. I hope never to need it, but I have it just in case.
I have a feeling that activation might just not agree with my setup. While there are only 2 computers and 1 user involved, there are a total of 4 drives each with a copy of all apps, OS, documents, etc. I wonder if such a setup, would get screwed up by the activation? Hopefully not, but I have a sneaking suspicion that problems would ensue.

[keath66]

The real bottom line for all of us is that it's a good thing that Adobe is doing this, as it will help ensure that Adobe remains prosperous
That remains to be seen. You are assuming that a pirated copy equals a lost sale. Stop pirate copies and sales will increase.
What makes you believe that will happen? It might be that those are installs were just by convenience and if made to pay the user will happily do without. Locking out those people doesn't bother me, but causing inconvenience to me after having paid a large sum of money does.
If this is well implemented and painless then ok. But if I have to connect to the internet everytime I want to use the application, or install a CD or dongle each time; no thanks. I don't care how great the software is, when I have to ask permission each time to use the stuff I bought then I'll pass.

[Steve_S]

In reply to:

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For all who would balk at an activation scheme; until a better method comes along, no one can blame Adobe in its effort to inhibit crime!

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Nobody blames Adobe for their effort in trying ot inhibit crime. The blame comes from the intrusive way in which they're doing it. As an honest customer, I don't want to be hassled by such nonsense, nor do I want to worry about deauthorizing all of my software, etc. before I do something like reformat my HD.

In reply to:

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And for those who refuse to buy software with such an activation scheme; soon you'll have NO professional software. Then what?

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I'm sure everyone's situation is different. I see a few nice features in the new software, but no strong, compelling reason for me to feel I have to upgrade. I have the CS Suite right now and it suits my needs just fine. Then again, unlike some of you, I don't make my living on such software, it's strictly a hobby for me. No doubt, there are some like yourself and Adobephile that will bend over and accept any such nonsense they deliver. Whatever works for you. I'd just be curious as to the net effect this has on sales. Somehow, companies like Adobe make an assumption that if a casual user like myself installs the product on 3 of my machines (but still only uses 1 at a time), that I will now purchase 2 copies instead of 1 in order to enjoy the same convenience. In my case, they will not get an extra sale, instead they'll lose one.

In reply to:

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I would love to see all abusers of licensing put in their place! Then the legit folks in business could be truly competitive.

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This line of thinking is generally flawed. Those who want to go out of their way to "abuse" licenses will likely still be able to do so through hacks/patches, etc. Likewise, this dream of yours will likely go unfulfilled. Rather, I see this as nonsense that irritates legitimate customers and still won't serve to curb piracy from all but the most casual "pirate".
Steve

[Steve_S]

In reply to:

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So with this new activation scheme, I assume adobe will be reducing the retail price of CS? After all they will no longer be suffering the lack of income resulting from these casual pirated copies.

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/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Good one! Apparently, Adobe either doesn't have much confidence in their new scheme changing sales, or they don't have a valid argument for requiring such drastic measures to prohibit piracy.
Steve

[salmonstk]

Question how does deauthroization work. For example when I deauth a computer but try to run the app still on that computer the article says it won't work. Does that mean my computer is checking in with Adobe everytime I run it?

[roadwarrior]

That's a very good question...and a chilling thought. I really don't like software to do anything outside the confines of my system unless I specifically tell it to (i.e. web browser, system update, etc).
Personally, I much prefer the dongle/license key combo method. Sure, there's an extra piece of hardware laying around (to break or lose), but at least everything remains internal, casual piracy is difficult, and I have the option of using my software on multiple systems (as long as it's one at a time). If I update to a new system, just input the license key in the new system, insert dongle, and go. Deauthorizing is as easy as pulling out the dongle and taking it with me.
I use both Lightwave and Protools, both of which are dongle/code. Never had a problem with either piece of software.

[fultonkbd]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I have my main workstation. I have my laptop for when I'm on the road or with a client. I have a back up computer that I would boot up if a problem came up with my main workstation.
All the software is the same on each computer. Down time for me is a killer. This whole activation thing with Microsoft, Macromedia and now Adobe is really changing my work flow and set up for the worst.
I'm not stealing software!!!!!!!!! Quit punishing me.
Who ever said capitalism is freedom?

[Adwiz]

While I personally don't like the dongle system, I feel there are other alternatives to the activation approach.
One of the things that really makes me nervous about activation is that you have to depend on the company supporting your software, and that isn't guaranteed. There are software packages, like PageMaker for example, that eventually bite the dust for good business reasons. But someone who has licensed it shouldn't be penalized just because the company has moved on. This means we are at the mercy of the software company. If they choose to stop supporting activation for an older version of the application in order to "force" people to upgrade, the customer is literally at their mercy.
While I happily use InDesign, I still have my old PageMaker boxes for a reason. My client archives go back many years and if a client should ever want to resurrect an old project (it happens!) I can run old versions of PageMaker and convert the project until it gets to a version that InDesign can convert. This means installing PageMaker for each required version (after which I promptly delete them), something my license agreement allows. If activation existed at that time, it is possible that the system would no longer support old software, in which case the company would be violating the agreement they made, but I would be powerless to do anything about it.
This is also true of some of the shareware apps that use activation, like Ambrosia's Snapz Pro. If Ambrosia were ever to be sold off or shut down, my Snapz Pro would fail to work the next time I installed it on a new machine. This is simply wrong. The more we support such processes by buying activation-based software, the more we as a consumer group encourage more of it. Eventually all software becomes activation-based and program after program will fail to work as companies change their systems or get sold off or go out of business.
That's the reason I'm opposed to activation, and for that reason I won't be upgrading Adobe Creative Suite CS until my existing versions are so old they don't run any more.

[Nobody]

Like most articles of this nature, I think what is missing is a true picture of the consumer side of the story. Adobe has had activation is place for various products for some time now and and there is a wealth of information on what the problems have been and Adobe's response to them. Take this recent posting from IT consumer activist and InfoWorld Online columnist Ed Foster: Adobe Acrobat Activation Armed Against Arrays.
Also, what sort of burden does this add to the IT person at a small shop that doesn't have enough machines to qualify for activation-free volume licensing? Ask anyone in this position and they will tell you supporting software with activation schemes is painful, often interfering with the ability to restore images, upgrade hardware, replace dead drives, etc. Yes, you may be able to pickup the phone, sit on hold for 15 minutes and then be able to re-activate software, but that is 15 minutes of your time wasted when you could be doing something that actually helps your company earn money.
Of course the honesty issue is always brought up in such articles, but it was not followed through. If you are an honest user, product activation is flat out insulting, placing an assumption upon the user that he is a criminal. Activation adds another risk of failure onto the stack (all such mechanisms have failed incorrectly at times and many have side effects that may cause OS instability or be incompatible with certain hardware configurations), putting the honest user at risk when using activated products to get crucial work done. When there is a failure, what is the honest user to do? Rely on support. We know in this industry support has been in a downward spiral for years. Not good news for the honest user. And what does this revenue stream protection system get the honest user? Does the quality of support go up and the costs of premium support go down? Nope, if anything support of product activation costs more because of the additional calls it produces. Are companies going to start adding complete printed documentation to products again? Heck no, most companies put the bulk of their documentation on the CD with a flimsy printed getting started guide. What about pricing, surely the honest user will pay less now that software makers are thwarting piracy with activation? I challenge anyone to name one instance where this has happened with a major product because lost sales due to piracy have been recouped through enforced activation. What about a guarantee that five or so years down the road I'll be able to install the product and activate it? Read these licenses carefully, such a guarantee does not exist and even if it did it would not survive the company going out of business or changing policy if it decided to beef up revenues (look at what Intuit and Symantec have done along these lines to see some truly despicable behavior).
As a software developer myself, I understand the frustration piracy causes. But activation is just plain wrong. You do not punish or put at risk loyal and honest customers to go after thus who steal from you. One of the reasons I moved to the Mac was the hassle of activation in Windows XP and Office XP. I have experienced product activation failure at crunch time before and have sworn off products that employ such schemes. Now I live an activation free computing life with a suite of quality software (all legally licensed, I might add) from vendors who value their customers. It's sad that Adobe will no longer be a part of that software suite, but there are alternatives (or I could just stay with the original release of CS). The only way to get rid of this crap is to stop buying software with activation schemes and let the companies who do it know that you will not be buying their products and why (nicely of course).
Kevin