Photoshop CS2 upgrade restrictions

[jonathan_traupman]

I tried to ask this of Adobe's support people, but apparently they don't bother

to read messages from lowly dirt like me. Hopefully, someone here can help.

 

I currently use Photoshop CS, purchased as part of the Creative Suite bundle

academic edition. I want to upgrade to CS2, primarily to get camera raw support

for the 5D.

 

I have seen reports online that indicate that you cannot upgrade just one

component of CS (e.g. Photoshop) and that instead you're stuck buying the $500

suite upgrade. Can someone confirm or deny that this is the case?

 

If I can't upgrade the photoshop that came with CS, I also have a separate

license for PS7. (It was actually cheaper to buy a whole new CS license than it

was to upgrade the old bundle. Adobe's academic pricing makes no sense.) This

was also purchased as part of a bundle, also with a student discount, but it was

before they started calling the bundle "Creative Suite." Unlike CS1, with this

bundle, I actually got separate serial numbers for each program instead of a

single CS serial number. Does anyone have any idea about whether this PS7

license can be upgraded using the standard Photoshop upgrader?

 

Finally, does anyone know if there are any issues with upgrading an academic

copy with a normal retail upgrader? Reports I've read online indicate that

there's no problem, yet B&H sells a separate Academic Version upgrader for $20

more than the retail upgrade. FWIW, I am still in school so could purchase the

academic CS2, but it's $300 vs. $150 for the retail upgrade and I really don't

need yet another license.

[Ed_Ingold]

It is clearly stated in the Creative Suite license that the components cannot be separated. You must buy an upgrade for the entire suite, not just a particular component.

 

PS7 can be upgraded, even from an academic version IF you purchased the academic version individually, not as a group purchase from a school or university. The same applies to the Creative Suite. A problem is that many universities purchase a bulk license then distribute it to students for a fee. These do not qualify for upgrades - a fact stated in the license agreement.

 

In the worst case, you can purchase an academic version of PS-CS2 for $300, provided you still qualify for an academic discount. Once you do that, you can purchase future upgrades without restriction.

 

You could learn all this and more by calling Adobe Customer Service - they are very helpful.

[ellis_vener_photography]

As the man said, try calling. I think you should also try asking your question in Adobe's user

support forums. You are much more likely to get an answer there.

[adamlozo]

You should hold off on that upgrade and purchase lightroom once it's released. I've been working with both the bridge and the beta version of lightroom and find lightroom to be superior. I wonder if given this new product that many would find it benefical to upgrade to CS2 from CS. I've decided that CS suits my needs for now.

 

However, I'm becoming interested in DXO optics as a third alternative.

[dave_powell2]

Hi Jonathan,

 

As Edward indicated, the Suite components are treated as a unit. This was a problem at the office here, where I'm using an old computer. The company bought the CS suite for my technical writing projects, and installed it all before I arrived. But I only need and use Photoshop. So I tried to deinstall the pieces I didn't need. I received a message to the effect that the entire suite had to be registered with Adobe as being in use, or the entire suite had to be registered as uninstalled and available for reinstallation.

 

Makes it hard to use only the parts one needs...but I guess that's the idea!

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

[JeffOwen]

If all you need the upgrade for is to do RAW conversions then I suggest there may be cheaper (or even free) alternatives. I use Raw Shooter Essentials which was free when I downloaded it a few months ago. Excellent program.

[kelly_flanigan1]

One of my oldest licenses I used to install CS2 is from Photoshop 2.5. Just try calling Adobe.