Is Photoshop Upgrade Misleading?

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Posted By
mitchkp
Oct 13, 2005
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532
Replies
11
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Closed

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mitchkp
Oct 13, 2005
(re-posting from the Mac Photoshop forum)

Perhaps I am the only one who feels misled. But, I wondered what other people think.

I own Adobe Creative Suite Standard, which includes Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS and InDesign CS. I just purchased Photoshop CS2 Upgrade. When I went to install CS2 Upgrade, I got a message stating "The installer could not find a previous version of Photoshop. …" I then choose the option to Browse for Photoshop CS, which I did. It still didn’t work. So, I called Adobe tech support. The tech support person said something must be wrong with my license or number, so I got transfer to another person.

This person told me that since I bought Adobe Creative Suite, I cannot not upgrade any of the individual packages in the suite. I can only upgrade the entire suite. I found this odd, since the CS2 upgrade box said the upgrade would work if I was a licensed user of a previous version. I thought since I bought the Creative Suite I in fact owned licensed copies of all the software.

I went to the Adobe store on the web and clicked on Photoshop CS2 Upgrade. There it states:

To install this upgrade successfully, you will need a licensed version of any version of Adobe Photoshop, on the same platform as this purchase.
NOTE:This upgrade does not apply to Adobe Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Album, Photoshop Limited Edition, or PhotoDeluxe licensed users.

It’s interesting to see that Adobe not only tells you what you need (a licensed copy of a previous version) but they further clarify the upgrade requirements by stating what won’t work. However, they don’t list Creative Suite as one that does not work.

So, if you buy Creative Suite CS you do not own licensed copies of any of the software in the suite and you cannot upgrade any of that software. Even though every time you launch Photoshop CS you see a license number. If you choose about Photoshop CS you will see a license number. That license number has nothing to do with Photoshop. It is the license number for Creative Suite, which of course is not an application that you can run on any computer. As it turns out, I do not own a licensed copy of any of the Adobe applications on my computer.

I told the person on the phone that I felt this was misleading. He asked where I bought the software, I told him the local Apple retail store. His response was that if I called Adobe and bought it directly they would have explained the licensing and upgrade policies.

As I stated, maybe I’m the only Adobe user who realizes this. But I for one found this incredibly misleading.
BL
Bob Levine
Oct 14, 2005
You don’t have a Photoshop license. You have a Creative Suite license. If you bought the upgrade directly from Adobe, you have 30 days to return it.

Bob
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Don_McCahill
Oct 14, 2005
You will, or should have, noticed that you have one serial number for CS1. In earlier suites, you had a serial number for each program. It was quite clear here in the forums at the time of the release of CS1 that you would not be able to update individual components (unless you held an earlier version of that component).
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YrbkMgr
Oct 14, 2005
As I stated, maybe I’m the only Adobe user who realizes this. But I for one found this incredibly misleading.

You’re not; it’s just old news for this forum. It was discussed when CS was released and we had like 100 or so posts on it.

You’re right, but that’s the way it is. That’s why, btw, I chose to not upgrade to the creative suite, rather Photoshop alone.
RB
Robert_Barnett
Oct 14, 2005
When you bought Creative Suite 1 you bought a single license for the entire suite and not licenses for each program. Suites are considered by Adobe to be one large product, not seperate products with seperate licenses in one box.

So when you upgrade you do have to upgrade from Suite version to Suite version and not application to application. There is a reason you save so much money by buying the suites.

Robert
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YrbkMgr
Oct 14, 2005
Robert explained it better – I left out the fact that that I would have bought the suite so that I could inexpensively check out the other products and have a license for them. But I didn’t want to be forced to purchase an upgrade on items I don’t use, just to get the one that I do use. So, personal preference.
JO
Jim_Oblak
Oct 14, 2005
If you think this upgrade licensing is confusing, just wait until the suites get turned upside down with the Macromedia mix of apps. 😉
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deebs
Oct 14, 2005
Ahh – this sounds good!

Without going into it too deeply maybe options are:
– mundane (do the same as last year and the year before that and the yea….)

– minor tweaks and pass it of as "a whole new bundle"

– be remarkable

I hope, of course, that the Suite will be remarkable 🙂
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D._Craig_Flory
Oct 14, 2005
I’m with others on this . I teach Photoshop, to Professional Photography Associations, and will always tell everyone NOT to buy the suite …. since Adobe has this money grubbing policy. I’m glad I don’t need any of their other programs. I will always push Photoshop as the ultimate graphics program but, as a single program, but will always rail against their suite.

D. Craig Flory
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Bob Levine
Oct 14, 2005
What money grubbing policy is that? The one where you get five programs for about the same price of QuarkXpress?

Please, this has been discussed since before the first suite was even released. Adobe was quite upfront about upgrade policies for the suite.

Bob
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Don_McCahill
Oct 14, 2005
and will always tell everyone NOT to buy the suite

What a disservice to your students. Why not tell them what I tell mine. The Suite is a great deal if you want/need all the programs. But if you only need one of them, it can be expensive to upgrade, since you cannot buy an upgrade to an individual package.

I like to teach my students to think, rather than just to issue edicts at them.

Don

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