5 ms·

> You can no longer reinstall Creative Suite 2 or 3 even if you have the original installation disks. The aging activation servers for those apps had to be reti

by grecy 6y ago

> You can no longer reinstall Creative Suite 2 or 3 even if you have the original installation disks. The aging activation servers for those apps had to be retired. I always wonder if a situation like this is legal. If I purchased a product and want to keep using it, what right does the seller have to prevent me from doing so x years later? Can I sue them for not selling me the product they said they were selling me?

dheera 6y ago
Maybe someone can crack the code to not require activation? You did purchase the software after all, and unless you are illegally distributing it I see it as a perfectly fine thing to do whatever you want within your own private residence.
- foobar1962 6y ago
  > You did purchase the software after all Err, umm, no. You purchased a license to use the software.
  - lsiebert 6y ago
    Not really? If you have the disks, you bought a copy of it, just like you bought a copy of a book, not a license to read it's pages.
    - manquer 6y ago
      Modifying the binary is not same as copying . Also given thay Adobe has failed to their side of the agreement, there is some legal standing. Ofcourse it has to be tested in court, unlikely Adobe will even sue if they knew. I don't think they care one way or another. And the customer using cs2 still is unlikely to sue as it's not going to be a large enterprise. This is just laziness from Adobe , older servers take effort to maintain. They could be using keys that have expired to be signing the auth request for example.
      - dheera 6y ago
        It's a very long bytearray. You own a CPU. Because you own that CPU, you get to play gatekeeper and decide which parts of that bytearray go to your CPU and which ones don't. That's not for Adobe to decide. The bytearray they send you is just a suggestion of what to run on your CPU. They provided you a suggestion in return for a payment. You don't have to run all of that suggestion. You can selectively run parts of it.
    - dylan604 6y ago
      What hardware are you running that old crap code on anyways? If you are in the video world today, those old versions of software can't even handle HD let alone 4K/8K. I couldn't even imagine trying to run RAW video without GPU support. Why are people so clinging on to software that only allows work from 10-15 years ago? Times have progressed. The old software doesn't support anything I need it to today (maybe I could get by with an old version of PS except for today's RAW formats would bring it to its knees).
  - lmm 6y ago
    Nonsense. The disks are your property and you're entitled to use them as you see fit (except when that use is illegal e.g. copyright infringement - and note that copyright does not cover the transitory copies made as part of running the application).
    - smnrchrds 6y ago
      > The disks are your property and you're entitled to use them as you see fit I guess you can use them as frisbees.
  - dheera 6y ago
    I run my life by morals, not by law, but with a risk tolerance bounded by the effects of law. That said, my moral interpretation of closed-source software is that I can do whatever the hell I want with it as long as I'm not distributing it to others without permission. Anything that enters my private residence, whether it be a CD I may have bought, or a very long byte array that got transmitted into my internal LAN in return for a payment, is fair game for me to do anything I want with, as long as it doesn't reach anyone outside.
ChrisLomont 6y ago
Did you accept the agreement when installing?
- PrinceKropotkin 6y ago
  ...does anyone? Is that humanly possible to read through without a law degree? What do you do if you want to negotiate? The answer, of course, is piracy: reject all terms.
- ZenPsycho 6y ago
  you can't sign away your rights, doubly so for legally dubious software checkmark agreements.
- cosmotic 6y ago
  The terms of the CS6 license pertaining to activation don't indicate one way or the other what happens if the server was intentionally disabled by Adobe's choice. The only stated requirement is internet access; there's an implied requirement that no firewall is in place to prevent the software from communicating with the Adobe server.
  - ChrisLomont 6y ago
    The CS6 license [1] has a 90 day limited warranty in section 6, which, for most goods, means the items will work as intended for at least 90 days, otherwise you can return it for a full refund. It it fails after 90 days, then you generally cannot. Also, did CS6 stop working? The only stories I see are CS2 and CS3. [1] https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/legal/licenses-terms/pdf/CS6.pdf https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/legal/licenses-terms...
    - cosmotic 6y ago
      No, I have no reason to believe CS6 stopped working, that's just the only terms I have on my local and I couldn't find an obvious archive of Adobes terms for previous versions.
- 6y ago
jyrkesh 6y ago
There may be some part of the law that prevents you from suing (IANAL), but if it wasn't disclosed before you purchased it, it make intuitive sense to me that you should have grounds to sue. I felt the same way about the whole Sonos recyling thing too...
542458 6y ago
I think any competent lawyer would argue that the software was never guaranteed to have infinite lifespan, and Adobe stopped selling CS3 quite a while ago. The EULA explicitly says they don’t warranty anything past 90 days since sale. But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time.
- Thorrez 6y ago
  >But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time. But it could be a class action suit, and if you're the class representative you can get larger compensation.
- schoolornot 6y ago
  If you sue Adobe over this they will likely settle over the phone. If you really want to be a jerk, don't settle and make them send a lawyer out to your district. I'm not encouraging any fraud here but if you feel ripped off, a small claims case is totally in order, here. And they normally take about 10 minutes to file for online.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  > But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time. Class action perhaps? Or small claims at the other end?
- hajile 6y ago
  Don't forget all the time spent learning the beast that is CS3 only to have it stripped away. What is the value of the years it takes to become proficient with such software? Remember, that investment was made on the back of the idea that the software would continue to be usable.
twblalock 6y ago
You didn’t own it. You licensed it.
save_ferris 6y ago
I’m sure there’s a provision that protects them in the EULA you agreed to when you purchased it. Isn’t it a moot point anyway because nobody ever “buys” software, they just obtain a license to use it. Ownership is such a convoluted concept in tech, particularly in software.
- Retric 6y ago
  That’s somewhat sketchy with pre boxed software. Old Nintendo cartridges just worked and presumably had zero copyright issues. If you’re buying/using hardware with software preinstalled, at what point did you agreed to the EULA?
  - peeters 6y ago
    I'm glad you qualified "old", because I tried to run some Switch games from the cartridge when I was at a cottage with no connectivity, and both games forbade me from playing without updating first.
    - StillBored 6y ago
      This is what kills me about the xbone, games come on disks, but immediately want to call home before allowing play. Game calls home, and realizes it needs a 8GB patch! Proceeds to download patch at 500Kb/sec on my 100's of Mbit/sec internet connection. Then despite probably "authenticating" itself to the xbone, won't actually run unless the disk is in the drive. (don't get me started on how bad the UI is, I really haven't any idea why gamers love those little machines so much, they are mostly just trash).
- ImprobableTruth 6y ago
  >Isn’t it a moot point anyway because nobody ever “buys” software, they just obtain a license to use it. Well, depends on the country. In Germany that's not a thing because contract law doesn't allow it. Either you buy software or you rent it.
DoreenMichele 6y ago
Laws change from place to place and time to time. It might be legal in one place but not another. It might be legal at one time but not another. The devil is in the details.
dylan604 6y ago
Why are they running physical servers for this anyways? Why not just host in the cloud right next to their current servers authenticating recent rental software?

by grecy 6y ago

dheera 6y ago

Maybe someone can crack the code to not require activation? You did purchase the software after all, and unless you are illegally distributing it I see it as a perfectly fine thing to do whatever you want within your own private residence.

foobar1962 6y ago
> You did purchase the software after all Err, umm, no. You purchased a license to use the software.
- lsiebert 6y ago
  Not really? If you have the disks, you bought a copy of it, just like you bought a copy of a book, not a license to read it's pages.
  - manquer 6y ago
    Modifying the binary is not same as copying . Also given thay Adobe has failed to their side of the agreement, there is some legal standing. Ofcourse it has to be tested in court, unlikely Adobe will even sue if they knew. I don't think they care one way or another. And the customer using cs2 still is unlikely to sue as it's not going to be a large enterprise. This is just laziness from Adobe , older servers take effort to maintain. They could be using keys that have expired to be signing the auth request for example.
    - dheera 6y ago
      It's a very long bytearray. You own a CPU. Because you own that CPU, you get to play gatekeeper and decide which parts of that bytearray go to your CPU and which ones don't. That's not for Adobe to decide. The bytearray they send you is just a suggestion of what to run on your CPU. They provided you a suggestion in return for a payment. You don't have to run all of that suggestion. You can selectively run parts of it.
  - dylan604 6y ago
    What hardware are you running that old crap code on anyways? If you are in the video world today, those old versions of software can't even handle HD let alone 4K/8K. I couldn't even imagine trying to run RAW video without GPU support. Why are people so clinging on to software that only allows work from 10-15 years ago? Times have progressed. The old software doesn't support anything I need it to today (maybe I could get by with an old version of PS except for today's RAW formats would bring it to its knees).
- lmm 6y ago
  Nonsense. The disks are your property and you're entitled to use them as you see fit (except when that use is illegal e.g. copyright infringement - and note that copyright does not cover the transitory copies made as part of running the application).
  - smnrchrds 6y ago
    > The disks are your property and you're entitled to use them as you see fit I guess you can use them as frisbees.
- dheera 6y ago
  I run my life by morals, not by law, but with a risk tolerance bounded by the effects of law. That said, my moral interpretation of closed-source software is that I can do whatever the hell I want with it as long as I'm not distributing it to others without permission. Anything that enters my private residence, whether it be a CD I may have bought, or a very long byte array that got transmitted into my internal LAN in return for a payment, is fair game for me to do anything I want with, as long as it doesn't reach anyone outside.

ChrisLomont 6y ago

Did you accept the agreement when installing?

PrinceKropotkin 6y ago
...does anyone? Is that humanly possible to read through without a law degree? What do you do if you want to negotiate? The answer, of course, is piracy: reject all terms.
ZenPsycho 6y ago
you can't sign away your rights, doubly so for legally dubious software checkmark agreements.
cosmotic 6y ago
The terms of the CS6 license pertaining to activation don't indicate one way or the other what happens if the server was intentionally disabled by Adobe's choice. The only stated requirement is internet access; there's an implied requirement that no firewall is in place to prevent the software from communicating with the Adobe server.
- ChrisLomont 6y ago
  The CS6 license [1] has a 90 day limited warranty in section 6, which, for most goods, means the items will work as intended for at least 90 days, otherwise you can return it for a full refund. It it fails after 90 days, then you generally cannot. Also, did CS6 stop working? The only stories I see are CS2 and CS3. [1] https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/legal/licenses-terms/pdf/CS6.pdf https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/legal/licenses-terms...
  - cosmotic 6y ago
    No, I have no reason to believe CS6 stopped working, that's just the only terms I have on my local and I couldn't find an obvious archive of Adobes terms for previous versions.
6y ago

jyrkesh 6y ago

There may be some part of the law that prevents you from suing (IANAL), but if it wasn't disclosed before you purchased it, it make intuitive sense to me that you should have grounds to sue. I felt the same way about the whole Sonos recyling thing too...

542458 6y ago

I think any competent lawyer would argue that the software was never guaranteed to have infinite lifespan, and Adobe stopped selling CS3 quite a while ago. The EULA explicitly says they don’t warranty anything past 90 days since sale. But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time.

Thorrez 6y ago
>But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time. But it could be a class action suit, and if you're the class representative you can get larger compensation.
schoolornot 6y ago
If you sue Adobe over this they will likely settle over the phone. If you really want to be a jerk, don't settle and make them send a lawyer out to your district. I'm not encouraging any fraud here but if you feel ripped off, a small claims case is totally in order, here. And they normally take about 10 minutes to file for online.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
> But regardless of that, your damages would be limited to what you spent on the license. So definitely not worth your time. Class action perhaps? Or small claims at the other end?
hajile 6y ago
Don't forget all the time spent learning the beast that is CS3 only to have it stripped away. What is the value of the years it takes to become proficient with such software? Remember, that investment was made on the back of the idea that the software would continue to be usable.

twblalock 6y ago

You didn’t own it. You licensed it.

save_ferris 6y ago

I’m sure there’s a provision that protects them in the EULA you agreed to when you purchased it. Isn’t it a moot point anyway because nobody ever “buys” software, they just obtain a license to use it. Ownership is such a convoluted concept in tech, particularly in software.

Retric 6y ago
That’s somewhat sketchy with pre boxed software. Old Nintendo cartridges just worked and presumably had zero copyright issues. If you’re buying/using hardware with software preinstalled, at what point did you agreed to the EULA?
- peeters 6y ago
  I'm glad you qualified "old", because I tried to run some Switch games from the cartridge when I was at a cottage with no connectivity, and both games forbade me from playing without updating first.
  - StillBored 6y ago
    This is what kills me about the xbone, games come on disks, but immediately want to call home before allowing play. Game calls home, and realizes it needs a 8GB patch! Proceeds to download patch at 500Kb/sec on my 100's of Mbit/sec internet connection. Then despite probably "authenticating" itself to the xbone, won't actually run unless the disk is in the drive. (don't get me started on how bad the UI is, I really haven't any idea why gamers love those little machines so much, they are mostly just trash).
ImprobableTruth 6y ago
>Isn’t it a moot point anyway because nobody ever “buys” software, they just obtain a license to use it. Well, depends on the country. In Germany that's not a thing because contract law doesn't allow it. Either you buy software or you rent it.

DoreenMichele 6y ago

Laws change from place to place and time to time. It might be legal in one place but not another. It might be legal at one time but not another. The devil is in the details.

dylan604 6y ago

Why are they running physical servers for this anyways? Why not just host in the cloud right next to their current servers authenticating recent rental software?