Adobe CS2 For Free (including Photoshop) - Legal!

SuperKerem · Mar 21, 2015

PLEASE DON'T REPLY ABOUT LEGALITY/BUSINESS TACTICS/WHY COMPANIES ARE RIPPING YOU OFF/OH NO ADOBE/SOME OTHER BS, because NO-ONE CARES.

Hey guys, I just wanted to share something that might help a few of you!
Adobe has put up CS2 Master Collection (including photoshop) to download for free on their official website.
They had a problem with their activation servers so they shut them down and made CS2 free to download. If you scroll down you can also download Photoshop on its own.
It works on Windows and PowerPC Macs.
Simply go here (you need to create a free Adobe ID to access the links):

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?pid=4485850&e=cs2_downloads

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/01/grab-photoshop-and-cs2-for-absolutely-free-right-now/

Let me know if this helped!

Since newer versions of Photoshop and CS aren't supported on PPC anyway, and CS2 can do 99% of what the newer versions can, this might help some of you who want to be a bit creative! (CS3 was the last to be fully PPC compatible)

Dronecatcher · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
Hey guys, I just wanted to share something that might help a few of you!
Adobe has put up CS2 Master Collection (including photoshop) to download for free on their official website.
They had a problem with their activation servers so they shut them down and made CS2 free to download. If you scroll down you can also download Photoshop on its own.
It works on Windows and PowerPC Macs.
Simply go here (you need to create a free Adobe ID to access the links):

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?pid=4485850&e=cs2_downloads

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/01/grab-photoshop-and-cs2-for-absolutely-free-right-now/

Let me know if this helped!

Since newer versions of Photoshop and CS aren't supported on PPC anyway, and CS2 can do 99% of what the newer versions can, this might help some of you who want to be a bit creative! (CS3 was the last to be fully PPC compatible)

This is a great and generous move on Adobe's part - I wish other software companies thought like this instead of preaching upgrade/spend more...

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

No. I'm sorry, these are not free.

This has been discussed before about two years or so ago when they did this. You have to have purchased a CS2 product. The serials and downloads Adobe provided because the activation servers were taken off line for CS2.

With these downloads and serials you can install and continue to use a CS2 product that you've purchased without having to worry about activation.

But they are not free.

That said, I will say as I said the last time this came up, it's not as if Adobe is preventing anyone from downloading and using them. Although at some point they did require your Adobe ID to login and access them.

Again. Not free.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1521163/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729253/

jbarley · Mar 21, 2015

a couple of the earlier threads, and there are more...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1521163/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729253/

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

Let's use the official statement…

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2013/01/update-on-cs2-and-acrobat-7-activation-servers.html

Adobe has disabled the activation server for CS2 products, including Acrobat 7, because of a technical issue. These products were released more than seven years ago, do not run on many modern operating systems, and are no longer supported.

Adobe strongly advises against running unsupported and outdated software. The serial numbers provided as a part of the download may only be used by customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products.

weckart · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
CS3 was the last to be fully PPC compatible

My G5 came with CS4 installed.

bunnspecial · Mar 21, 2015

weckart said:
My G5 came with CS4 installed.

Correct-CS4 was the last universal version. It runs quite well on both my Quicksilver and on my G5.

I think that CS2 was the last fully PPC version. In fact, I recall a lot of photographers sticking with PPC hardware pretty adamantly at least until CS3 came out. I've never used CS2 under Rosetta, but as I understand it was so well optimized for G4 and G5 processors that the experience was not overly pleasant experience.

SuperKerem · Mar 21, 2015

eyoungren said:
No. I'm sorry, these are not free.

This has been discussed before about two years or so ago when they did this. You have to have purchased a CS2 product. The serials and downloads Adobe provided because the activation servers were taken off line for CS2.

With these downloads and serials you can install and continue to use a CS2 product that you've purchased without having to worry about activation.

But they are not free.

That said, I will say as I said the last time this came up, it's not as if Adobe is preventing anyone from downloading and using them. Although at some point they did require your Adobe ID to login and access them.

Again. Not free.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1521163/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729253/

You're right, technically they aren't free. But they are free to download, there is nothing stopping you and Adobe isn't going to sue you. Adobe stopped selling CS2 over half a decade ago. You don't need to start talking like Adobe is a charity and we must pay to download such old software, instead think about helping the people on this forum. If it's not technically free, who cares?

----------

eyoungren said:
Let's use the official statement…

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2013/01/update-on-cs2-and-acrobat-7-activation-servers.html

You don't need to post the same thing multiple times. WE GET IT. You aren't helping anyone, and you don't need to act like you're the CEO of Adobe. It's better to help people who might be interested in creative programs by giving them an option to download this, than make people pay $$$ for software almost a decade old.

----------

weckart said:
My G5 came with CS4 installed.

Only a few programs in CS4 were compatible with PPC, such as Photoshop and InDesign, however some programs like After Effects and Premiere Pro were Intel only in CS4.

bunnspecial · Mar 21, 2015

Piracy is still piracy.

I'm just glad that Adobe has made this possible...way back in 2006 I scraped together my money and bought CS2 with a student discount. Even with that, it was not a small chunk of change. I've misplaced the disks from my original purchase, so I'm just glad that Adobe has made it possible to keep using software that I did legally purchase.

SuperKerem · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
This is a great and generous move on Adobe's part - I wish other software companies thought like this instead of preaching upgrade/spend more...

I know, if I'm going to be honest, I think Adobe meant for random people to download it and get a taste of what Photoshop is like.

However, they couldn't just make it free for everyone and say that everyone can download it because if they did that the people who bought CS2 when it came out would be unhappy because Adobe is giving away the software they paid thousands of dollars for.

Therefore Adobe made it very easy to download with no verification, but simply said that its only for people who have purchased it before to avoid any trouble.

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
You're right, technically they aren't free. But they are free to download, there is nothing stopping you and it's not illegal. Adobe stopped selling CS2 over half a decade ago. You don't need to start talking like Adobe is a charity and we must pay to download such old software, instead think about helping the people on this forum. If it's not technically free, who cares?

Free to download yes. You just need to create an Adobe ID.

It's not illegal to download them, you are correct. It is illegal to use them without having ever purchased them to begin with.

And, yes, Adobe stopped selling CS2 over a half decade ago.

Did you read the statement I made about Adobe not preventing anyone from downloading the installers?

In pointing out the potential legal issue with using the software without having bought a license I am helping forum users - a point you neglected to mention in your OP and by suggesting that the software was free to use simply because the serial number was posted. I stand by my statements.

As to 'who cares'. Adobe's legal department cares. And the Macrumors moderating staff cares too. Oh sure, the chance that someone from Adobe legal is going to come after you over a decade old app is not likely. But ignorance is no defense. As to the mods, you will notice that in the original post on this they removed the links. So, the mods here DO care.

SuperKerem · Mar 21, 2015

eyoungren said:
Free to download yes. You just need to create an Adobe ID.

It's not illegal to download them, you are correct. It is illegal to use them without having ever purchased them to begin with.

And, yes, Adobe stopped selling CS2 over a half decade ago.

Did you read the statement I made about Adobe not preventing anyone from downloading the installers?

In pointing out the potential legal issue with using the software without having bought a license I am helping forum users - a point you neglected to mention in your OP and by suggesting that the software was free to use simply because the serial number was posted. I stand by my statements.

As to 'who cares'. Adobe's legal department cares. And the Macrumors moderating staff cares too. Oh sure, the chance that someone from Adobe legal is going to come after you over a decade old app is not likely. But ignorance is no defense. As to the mods, you will notice that in the original post on this they removed the links. So, the mods here DO care.

So who are you helping by saying all this? Don't tell you're helping the 'forum users', you're just looking for an argument.

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
You don't need to post the same thing multiple times. WE GET IT. You aren't helping anyone, and you don't need to act like you're the CEO of Adobe. It's better to help people who might be interested in creative programs by giving them an option to download this, than make people pay $$$ for software almost a decade old.

I guess it depends on what kind of person you are if I am helping you or not.

bunnspecial · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
However, they couldn't just make it free for everyone and say that everyone can download it because if they did that the people who bought CS2 when it came out would be unhappy because Adobe is giving away the software they paid thousands of dollars for.

Therefore Adobe made it very easy to download with no verification, but simply said that its only for people who have purchased it before to avoid any trouble.

Corel did just exactly that with Word Perfect Mac 3.5E. They essentially said that they were not going to develop WP Mac any further, and released it as a free and unlimited download...i.e. there are no stipulations that you need to have ever purchased WP.

That is not the case with CS2. The chances of Adobe's legal team tracking you down are slim, but none the less installing it without ever having legally owned it is illegal. Truth be told, unless I could lay my hands on my installer disks, I'd have a heck of a time proving that I ever legitimately purchased it(even though I did), but I've still downloaded and installed it without reservation.

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
So who are you helping by saying all this?

Those in this forum who do not want to find out that they downloaded an app at the suggestion of another, installed it, used it and then found out that because they never originally bought it they are illegally using software they did not pay for.

There are many users on this forum who believe in legally owning the software they use.

You interpret my observation as more than what it is. I am simply giving the facts as Adobe will see them.

What you or others (or I for that matter) do is entirely up to that person.

----------

bunnspecial said:
Corel did just exactly that with Word Perfect Mac 3.5E. They essentially said that they were not going to develop WP Mac any further, and released it as a free and unlimited download...i.e. there are no stipulations that you need to have ever purchased WP.

That is not the case with CS2. The chances of Adobe's legal team tracking you down are slim, but none the less installing it without ever having legally owned it is illegal. Truth be told, unless I could lay my hands on my installer disks, I'd have a heck of a time proving that I ever legitimately purchased it(even though I did), but I've still downloaded and installed it without reservation.

Apple did something similar.

System 7.5.3 and below is in the public domain. You don't have to buy it, you can freely download it from Apple and install and use it.

System 7.5.5 and above is an entirely different matter. Apple still retains the copyright.

Again, I am not advocating one way or the other what anyone does in this case and as has been noted several times now the likelihood of Adobe pursuing you is very remote. But you should know all the facts up front to make your decision.

Dronecatcher · Mar 21, 2015

It would be inspiring though if publishers did release older versions for abandoned hardware - it would be a show of genuine goodwill and promote the company's reputation.
However, I realise that is naive - virtually all business now revolves around sheer bloody greed and the customer is just a marker to be exploited for every penny they will give.

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
It would be inspiring though if publishers did release older versions for abandoned hardware - it would be a show of genuine goodwill and promote the company's reputation.
However, I realise that is naive - virtually all business now revolves around sheer bloody greed and the customer is just a marker to be exploited for every penny they will give.

Absolutely agree with this!

Even the EULA (End User License Agreement) nowadays is written in such a way as to show that you do not actually OWN what you paid for! You are merely paying for the right to use the product, but the company still can determine on what and how!

It's a monopoly for the companies involved and the customer gets reamed.

bunnspecial · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
It would be inspiring though if publishers did release older versions for abandoned hardware - it would be a show of genuine goodwill and promote the company's reputation.
However, I realise that is naive - virtually all business now revolves around sheer bloody greed and the customer is just a marker to be exploited for every penny they will give.

As I understand it with more recent versions of the Mac OS than 7.5.5, the issue is some bundled software that Apple would have to secure licenses for to be able to release them.

Of course, they have indirectly released 9.2.2 as a free download.

A.Goldberg · Mar 21, 2015

keremtezcan said:
I know, if I'm going to be honest, I think Adobe meant for random people to download it and get a taste of what Photoshop is like.

However, they couldn't just make it free for everyone and say that everyone can download it because if they did that the people who bought CS2 when it came out would be unhappy because Adobe is giving away the software they paid thousands of dollars for.

Therefore Adobe made it very easy to download with no verification, but simply said that its only for people who have purchased it before to avoid any trouble.

If you're being honest, I'll honest here. I think you're delusional in rationalizing the illegal use of a program. I'm tired of the population here that attempts to convince themselves and others that their is some ethical justification of illegally acquiring intellectual property.

The concept of abandonware is not legal unless the rightful owner states it's free for the taking. Is Adobe's legal team highly concerned about this breach? Probably not. Will you get caught? Probably not. They did what they did because PPC users are virtually nonexistent and it makes for not having to waste their time and energy finding a way to verify old purchases. So let's just call this what it is- it's Piracy. Accept it, let it soak in. Let's not pretend it's anything else.

If I left a box on my front step and left a note saying that BunnSpecial can have it, that does not mean you can walk by and take the box for yourself? It would be careless for me to leave something of value on my front step with people walking by, but just because it's there does not mean you can take it. Right?

Personally, I don't care what you do. It doesn't concern me. I just find it interesting how some people cannot be honest with themselves and admit that their actions, as inconsequential as they may seem, are unprincipled.

In regards to your ulterior motive theory about Adobe attempting to have people 'get a taste' of Photoshop without irking prior customers from decade ago, you do realize that Adobe offers free 30-day trial of nearly every single program they make on their website. You won't need a 10 year old mac to run it either.

http://www.adobe.com/downloads.html
(Be sure to hit "View all available free trials" towards the bottom of the page)

redheeler · Mar 21, 2015

A.Goldberg said:
If I left a box on my front step and left a note saying that BunnSpecial can have it, that does not mean you can walk by and take the box for yourself? It would be careless for me to leave something of value on my front step with people walking by, but just because it's there does not mean you can take it. Right?

This is a very bad analogy. It is an entirely difference concept if I were to make a copy of it, take the copy, and leave the original behind for the intended person.

Although I do get the point you're trying to make here, which does raise the question of why they haven't put in extra measures to prevent anyone from downloading. Perhaps they don't even care enough to do so, as they aren't going to make any more money off the ancient software or lose any money by letting anyone download it. It won't run on newer Macs, and users of older Macs are no longer being marketed to by the current versions still sold.

weckart · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
It would be inspiring though if publishers did release older versions for abandoned hardware - it would be a show of genuine goodwill and promote the company's reputation.
However, I realise that is naive - virtually all business now revolves around sheer bloody greed and the customer is just a marker to be exploited for every penny they will give.

Not necessarily. A lot of software includes licensed and cross-licensed code, which precludes releasing it for free or open sourcing it. In order to do either, the company would have to spend time sorting through the source code to remove said licensed code and incur legal fees to satisfy the licensor that any such licensed code had been removed. Whilst company employees might be inclined or at least not averse to donating old code, the costs incurred would have to be accounted for and approved by shareholders. Not going to happen. Companies have duties and priorities. Nothing greedy or wrong in that.

eyoungren said:
Absolutely agree with this!

Even the EULA (End User License Agreement) nowadays is written in such a way as to show that you do not actually OWN what you paid for! You are merely paying for the right to use the product, but the company still can determine on what and how!

It's a monopoly for the companies involved and the customer gets reamed.

Just playing devil's advocate, here.

This is no different from music, films etc. Anything distributed on recorded media. If you OWN what is on the recorded media, then how can anyone else OWN it? Licensing is the only logical way creators can make money out of whatever they create without losing title. The actual owner is the copyright holder.

If the copyright owner does not control how the recorded content is used then he loses copyright. It is as simple as that. Take for instance recorded film on DVD. That is licensed for personal viewing at home and priced accordingly. Extend your wish to do what you like with what you 'own' and what is stopping you holding public viewings for an entrance fee like a cinema at a small fraction of the cost cinema owners have to pay?

eyoungren · Mar 21, 2015

weckart said:
Just playing devil's advocate, here.

This is no different from music, films etc. Anything distributed on recorded media. If you OWN what is on the recorded media, then how can anyone else OWN it? Licensing is the only logical way creators can make money out of whatever they create without losing title. The actual owner is the copyright holder.

If the copyright owner does not control how the recorded content is used then he loses copyright. It is as simple as that. Take for instance recorded film on DVD. That is licensed for personal viewing at home and priced accordingly. Extend your wish to do what you like with what you 'own' and what is stopping you holding public viewings for an entrance fee like a cinema at a small fraction of the cost cinema owners have to pay?

I get you. That's the opposite extreme though. It needs to be somewhere in the middle.

Since we are talking media, I'll use images for my thoughts here. There exists a license structure that allows the creator of images to designate what is allowed with their images. For instance, "Commercial use with modification" allows anyone to take an image, modify it in whatever manner and then make a profit on that modified image in whatever manner they choose. But the creator of the image still retains his rights to the original image.

There are variations on the theme. Commercial use without modification (you can make a profit on it, but you cannot modify the image). 'Public use, but the author must be credited,' and so on.

This is the General Public License structure and it's what governs a lot of stock art sites, deviantart, Wikipedia, etc. In all cases, the original creator retains their rights to the image.

Likewise, the EULA for software could be far less restrictive then it has been in the past. And it's possible. Quark Inc., used to be known for their draconian software policy. One license per computer and you had to buy it for either Windows or Mac. A few years ago they decided to relax the EULA. Now it doesn't matter what machine you use XPress on and you can use it on more than one machine - just not concurrently.

I'm not advocating that creators surrender all rights at point of purchase, I'm just saying that there needs to be some reasonable allowance. Creators should not be allowed to be dictators as to what can be done with their purchased content, but buyers should also not be allowed to trample the creator's rights to recover their costs and make a legitimate profit on their work.

It's a balance and right now it's too far over in favor of the creators of content.

Dronecatcher · Mar 21, 2015

weckart said:
Not necessarily. A lot of software includes licensed and cross-licensed code, which precludes releasing it for free or open sourcing it. In order to do either, the company would have to spend time sorting through the source code to remove said licensed code and incur legal fees to satisfy the licensor that any such licensed code had been removed. Whilst company employees might be inclined or at least not averse to donating old code, the costs incurred would have to be accounted for and approved by shareholders. Not going to happen. Companies have duties and priorities. Nothing greedy or wrong in that.

But that's my exact point - they won't do it because there's a cost involvement for which there will be no financial return or profit other than goodwill.
Like spreading goodwill is a bad thing??

SuperKerem · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
But that's my exact point - they won't do it because there's a cost involvement for which there will be no financial return or profit other than goodwill.
Like spreading goodwill is a bad thing??

Exactly

weckart · Mar 21, 2015

Dronecatcher said:
But that's my exact point - they won't do it because there's a cost involvement for which there will be no financial return or profit other than goodwill.
Like spreading goodwill is a bad thing??

I think you are assuming that the time and cost involved is trivial? And all for spreading goodwill to a relatively small number of geeks who care about old, abandoned software?

I know this song. People have been singing it about OS/2 for years. There is no economic case for it at all. Small commercial OS/2 applications have been released as-is as freeware but the OS itself is full of MS code and having burnt through a shedload of $$$$ trying to break through the MS monopoly IBM is loath to spend a penny more on making a dwindling number of enthusiasts happy.

Goodwill is nice karma but somebody has to pay for it. Businesses are not charities. It really is not realistic to think of them as such.

----------

eyoungren said:
I get you. That's the opposite extreme though. It needs to be somewhere in the middle...

It's a balance and right now it's too far over in favor of the creators of content.

It is a bit simpler than that. It is a market and content creators will do whatever possible to maximise income subject to what the market will bear. What happened to QuarkXpress was that the market suddenly shifted and it had to alter its licensing accordingly. Ditto Nokia, Blackberry and, belatedly, Microsoft, too.

Vote with your wallets. Money talks.

Adobe CS2 For Free (including Photoshop) - Legal!

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