Why is Adobe so casual about pirating?

[ken_thalheimer]

If you go with illegal, you best stay that way for future editions. They've clamped down. Starting with CS or CS2 you're allowed 2 applications. After that the S/N is no longer accepted, unless you remove one of the applications If you have illegal & try to go with a legit upgrade version, you'll get bounced

[davidimage]

To go along with Tolik,

 

The sad thing is no matter how many people companies hire to 'copy proof' their programs, there will be x as many computer buffs that get a thrill out of cracking it. With something as unregulated as the internet, if you want something free, you can get it. With the torrent community as large as it is, cracked programs completely virus/spam/ad free are extremely easy to obtain.

 

With the original question, if Adobe weren't making any money of PS, they wouldn't be making it. In relation to cracking, I guess outside the US Adobe wouldn't have a leg to stand on against crackers? It's perhaps still a question of them not having any legal power to shut down servers providing cracked copies?

[kelly_flanigan1]

With a torrent bits and pieces are spread across many users; one can have 1 percent and be sharing that morsel.

[kari v]

T Feltus: "CS3 is hard to use without a license. each release gets harder."

 

Umm... what makes you think so?

 

Kelly Flanigan: "Then there are folks with PC's that almost all the cool software they use is pirated; a friend is always running keygens and installing bootleg stuff. The pickle is that he is always having to reinstall windows because of the added rootkits and crap that some keygens adds that cannot be detected with the salvo of anti spy/virius scan stuff. The "free" stuff is not so free if your computer beomes a cesspool of crap running in the background; or if you are constantly wasting time futzing/farting around."

 

This is the price you pay for not being competent enough with computers. Pirated software can be very safe if you don't download randomly.

 

You can download 100% working CS3 with no viruses in *few minutes*. What should Adobe do?

 

"It's perhaps still a question of them not having any legal power to shut down servers providing cracked copies?"

 

FTP-servers are private and fast.

 

Torrent trackers only provide metadata, actual files come in small pieces from all around the world. How do you shut down that?

 

DC++ hubs are "mobile", shutting down one (or hundred) makes no difference.

 

Limewire etc. are for children and teens who can only click one big button and hope for the best, so no big catches there.

[kari v]

"if you google CS3 Warez Key Gen Crack you will come up with thousands of sites that are options. Some of them are a $4.95 subscription for a download, some are free, some give you the entire program and some give you just the keygen that will create a registration # based on "

 

If you want to keep your computer clean stay away from these places. There's no reason whatsoever to use these ****holes for software cracks.

 

Never pay anyone for pirated stuff, not even $5, it's seriously stupid.

[aapitcher]

Again, I think the thing is that Adobe has been one of the smart companies and is actually adapting to the reality of the internet instead of trying to fight a battle that can't be won. I think they're doing quite well with their strategy.

 

To be honest I don't think it makes sense to look at piracy as a moral issue anymore, but rather as an economic issue. Try turning the question around: why would any high-school kid try to save up $1800 for a piece of software that they can get for free? In that case, if they never really would have paid for it, then did Adobe really lose anything by them downloading it? Maybe, but probably not. I argue that they gained from it -- some percent of these kids will become dedicated users and buy several generations of their software. It's better than losing these potential customers early. It's great, free advertising. It keeps their product's status as a necessity. While it may be and likely is true that over 50% of the copies of CS out there are pirated, that doesn't mean that Adobe is losing 50% of their revenue.

 

A few notes -- I keep using kids as the example because I think they're the demographic that downloads the most, by at least an order of magnitude. Also, I don't think it can be treated as a moral issue. For many people it is, and they equate it with brick-and-mortar theft. For a lot of people it isn't at all the same--they see it as stealing from a greedy corporate America.

 

For those of you saying things to the extent of "They better enjoy it while they can, because you won't be able to pirate the next version," I have one thing to say: wake up. Look at the trend. It will be impossible to stop piracy without severely limiting many other rights that we take for granted. The technology doesn't work that way. Every major tech company has thought they solved the problem, and every one of them has failed. Registration keys. Copy-protected discs. DRM.

[aapitcher]

"Never pay anyone for pirated stuff, not even $5, it's seriously stupid."

 

No, get it for free. And be smart enough to avoid the viruses.

[kari v]

Austin: "It's great, free advertising. It keeps their product's status as a necessity. While it may be and likely is true that over 50% of the copies of CS out there are pirated, that doesn't mean that Adobe is losing 50% of their revenue."

 

I agree. Many kids download Photoshop because it's the Best, they barely know how levels work, have found the blur filter and oversharpen everything. So what? Is Adobe losing something here? How much and how? Some of these kids get interested and perhaps buy a student version later on and then full licence. Photoshop remains as The product and its GUI familiar.

 

At least in Finland Photoshop is very well known among the teens. It's sometimes very hard to convince them that they could do well with Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro or *gasp* free GIMP. Interestingly, in popularity after (full) Photoshop come way smaller and free apps like Picasa, Photofiltre (French, I think) and Paint.NET. (This is not official statistic but first hand information from numerous conversations.)

 

"Every major tech company has thought they solved the problem, and every one of them has failed. Registration keys. Copy-protected discs. DRM."

 

HD-DVD/Blu-ray were delayed because some people had a great idea about honing the copy protection to perfection. It lasted, what, like two weeks. Great job, thanks a lot.

 

Area codes for DVDs? Right, I'd never buy a player that couldn't bypass that... innovation.

 

Newest digital connection scheme to reduce resolution or display garbage when your hardware isn't compatible with the coding. Nice. I'll just buy a new tv / video card / projector then.

*Sometimes it's easier to download a movie or album from the net than get the original working where you want*. Needless to say this isn't exactly good for the sales.

 

(Thankfully CD copy protections died already. What was funny about most of them they were coded for Windows. Linux and OS X just asked, literally, if I wanted to remove this crap that doesn't belong to CD-audio disc or just showed it as separate file. Do you want to run copy protection rootkit? Yes/no? :D)

[kari v]

Feeling a bit talkative on the subject today...

 

Actually Adobe is effectively not using copy protection at all. That serial you have to enter is for registering legit users. It has very little to do with stopping piracy.

 

Good old dongle is a more serious effort, but those can be cracked. It's a bit easier to realize that software patch can be allocated as a usb-stick / hard drive / dvd / dongle if you've used other than Windows computers. Same as with the cd-protection, I can't see serious hackers flapping their furry paws in front of supermarket Vista machines all the day.

[dennis_oconnor4]

Well Adobe and others understand the game... The vast majority of those using a pirated copy of CS3 would not actually pay for a registered copy at any price (or $5 at the most)... So, the fact that they are running a pirate copy does not affect Adobe's cash flow... The pro users who are running a business with CS3 do not have time for playing pirate games...

 

In my business all the software I run is purchased and registered... IF there is a problem with the software that company is going to hear about it loud and clear as that affects my cash flow... My pocketbook has no time for pirated software, crashing computers, and lack of tech support... And yes, I recognize that I am paying through the nose for that support - $2400 a year on one package alone - but this is business, time is money, and a customer walking away because my system is crashed is lost money I will never recover... It only takes a few customers walking away to make the $2400 look like chump change...

 

denny

[vincedistefano]

Dennis, amen. Not to mention - if you run a company, you darn well want legitimate software, because if employees know it is pirated and they change from gruntled to disgruntled for whatever reason, that software piracy hotline is only a few click away...and you can be in for tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines. Besides, it IS Adobe's creation and they are free to set the price - and you are free to pay it or not. If you don't think it's worth the money, don't buy it. But if you steal it, then think about how you'd feel if somebody stole your own work. I'm always amazed by creative professionals who think nothing of stealing intellectual property, but if one of their photos or illustrations were to show up somewhere unauthorized they'd freak out and start talking lawsuits.