Educational / academic software pricing and question.

[supersize]

Does any one know if there is a difference between the retail versions of most software and the academic versions. In particular I'm looking at the Adobe CS suite and the Apple Production suite. My sister is a teacher and can get the Edu discount for these products and it looks like a great deal. The other question is what are the legal issues if i would use these programs for a freelance job? I do mostly Photo retouching and page layout work. I've also been getting into doing some weddings and also video conversions from VHS (and super 8... ugh) to DVD. Do any of these programs put the "for educational use only" stamp on the final products? And is there an issue with making money (very little) from using these programs. I am going to end up buying both of these packages eventually but I'm hoping to save a bundle of money.

Thanks.
Jason

 

[Blue Velvet]

• The educational versions are identical to their 'normal' cousins.
• Their outputted files are identical and un-watermarked.
• However, on the splash screen of e.g. Pshop, it says 'educational version'
• It's highly probable that edu upgrades will not upgrade 'full' versions or vice versa.
• Legally, you may be on flimsy ground but I think Adobe has bigger fish to fry.
• Be warned that newer releases from Adobe may contain product activation features that will restrict the applications use on more than 1 or 2 computers.

We purchased 4 copies of Adobe CS edu, a few months ago. I'm a designer for a UK-based charity that does a lot publishing and registered charities are also eligible under this scheme...

 

[mrgreen4242]

Also, legally speaking, most edu licenses are not eligible for transfer to another party. Meaning your sister couldn't buy them with her discount and they give it to you. I agree that Adobe probably has bigger fish to fry.

Also, I'm not 100% on this, but I am pretty sure that academic licenses are not supposed to be used on for profit endevors(sp?), only for training and educational use...
Rob

 

[Kmacripple]

I had my brother get Adobe CS for me while he was in college so I could get the edu price. It was the full version, just like the full priced one. You are probably not supposed to use it to make money, but if you do a little work with it at home like I do you should be fine.

 

[Bear]

Also, legally speaking, most edu licenses are not eligible for transfer to another party. Meaning your sister couldn't buy them with her discount and they give it to you. I agree that Adobe probably has bigger fish to fry.

That is usually correct. It's for the person who is at the school.

Also, I'm not 100% on this, but I am pretty sure that academic licenses are not supposed to be used on for profit endevors(sp?), only for training and educational use...
Rob

That is normally the case. Some companies don't care about this issue. And some let you upgrade from an older version with an Academic license to a new regular version - a kot of times at just the upgrade cost.