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If you were hooked up to your computer yesterday, you might’ve noticed that Adobe apparently released Creative Suite 2 to the public for free. I say apparently, because it turns out that although Adobe stuck the install files and serial numbers on the internet for anyone with an Adobe account to see and download, it apparently didn’t want to have a big software give-away — even though it would’ve actually been a really good idea.
In the words of an Adobe employee:
You have heard wrong! Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2!
What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don’t require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download.)
You are only legally entitled to download and install with that serial number if you have a valid license to the product!
First off, if this was actually not meant to be free software, then Adobe have right-royally failed. I’m sorry, but if you stick a bunch of install files WITH SERIAL KEYS NEXT TO THEM on the internet, without any warning as to who should have access to them, what exactly are you expecting, hmmmm? This is a world where hackers work for days on end to crack your software releases, but no, you’re expecting them to just ignore a legit-looking pile of download files. They’re not. Welcome to 2013, the recession, and people being scrooges.
Adobe download page this morning — still looks legit to me
Even worse, although Adobe’s protesting that the software downloads aren’t for free, it’s not made any changes to the download page (which is still live); it’s just the same list of download files and serials, sitting pretty and waiting to be gorged by the collective hordes of the internetz.
To put it in perspective, this would be like leaving a massive pile of sweets on the street, secured with a flimsy padlock, and then gaffer-taping the code onto a nearby lamppost. Apart from a giant flashing neon sign saying “FREE STUFF”, it could hardly have been more explicit in saying that it wanted you to download it.
So it looks like a massive Adobe blunder. But from a business perspective, I think there are far worse ways of decreasing privacy than giving away old versions of software. There’s an old myth in the software world that having students pirate your software is a good thing: they get used to using it, learn the skill set, and then when they go work for a business they encourage the employers to buy an actual legit copy. Kinda sounds like it should make sense, huh? Same sort of thing applies here, I suspect. You’ll get lots of people downloading the free version of CS2, learning the basics, and then feeling frustrated at the 10-year-old software and maybe plumping for CS6 instead.
But even if that’s not the case, releasing CS2 for free might actually be good for Adobe in one other respect: security. A lot of the demand for hacked versions of Photoshop stems from individual users wanting a cracked version of some decent image-editing software. Photoshop is the household name in screwing-with-pictures software, so it makes sense that if you’re going to pirate something, it might as well be Photoshop, and the latest version while you’re at it. Yeah, CS2 doesn’t quite have the same amount of functionality as CS6, but it’s not bad at all, and the easy and legit download will push a lot of people who would’ve pirated CS6 into downloading CS2 instead.
This in turn will reduce the demand for a hacked version of Photoshop; over time, this lack of demand may resolve itself in fewer people throwing themselves against Adobe’s security team, and a happier life for all. Adobe gets to reap the fat (and well-earned) fees of CS6, the security team get an easier time of it, and a whole league of casual users will become tied into Photoshop (and therefore are more likely to be future users), not to mention enamoured with Adobe.
This isn’t a new concept at all — think of the number of “trial” apps in any given App Store, and you’ll see where I’m coming from. If Adobe really wants to make it profitable, charge a nominal fee or, better yet, make it ad-supported.
This would be a big shake-up for Adobe, but it would better reflect its user base: a firm mix of businesses and hard-core amateurs who need the power of full-on Photoshop, and a bunch of casual part-timers and teenagers who want a really over-the-top way to make memes for Reddit. Yeah, they’ve got Photoshop Elements, and I admit it would be undermined, slightly. But screw it. Elements is already undermined by the legion of free, awesome software like GIMP or Pixlr. Those are the products free CS2 would be competing with, not CS6.
In conclusion: Adobe. Don’t be tight-wads. Do the decent thing, and make the lives of hundreds of thousands of people better by releasing your old software for everyone to use. You’ll reduce piracy, not really have any effect on your CS6 sales, and make the whole word think you’re a really great guy. Ball’s in your park.
All images in this article were definitely not made using CS2
Update: Considering Adobe seemingly doesn’t love you, here are our top 10 free Photoshop alternatives from devs that do.
Image credit: Prison Break from Shutterstock
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Yep totally agree, allowing more people to use an old version will give them the opportunity to learn the basics and want to buy the latest version if they need it. The only reason I purchased CS5 was because I acquired a copy of Fireworks and Photoshop when I was younger and taught myself how to use it.
Same reason they give all students at my Uni CS6 for completely free. It’s like a drug.
Agreed, I use CS6 at work and I love it, I’ve been a user of Adobes Creative suite since long before it was even called that (and some of it was owned by Macromedia). However I’ve never had a (legitimate) copy of it at home, right now I’m using Gimp and I dislike it immensely, I would have happily downloaded a copy of CS2, hell I’d have even paid a little bit of money for it but I simply can’t afford the hundreds of pounds it costs to get a copy of CS6.
The bigger question is, why don’t they just release CS2 as a digital download for $50 and kill off Elements completely? They could easily make the serial numbers not valid for upgrade status to CS6, and for 99% of the people out there CS2 is plenty of photo editing goodness.
Rant? That’s quality journalism that is!
I still think Adobe should be selling the previous version (in this case, CS5) at a massively reduced cost to individuals. Anyone on the bleeding edge or large corporations would be buying the new versions and supporting the development of the next version as per normal but everyone else would be able to enjoy the software without resorting to piracy, while Adobe makes some pocket change out of them.
I would buy the previous version of Photoshop for £30, maybe even the full suite for £50. I would NEVER pay over £1000 for it, ever.
Does this make sense or am I not thinking this through?
TBH mate, i think Photoshop CS5 is worth a £100, easy.. not a lot of software is that smart.. if you find you dont use it to its full abilities then maybe try GIMP, as thats free.
I kind of agree with your idea mind, maybe CS4 backwards though as most companies dont update their version numbers on each release but a lot budget for every other development etc..
To be honest, not a whole lot changes between each release of Photoshop (or any other CS software for that matter) so a reduction of price from £1000 to £50 because a new version is released is just stupid.
The bulk of the necessary features are right there in Photoshop 7.0. To say that in for example, Photoshop CS6 the new features such as blur gallery and the content-aware patch tool would make up ~90% of the value is ridiculous. To me, things like the pen tool, the layers, the abundance of filters, adjustments tools etc. are what make up the price.
The reason they don’t sell the previous version cheaper is because it would look stupid since the price could only come down marginally before it becomes an absolute steal. The new features in each CS are not always that great and some hardly ever get used.
Not tried installing it yet, so don’t know if the serial key will still work etc, but I downloaded these files from Adobe this morning before reading this article so you’re right that they aren’t exactly rushing to correct the download page.
It does – I tried it. I downloaded the suite and Premier and they both work fine – thanks Adobe!
Sweet thanks for that dude
It wont hurt Adobe, I mean who would want to buy CS2? If you’re going to buy Photoshop?
I think Adobe should reprice their creative suite, maybe charge more for business and less for the home user!
When lightroom was priced reasonably, I bought it! I bought photoshop for my iPad cause it was affordable (actually far too cheap), Photoshop for the home user isnt affordable! Until its reasonably priced I wont be buying it!
Looks like Gizmodo has downloaded CS2 and given Photoshop a crack, the article image is actually pretty creative! … does this mean no more tacky intro images from Giz!?
(love you guys really)
Glad to know that someone’s noticed our hard work
I’ll never buy a copy of CS until prices are fair across all regions. Americans and some other countries pay one hell of a lot less than we do. Total disrespect.
Work CS3 and free CS2 it is for me then.
You guys have heard of torrents right?
It’s not a myth that pirated software gets people into the industry it’s a full on fact. There’s no two ways about it. I work as a web designer full time for a large company doing front end development and design. I use photoshop all day every day. I’m quite well versed in AS3 (for all it’s worth) and have decent knowledge of premier pro and illustrator. Oh, and Dreamweaver, I use that a hell of a lot.
All of those skills I gained at or before university using pirated adobe software. If I didn’t then I wouldn’t be able to do the job I do. My degree gave me little to no training in the software and I learned almost all of it myself.
I completely agree with what you’ve said, it would lead to less pirating of their other, current, software and would allow people to learn the basics before spending big money.
That said, there are a lot of legal concerns over this kind of software. Adobe don’t necessarily own the rights to everything within the software. Bear in mind this is the whole creative suite, so there’s all kinds of encoding of videos/images etc. that they may not be allowed to pass on for free. Not to mention their shareholders would likely have a fit.
Instead, what if they just stuck up the install files and serial numbers on their website and (quite feebly) told people not to download it because it would be illegal. That would go a long way to covering their backs legally and would solve the other issues at hand.
We all want Adobe to step up and play the good guy, but the likelihood is that they can’t.
Same thing applies with Solidworks and Engineering students
Matlab & Simulink as well!
Totally agree, I’ve used free/cheap old versions of Serif software since the nineties and wouldn’t be doing the job I have now if I hadn’t had those programs to work with back then. It does enable people to learn skills and can help build brand-loyalty.
I think if you dig around (ie read the earlier CS post), there’s some mixed words from “Adobe staff” about whether this is legit.
According to this post:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4975443#4975443
As long as you “obtained” it from Adobe (ie downloaded from their servers with an Adobe ID) then it’s kosher. If they didn’t want people to download it and was only for existing customers then they wouldn’t put the download links – just the serial numbers to bypass the activation servers? (Or they could’ve just release a patch for existing customers?)
This also makes sense as Adobe have officially stopped supporting CS2 so it’s no real skin off their back, and anyone downloading CS2 potentially means they won’t download something else and get aboard the Adobe stream.
It would have been nice to give CS5 + versions free for like, a day or two. A little gift for mankind. But no.
Used to be the norm to give away outdated software – i bought hundreds of pc magazines specifically for it back in the day, usually totaling £1000 worth with each issue.
‘There’s an old myth in the software world that having students pirate your software is a good thing: they get used to using it, learn the skill set, and then when they go work for a business they encourage the employers to buy an actual legit copy.’
That’s a myth? I’ve always thought that simply because it makes no business sense to outprice a big market of people, and therefore they must be turning a blind eye to pirates.
Strange, I was able to download the files without creating a user account!
‘Legit’ is good. I’ve now got CS2 plus Audition and Premiere Pro archived on my network at home. Old versions work just as well as new versions for the basics. If it was good then, it is still good now.
like re-install your ancient copy and DONT torrent the latest version, LIKE EVER
With the termination of the activation servers for CS2 they need a way to guarantee that existing license holders can maintain active copies of the software. This is the easiest way to do that. It doesn’t even run on modern Macs!
Do a little thinking and you’d realise they can’t say they are offering free copies of CS2 due to the licensing restrictions in various packaged codecs etc within the bundle. Hence the Adobe employee’s post.
I love the way you try and dress it up as a MASSIVE BLUNDER when it’s clearly nothing of the sort and a fully intentional move on Adobe’s part.