Adobe Tests Anti-Piracy Technique

[r_harvey]

Adobe Systems Inc. has begun testing online activation of its Photoshop
7.0 application in Australia as a way of stemming the illegal use of its
software. If the pilot is successful, and so far it is, the developer
plans to begin using software activation in the United States later this
year or early next, beginning with Photoshop and then expanding to other
apps.
...
Adobe ... offers the Business Software Alliance's estimate of 39% of commercial
software as a gauge. Says McManus, "We know that Photoshop is among the
most pirated software that's out there."




- InformationWeek, July 2, 2003 <http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=2LHXLW4A01CKCQSNDBGCK H0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=10818046>

[r_harvey]

[Ho]

Hooray! Death to the pirates!

Bleah! Another $#@!* activation scheme.

[Sean]

<http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10818046>

I assume this means the prices will be coming down, right? Isn't one of the reasons for $700 software the fact that piracy causes so much revenue loss . . .?

Cheers,

Sean

[Cheesefood]

I assume this means the prices will be coming down, right? Isn't one of
the reasons for $700 software the fact that piracy causes so much revenue
loss . . .?




The only thing that comes down in price anymore is gas and stock. Commodity items, manufactured goods and other tangibles only seem to rise in price. If they can sell it for $700 now, they can sell it for $700 tomorrow plus a 3% price increase for next year.

[The Magician]

Hmmm...so...exactly WHO are the "pirates" here...?
The Magician




"Cheesefood" <cheesefood75@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1de9cfae.3@WebX.la2eafNXanI...

>
>
> I assume this means the prices will be coming down, right? Isn't one

of

> the reasons for $700 software the fact that piracy causes so much

revenue

> loss . . .?
>
>
>
>
> The only thing that comes down in price anymore is gas and stock.

Commodity items, manufactured goods and other tangibles only seem to rise in
price. If they can sell it for $700 now, they can sell it for $700 tomorrow
plus a 3% price increase for next year.

[pope]

And when piracy gets stamped out forever there will have to be a really big EXPENSIVE celebration. :-)

[Cheesefood]

And when piracy gets stamped out forever there will have to be a really
big EXPENSIVE celebration. :-)




A flying pig roast?

I think Adobe would benefit from advertising Elements a little more. A lot of people know PS, but not about it's little sister.

My mom (who was scammed into buying the $45 PS) and I were discussing PS yesterday. Her question was "How do they expect people to afford it at $700?" I asked her what her use is for color engines, huge swatch libraries, and pre-press utilities. What she wants is layer effects, cut-and-paste and filters.

She just doesn't believe that Elements will provide her with what she needs. She, like many other home uses, think that you can only "PhotoShop" if you have the full version.

[r_harvey]

Excellent post! Most of those who steal Photoshop don't use or care about anything beyond the basics... and telling their friends that they use Photoshop.

[Josh Conley]

Ah yes the evil pirates, don't think so, so they can't afford the $700 software well then kill the creativity the whole reason these horrible pirates use the software. The actual problem in pirating is the companies that pirate the software, the ones that can afford it but on pay for a few liscenses but not for all. So before you go celebrating damning the whole lot of the piraters, realize these are probably kids who use and learn from the program, and I am pretty sure they don't profit a single cent from using the program.

Shame on anyone of you who curses the piraters but believes in real art.

[Cheesefood]

Ecellent post! Most of those who steal Photoshop don't use or care about
anything beyond the basics... and telling their friends that they use
Photoshop.




People pirate PS because they want to take their Ex out of a picture or put themselves on a funny background. They'll never use a spot channel, a Pantone color or a color preference. They'll probably never even duotone, other than making a color pic black and white.

Why does my mom need to learn curves, half-tones, or the differnce between Lab, HSB, Indexed Color, CMYK or RGB? She doesn't. Like most users, she'll be afraid to touch half the settings.

I'm not afraid of people learning how to apply feathering to a selection before copying to a new layer. I'm not afraid of people learning how to apply drop-shadows and put images inside of text.

The stuff that PS can be easily boiled down to would help the average user make neat collages, it would get people off my back everytime they want to make a 4x6 into an 8x10, and take a zit off their kids face.

Save the good stuff for us Pro's, but give the eye-candy to the masses.

[Sean]

Well, to be fair, Adobe runs up the price by not selling things like ImageReady as a separate product . . ..

Cheers,

Sean

[r_harvey]

Shame on anyone of you who curses the piraters but believes in real art.




Shame on me, then. If you can't afford Photoshop 7, then don't use it. I can't afford it, so I have an older version.

[Jimmy Chancey]

Which brings us to the point that PS has gotten too expensive for a number of users, many of which are casual users.

[Josh Conley]

I don't see where actual harm comes in, when everyone complains about the users that are half wits or the ones that do have skill but still priated the ware. I think the actual threat comes from the corporations and the companies that steal PS and then profit from its functions.

See it this way, the individuals that pirtate the software, are only going to use it if they can pirate it, they won't profit from it. Adobe would not gain or lose from it at all.

[Sean]

Well, I use PS 6 daily. My employer would buy me the upgrade to 7, but, I don't need it and don't see the sense of the big expense.

Plus, the product loads slowly enough as it is, I don't need more features <g>. I do use Photoshop color management, etc., on occasion, and EPS export with interpolation--so I get my use out of it.

So, yeah. I'm in the "too expensive, don't need the latest version, stay with the older version" camp (which means, no piracy here, no need to).

Cheers,

Sean

[Josh Conley]

but it's not like PS6 was free either.

[Sean]

but it's not like PS6 was free either.




Agreed. Another reason not to dump a bunch of cash.

Seriously, though. I dislike the idea of invasive product checking. And, even after all these years, I am uncomfortable paying $700 for something the license agreement tells me I do not own. Together, those things make me less inclined to want to upgrade, even on my employer's dime.

While I understand the need for such protection, and expect that in a saturated market, the only real place for software manufacturers to turn a buck is by converting illegal installations (something they used to tacitly permit because it increased marketshare), I feel less inclined to buy a product that is invasive--of course, since the argument for high prices has been piracy, I really do expect that reducing piracy will lower software prices . . ..

Cheers,

Sean

[The Magician]

Your Mom is a LOT smarter than YOU...!

> My mom (who was scammed into buying the $45 PS) and I were discussing PS

yesterday. Her question was "How do they expect people to afford it at
$700?" I asked her what her use is for color engines, huge swatch libraries,
and pre-press utilities. What she wants is layer effects, cut-and-paste and
filters.

>
> She just doesn't believe that Elements will provide her with what she

needs. She, like many other home uses, think that you can only "PhotoShop"
if you have the full version.

[Jim Eager]

You missing the point that makes this invasive. "Online" activation.

My current Photoshop machine is behind a firewall. To activate the software would require pulling it out from behind the firewall to do so.

Or why should I have to re-activate the software because I lost a hard drive? I should just be able to re-load it.

Finally, who gave Adobe permission to access my machine?

Sorry, but with the lack of real features, and the heavy bug loads in the most recent Photoshop offerings, I will just not upgrade, thank you.