This is exactly what you can do! Two computers.
As far as the second scenario, take your laptop over and hook into the network at that location! You cannot load it a third time, no matter how you want to explain it.
I have a question about a not so different scenario.
I use a SIngle PC, with 3 fast SCSI disks with several partitions, first and second are used for dual booting in WinXP and Win2k, on the first I install near everything I use for work, test or enjoy, and the second is a clean one with only some major applications.
I have installed PS CS yesterday on the first, but have not activated it yet. Then I have booted up from the second, (and perform a thorough defrag with Diskeeper of the other boot disk, now the inactive).
I have installed here too PSCS, but when I open it it syas the activation 30 days period has expired !!!
I have also tried to open PS 7.0, and it gave me error message it could not load something (excuse me I did not write it down).
Thus I have uninstalled it and booted up again from the other disk, the PSCS still works there.
Thus my question is, did it detect another installation (on another disk and another OS places in other disk&partition?
This is the reason activation period was expired?, Do I need to activate it on the first disk firstly?
Will I be able to install it also on my second boot disk?
Fredrico
My understanding of the user agreement is that you could install 40 or 50 copies of Photoshop onto different partitions of a single computer, and still have the right to load a copy to a laptop or another computer used by the same person.
That said, I don’t know if the activation program would allow it automatically, but if it does not, you certainly would get permission from Adobe to get around it. (They might want to know why you need 50 copies, but I doubt they would question you having two on a machine.)
The goal of activation is to prevent multiple people from using a single license, and it is impossible for two people to be working on copies in partition on a single computer at the same time.
Federico,
I’ve asked a similar question as yours before, basically asking how activation is supported on multi-boot computers. The answer is that activation will be required for each reinstall of PS CS, but it does not increase the machine count since the installation is to the same machine. Here’s the thread: "PS CS Activation and Multi-boot Computers" 10/31/03 </cgi-bin/webx?13/12>
Hope that helps,
Daryl
Product activation sucks and I pretty much think Adobe has went down the toilet lately. I demand the ability to install Photoshop on all my home computers, be able to upgrade and rebuild my system at any time without screwing around with product activation or needing internet access. Not everyone has internet by any means. I’m into performace building computers and am constantly changing my systems around and reinstalling software.
Adobe makes so much money yet those greedy freaks are going after stupid kids coping software … but for some reason they don’t know that those kids would never ever buy the software even if they didn’t get it for free. Those statistics are dumb that assume all those people with illegal versions of software could be buying customers. That’s crap. Plus, what business is really going to use pirated software? Um, I can’t think of any.
Adobe needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass and make things easier for their customers and not worry about the kids and product activation. They have enough paying customers to worry about…and plenty of money. It’s like the billion dollar kid rockstars complaining about the crappy MP3 files being downloaded of their music. I feel nothing for them.
Re: I demand the ability to install Photoshop on all my home computers
I also demand that General Motors send me a Lincoln when I buy a Cavalier, but it isn’t going to happen. When you installed Adobe products you agreed to install them on two machines with one user, at most. If you installed older versions on more, then you were violating the agreement you made.
You do have an alternative to CS. Keep your old versions and don’t upgrade. I suspect that if enough users did that, then Adobe would drop Activation the way dongle-copyright protection was dropped 15 years ago.
Of course, Adobe is betting that the majority of the heat from activation is coming from the minority who do not pay for the software at all, and these people have no alternative (you can’t boycott what you are stealing anyway).
Posting the same post in multiple forums can be considered as ‘spamming’ Eric. Please take note before I feel an overwhelming need to remove all your posts to the spam receptacle.
Not everyone has internet by any means<
So why are you connecting to the internet to complain – would have been a lot quicker and cheaper on the phone bill to activate (a couple of seconds) rather than write a long message of complaint.
—
Carol
(Posted from the UK)
I installed PS CS on my laptop friday, yesterday I had to do a system restore for a problem. When I launched Photoshop CS, it said my system has been changed or updated and I need to activate the program once again. Does this mean that I can no longer put it on my desktop computer because I have had to activate it twice for my laptop?
No, you can install onto your laptop and desktop. No hardware changes had been made, so activation should be painless.
I expect that we’re also getting complaints from shops that consciously or absentmindedly violated the license and aren’t happy about having it enforced.
It was also a favorite pre-load of some of the shadier white-box shops.
So, no, not all the piracy was kids grabbing it from the P2P spybot networks. Do I think that we’ll get all those people to step up and be honest? No, not at all. But it doesn’t have to be a very high percentage at all to be of real value.
-Scott
But it doesn’t have to be a very high percentage at all to be of real value.
But what’s the percentage going the other way? Where’s the breaking point where you say we’re losing more money than we’re saving because we’re upsetting loyal (in some cases rabid), paying customers. Is there a metric for that?
Tony, Dave,
I’ve read through 100’s of the existing posts on activation, and everything that I have read could easily be summarized in a one pager. There is no new information being presented on the topic; and the facts are all there – as is the justification (albeit perhaps not to your satisfaction). I understand (and can appreciate) that you guys are upset about activation. Personally, if no one had told me that PSCS ("pieces"?;-)) came with activation, I doubt that I’d even have noticed – that’s how simply and smoothly the process went.
In addition, I’ve read Adobe’s Activation FAQ and with the knowledge that no personal information is being transferred, etc., I can’t say that I mind the current situation at all. After all, you and many other have on a number of occasions criticized those on this list who made it obvious that they were using illegal versions of Photoshop, which – if I could jump to a bold conclusion – would seem to indicate that you’re both relatively honest folks who can probably see to the root of this issue and understand why Adobe has taken the path that they have. In reading the FAQ, the things that were most evident to me were: how much time and energy it appears that Adobe has spent investigating the best approach to implementing activation; the measures they have and are taking to ensure as little disruption for those of us that come by Photoshop in a legal and ethical manner; and how Adobe appears to be genuinely interested in the feedback people have on the topic of Activation.
Dont get me wrong, I am not trying to belittling your concerns around activation, but simply telling you from a bystanders point of view one that has already gone through the process that it aint so bad.
As Tony would say:
Peace
wrote:
Ater all, you and many other have on a number of occasions criticized
those on this list who made it obvious that they were using illegal versions of Photoshop, which – if I could jump to a bold conclusion – would seem to indicate that you’re both relatively honest folks who can probably see to the root of this issue and understand why Adobe has taken the path that they have.
Trevor…
I think the point that everyone is missing is that activation in no way stops piracy… the first crack (albeit faulty) was out just three days after the release…. am sure there’ll soon be a host of them floating around. Moreover, they’ll be ones that work.
The hassle with activation is that it directly impinges on the legal user… whether this is real or conceived is a moot point…. but it does impinge. In some form or the other…. enough cases of hassles have already come to light… and everyone is not in a location or situation where you can just call Support. Out of the USA for instance 1-800 does not work.
Adobe, and it’s apologists, say that Activation is to discourage casual copying. I have a basic question… How many persons here, who have plonked down USD 600 odd, will happily pass the program on to all and sundry?
There’s no doubt that there have been legal users who have passed on a copy to a friend/nephew/neice/child… whatever…. and sure in the letter of the law it is wrong… but in actual fact, many of those people have probably gone on to become legitimate buyers of the product at a future date and so, genuine Adobe customers. How many of them would have bought Photoshop if they they hadn’t got to know the program by working with a freebie copy? In efect, activation will affect Photoshop sales in the future. After all, these persons will likely turn to a pirated version and then, probably stay with pirated versions.
(I, for one, started off with a handed out copy from a friend who said i must check it out…. was looking at the Corel Suite at that time… used PS… got to know it, liked it, reaised it was the one for me… bought it. But about six months later… Sure… download the trial version… but 30 days is not enough unless you spend several hours everyday trying it out… not a valid proposition in the real world. Also… in those days, downloads were by dial-up…. hours and hours of dial-up 🙂 .)
Speaking for myself, i know that a major reason i haven’t bought the upgrade yet is the activation issue. The second, of course is the inevitable .dot version. But i don’t think that’s the primary reason… after all, the dot version always comes out and always seems to fix most problems. I for one, when i upgrade to CS will try activation…. but the moment i find any hassles with it… the chances are i’ll look for a crack…
Enough said… 🙂
Cheers…
JJ
And those who are blindly against activation say "there is already a crack, what was the purpose?".
That competely mis-estimates the scale of the issue and where it is coming from. I have no doubt that the high school kid who picked up a copy will just grab the crack. They wouldn’t have bought the program anyway. And they won’t care too much when the next update fails to install.
The issue is really with casual copying – at small or medium sized shops or by white box assemblers. Places where they may not even have thought about the license or known they were violating it (or maybe they did…). There’s a *lot* of that going on, and I think activation is going to be pretty darned effective at stopping it.
We’ll see if it ends up being worth it, but at this point I’m betting that it does.
As for 30 days – if it really takes you more than 30 days to evaluate Photoshop, it’s much more likely that Photoshop Elements is right for you.
So, if only activation is keeping you from upgrading, that’s too bad (you still running Win2k then?). Sorry about that, but that is your decision. I won’t put naked bits out on the net anymore.
-Scott
wrote:
<snipped>
The issue is really with casual copying – at small or medium sized shops
or
by white box assemblers. Places where they may not even have thought
about
the license or known they were violating it (or maybe they did…).
There’s
a *lot* of that going on, and I think activation is going to be pretty darned effective at stopping it.
You have a point there….
As for 30 days – if it really takes you more than 30 days to evaluate Photoshop, it’s much more likely that Photoshop Elements is right for you.
Well actually, i’m not talking about 30 days for an upgrade… i’m talking about it as a first time user… a professional who has other things on his plate and can’t really afford to spend several hours a day getting to know the product… and then take a considered decision. As i said in my post, it took me several months…
So, if only activation is keeping you from upgrading, that’s too bad (you still running Win2k then?). Sorry about that, but that is your decision.
I
won’t put naked bits out on the net anymore.
Yes am still using W2k…. what’s the point you’re trying to make? I see no reason to move to XP from W2k. i’m used to W2k… it’s stable, i know it well… all my drivers are working fine… everything is swinging along very nicely… and every time i reformat and reinstall everything (on my C:\) drive i have no hassles… as all the relevant drivers and upgrades/patches are neatly stored in sequential format on my other hard disk(s). When the next version of XP comes out maybe then…. but am hoping (against hope) that a Wxk pro version is released…
Cheers…
JJ
As for 30 days – if it really takes you more than 30 days to evaluate Photoshop, it’s much more likely that Photoshop Elements is right for
you.
Well actually, i’m not talking about 30 days for an upgrade… i’m talking about it as a first time user… a professional who has other things on his plate and can’t really afford to spend several hours a day getting to know the product… and then take a considered decision. As i said in my post, it took me several months…
Purely outside of this thread’s topic, sorry. I agree that 30 days is insufficient to eval a product this complex. My own example is with goLive (last version). I’m a professional programmer & web app developer. I dl’d the goLive tryout when I had some free time between projects. Couple days later things picked up again and I only got to spend the odd 10 mins here, hour there with it. Byt the time I really had a chance to get back to it, Boom! 30 days gone. You can’t eval this program no ‘mo.
Bottom line is I couldn’t convince my mgmt to get it because I didn’t have proper time to eval it. Out of the total 30 day trial, I bet I used it a total of 5 or 6 hours. A better idea would be to keep a running clock going to track hourly usage and when the try-out-er hits 30 days worth of hours of usage (720 for those who don’t want to do the math), THEN disable it. These programs aren’t AOL. They’re industrial strength productivity applications. They need (and deserve) the full amount of alloted time for a decent evaluation. If I had 720 hours (or at least somewhat more than 5!) I may have convinced my direct boss to purchase at least 5 seats of goLive. Instead I got to tell him, ‘well, it looks nice, but I’m not sure it does everything we need’ (integration with the rest of our systems for instance).
just a though.
dave
Totally agree about the 30 day issue not being sufficient, but I think that issue may obfuscate the point. I know adobe’s trying. I’m grateful for their feedback. But getting CSR approval for an install is, well, inane.
Trevor,
One of the biggest issues which you may have missed is the allowing of DEactivation. You should be allowed to deactivate, and thereby roll back your allowable activations by one.
If they don’t do that, it’s a machine license, not a user license. You should be able to uninstall your software and install it anywhere you wish without approval from adobe.
Scott Byer agreed that this would be something to look into, and I’m grateful for that.
Adobe should not underestimate the loses the activation system will generate.
As far as I am concerned I have completly turned to OpenOffice to avoid the XPoffice activation scheme.
I have completly avoided Windows XP to avoid its activation scheme. And I am completly refusing to buy PS CS to avoid activation scheme.
Not that I am a pirate. I have spent about 500 to 600 euros a year to Adobe’s products each year over the last 12 years.
Now there is absolutly lo reason I should call and tell Adobe when I re-install my computer.
Yes, I may be paranoïd, but I see absolutly no reason I should tell Adobe what and when I do of their software.
This is a privacy issue, no less.
If they don’t do that, it’s a machine license, not a user license. You should be able to uninstall your software and install it anywhere you wish without approval from adobe.
Scott Byer agreed that this would be something to look into, and I’m grateful for that.
I don’t know if adobe would do this, but if they did allow an "Activate/Deactivate only" option from the installer, it would allow them to lighten up on the only install 2x rule and make it an "only activate one" rule.
That way a one user shop could install on say, 3 or 4 systems but adobe could be ASSURED that only one copy is active at a time by allowing only 1 "live" activation per serial #. So a user can be working on one machine, finish, transfer his files across a network, deactivate on machine 1, then activate on machine 2, staying within the single "live" activation limit. Sounds like this would be more in keeping with the "spirit" of the license than the current scheme. Sounds like a win-win for both Adobe and the PS user.
True Dave. But whether they do that part or not, the point is, Macromedia does an Activate/Deactivate on their products. There’s no reason that it couldn’t and more importantly SHOULDN’T be done.
their software.
Exactly. It’s their’s. You only buy the right to use it the way they allow.
Bob
Exactly. It’s their’s. You only buy the right to use it the way they allow.
true bob, but adobe seems pretty responsive to user’s feedback, more so than most companies of their size, so those of us who love the product have some hope that a reasonable (to both sides) solution/resolution to this issue can occur. what do you think of my "scheme" in post 21?
I think in theory it’s a terrific idea, but in practice it would be a problem.
Case in point. I install CS on my desktop and laptop. I’m going to meet a client and I forget to deactivate on my desktop. I go to open the file on my laptop and…well, you know the rest.
Bob
Tony,
That may qualify as the shortest post ever on the topic of activation. 🙂
Bob
Heh. Especially from me!
But seriously, I am passionate about an activation/deactivation sequence. It’s the only fair way a user can port their license without having to justify workflow to Adobe.
I’m going to meet a client and I forget to deactivate on my desktop.
Then make it 2 live activations. Or require a service call.
Then make it 2 live activations.
I hear two. Who’ll make it three? <VBG>
Bob
wrote:
I hear two. Who’ll make it three? <VBG>
Did anyone here ever read a book…. years and years ago…. called, "One, Two, Three…. Infinity" 🙂
Cheers…
JJ
