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leez

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
173
6
UK
As Dov Isaacs wrote on Adobe forums (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974662#4974662):

On behalf of Adobe Systems Incorporated ...

You have heard wrong! Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2!

What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don't require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download.) See <http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930>.

You are only legally entitled to download and install with that serial number if you have a valid license to the product!

- Dov

Link to official Adobe post about problems activating CS2: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1114930
Link to support page describing the issue and with links to CS2 software: http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/creative-suite-2-activation-end-life.html

-----------------------------------

As in the title. Download here:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=cs2_downloads

I know it's old, but what a move by Adobe !
 
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GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
I saw that on twitter this morning and thought that it was nice and all but aren't they on CS6 now? It is a good move, but why not offer something like CS4? Either way, free is free and that is something I don't see Adobe do.
 

leez

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
173
6
UK
I saw that on twitter this morning and thought that it was nice and all but aren't they on CS6 now? It is a good move, but why not offer something like CS4? Either way, free is free and that is something I don't see Adobe do.

Yes, I'm on CS6 as well and as I said, CS2 is old (not sure if it will work on Mountain Lion).

But look at it as fighting with piracy, giving an alternative, pro alternative to GIMP etc., preparing young people to use it at work in the future (so they will recommend it and learn it) and finally to let people try it before buying Creative Cloud - which I think will be the future road for Adobe - let's wait till they announce the profit on it after first year of launch. As far as I can remember they never released any of their Suites for free.
 
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fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
83
Austin, TX
I saw that on twitter this morning and thought that it was nice and all but aren't they on CS6 now? It is a good move, but why not offer something like CS4? Either way, free is free and that is something I don't see Adobe do.

CS2 isn't really that different from CS6. Most people could be using CS/CS2 and be just fine.

I've got CS3 running on Lion on my iMac at home and that works great, I'd think CS2 would work but I guess we'll see.
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,460
6,935
CS2 isn't really that different from CS6. Most people could be using CS/CS2 and be just fine.

I've got CS3 running on Lion on my iMac at home and that works great, I'd think CS2 would work but I guess we'll see.

CS2 will not work, as it's only compatible with PowerPC processors, and wasn't generally compatible with 10.6.x and can't run at all in 10.7 or later.
 

fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
83
Austin, TX
CS2 will not work, as it's only compatible with PowerPC processors, and wasn't generally compatible with 10.6.x and can't run at all in 10.7 or later.

Good to know, thanks. Might be worth running bootcamp for to run it in an older version of Windows for some folks.
 

CrickettGrrrl

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2012
985
274
B'more or Less
I'm still using CS2 and it works in Snow Leopard and it's quite usable, definitely not able to run it in Lion or Mountain Lion though. --Also, the site is down. Too bad Adobe didn't offer CS3, oh well...:)
 

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
Smart move by Adobe. Offer something for people on old hardware to get them hooked on Adobe products, knowing that the hardware will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. And that if the user wants to continue using CS they then have to buy a new version. Good marketing move.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,873
New Zealand
Does this include Fireworks? I know that CS3 did but I'm finding conflicting information about whether CS2 included Fireworks or not.
 

hvfsl

macrumors 68000
Jul 9, 2001
1,867
185
London, UK
"You can’t open the application “Adobe Installer” because PowerPC applications are no longer supported."
Running Mountain Lion - is there anything I can do or have I just spent the last hour putting 2.64gb on my laptop for no bloody reason?
You could always run 10.6 in a Virtual Machine.
 

And1ss

macrumors 6502a
Oct 20, 2009
542
2
Looks like adobe decided that it was giving out too many free copies...
 

CrickettGrrrl

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2012
985
274
B'more or Less
Here's a link to an Ars Technica article about Adobe releasing CS2 (and yes, it IS available with a wink & a nod to all):

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/adobe-almost-does-something-amazing-by-accident/

Peter Bright examines the ambiguity...

FWIW, it does run faster on my 2011 iMac in Snow Leopard using Rosetta & 16GB RAM than it does on my G5 PPC iMac. Some things are greyed out in Illustrator but I recently used 3D in Illustrator (first time) & was blown away that it actually worked.

It's worth downloading & running if you have SL or a VM, or an older Mac.
 

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,834
3,508
Alternatively, install Wine or CrossOver and run the Windows version in an XP bottle. Might be slightly quicker than a VM.
 

macstatic

macrumors 68000
Oct 21, 2005
1,997
162
Norway
Sounds good, thanks :)
So what's the final verdict on it being available for everybody or just those who have previously purchased CS2? There seems to be a lot of confusion and speculation on what the facts are.

Adobe hasn't even bothered posting a note about it on their download page.
 
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