[Edvinas]

no such thing... "uncrackable" software is just either not in high demand or useless w/o a great deal of support (think ERP applications like SAP)...

Adobe products are extremely cracking friendly: cracker needs to find out registration key validation algorithm and that's it. Then he writes key generator. Done.

For example Lightroom - keygen generates as many key as you want, generated keys are valid for both Windows and Mac versions. Key validation algorithm isn't changed from version to version. No need to hack dll's, which are connecting to internet and checking key validity. No complex protection systems like Armadillo or ASProtect. No need to simulate hardware dongles.

As far as I remember, the same story is with Photoshop. Most of less expensive software has much better protection than Adobe stuff.

And you know, I think those comments that Adome may benefit from pirating make sense. All those high school kids learn Adobe products by using pirated versions. Guess, what design software they will require their future employee to buy when they will be employed?

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Last edited by Edvinas; 07-20-2009 at 05:37 PM.

[X Man]

Adobe products are extremely cracking friendly...

Perhaps, and the "free" advertising may very well be worth it compared to being heavy handed and perhaps getting into a Sony-like mess with DRM that amounts to a root-kit.

One little problem with all of this though, aside from the moral one. Crackers may be able to easily crack Adobe software but, along with cracking a lot of the time comes hacking. Often, viiri or trojans are included in the various ISOs of pirated software titles out there, not just Adobe ones either.

Sometimes free can be very costly.

Regards,
Mike

[Edvinas]

One little problem with all of this though, aside from the moral one. Crackers may be able to easily crack Adobe software but, along with cracking a lot of the time comes hacking. Often, viiri or trojans are included in the various ISOs of pirated software titles out there, not just Adobe ones either.

Very true. And, to be honest, that was the main reason why I stopped using pirated software.

[MJB DIGITAL]

My IT guy salvaged a computer from his job that had cs3 master collection on it. he gave it to me saying i needed it more than him. he was right....

a studio i was shooting for bought some copies of light room and a license to use it on 4 computers. they directed me to bring it home and install it.

I haven't paid for any of it, the stuff has been falling into my hands.

I think god is telling me i should be a photographer eh?

[panoguy]

When I was in college, I and almost every student in my class would pirate. Now that I make my living from graphics work, I use legal registered versions of CS3 design premium, Softimage, and 3DS Max among others. If you think Photoshop is expensive, I just dropped $4000.00 on 3DS Max just so my files would be compatible with the company I'm doing a 2 month contract for.

I, and my coworkers at Autodesk thank you. (I work in the Toronto office that makes Maya, though... heehee 3DS Max! )

Perhaps, and the "free" advertising may very well be worth it compared to being heavy handed and perhaps getting into a Sony-like mess with DRM that amounts to a root-kit.

This is a great, and illuminating thread for me. When I lost my job at a big retouching studio and struck out on my own, I couldn't afford Photoshop *and* the hardware to run it well. I pirated v. 6 and after a few small jobs bought v. 7 (rather hard to pirate hardware). Like some others, I've been a NAPP member and beta tester for Adobe, so I get my upgrades at a significant discount.

However, today I work for a giant competitor to Adobe (see above), and one which produces the second-most pirated software in the world (after the Windows OS): AutoCAD. We know about 1/3rd of our userbase are "illegal" but we have market dominance and can afford it - especially in developing nations and at schools. Students will be professionals someday, and professionals will get bigger contracts, so we should keep adding value to our software to make it attractive to buy. The big thing a pirated copy loses out on is support, and our 3D software really needs support!

So yeah, I pirated Adobe software in the past, made money with it, then "went legit." Not surprisingly, my employer makes a *huge deal* about preventing any illegal or "shared licenses" of any software on company machines. That could be both expensive and embarrassing for us, so we even get stipends to buy home copies of work software (like Office, Windows, CS4, even the MacOS upgrades). Nor do we "support pirates" by making things easier to pirate - we just have better things to do than chasing that phantom.

<soapbox>
The people that really get hurt by software piracy are the small developers and shareware people. Many think that pirating a $15 shareware app is "no big loss" but that they should pay for the $4000 one since that is somehow "more illegal" to steal. That really hurts the software business model that the smaller companies survive on and leaves only the giant companies (with little innovation, sigh, like my employer) to keep going.

Because I know some of the folks at Adobe, I personally feel compelled to not pirate their stuff for my home use (and I point them to their co's discount coupon when they want to get a copy of our software for home). When I find a nice plugin or app from a small company for my work, I always pay the price out of pocket (or expense it at work) and contact the developer to say "nice stuff - thanks!" What goes around, comes around, and I don't want to lose my job or lose an opportunity to connect with smart people who help me.

It is because of this "pirate the big stuff if you must, but always pay for the small stuff and thank them" that some of you might even have a particular icon on your desktop. I helped the Photomatix developer out years ago, and she asked me to design the new (higher-res) icon for the app that they still use today. And Photomatix is very popular, and (sadly) widely pirated. Please, don't tell me if you pirate that app... but help Geraldine out when you get the cash to pay for it! Oh, and donate to open source projects with cash, your time and talents, or at least some words of encouragement.
</soapbox>

[lithos]

Best analogy I have ever read on the topic!!

That's write. Because once Porsche makes a new car, it's just a simple matter of sliding it into a special automobile cloning machine which cranks out a replica for only five Eurocents! And Photoshop's a luxury good, just like a Porsche!

When I was studying multimedia (ah, my abortive university years!) Adobe and (I think, didn't do 3D) whoever makes 3D Studio Max, offered students discounts (that the college had to negotiate for 'em, it took a while.)

I don't remember the exact prices, but the discount on Photoshop - not the Suite - brought the price down from about $1200 to...drum roll, please...

$500!

Suddenly, every student there could easily afford the software whilst still having enough cash from Centrelink or that 20-hour-a-week kitchenhand job to buy food, pay rent, pay bus fares, and go out every weekend (because no company wants its product to be used by, or cause people to turn into, lonely shut-ins. Even if they're making web-design or 3D animation software.)

Later that week, Osama bin Laden turned himself into the coalition forces in Afghanistan, only three hours after ordering Al Qaeda to disband. Than Shwe was toppled from power in Burma. The World Bank wiped all outstanding third-world debts, kittens and puppies rained from the sky. Moses and Muhammed descended into Jerusalem, holding hands, and told the Israelis and the Palestinians to knock it off. Rove McManus was torn to death by a vicious box of blue swimmer crabs at a Melbourne fish market, and Angelina Jolie sent Lithos a first class plane ticket to LA, where she invited him to her home and begged him to root her until she walked funny. Angelina then gave Lithos permission to sell the photos of the affair to tabloids, which he did, netting himself fifty thousand per frame (would've gotten more if she didn't insist on continuing after we broke the lid on the washing machine.)

No, really. It happened. Didn't anyone watch the news that week?

[Alfisti]

Adobe either encourage piracy or have an odd business model, it must be one or the other. The pricing and particularly the rather brutal compulsory upgrade (think ACR on CS4) paths that gouge buyers suggests Adobe is really only concerned with business buyers.

In any case, you can buy old versions of PS Elements for like $20 which is more than enough for most users.

[creampuff]

Here in Singapore, software piracy has been dramatically reduced in part because of very strict enforcement and penalties, particularly for businesses and because of bulk discounting. Every student who has a student card, from primary to tertiary level can buy Adobe CS4 very cheaply. CS4 Web Premium Student Edition is only US$70. So there is no need for pirated versions because attractive pricing is a strong incentive to go honest.

[Entropy]

Mine is pirated. I can justify it by saying that I only use it for recreational use. If I was a pro I would buy it.

In my case, I use it for recreational use maybe 2-3 times a year.

Digitkam and GIMP does the job 99% of the time for me. Actually, GIMP now has the healing brush too so I don't even have PS installed on any of my machines currently... It was the ONLY reason I used PS instead of GIMP. I think I last used it a year ago.

[Wildnsyko]

I waited till PSE7 got down to a decent price before buying. I paid $68 plus my 10% discount, so it wasn't too bad.

[lpfonseca]

Now this is a nice poll.
I used to have pirated software when going thought university (PS included) but now is just legit software.
The Win Vista came with the laptop and the rest is freeware or open source only.
So just rawtherapee and gimp for me.
Regards,
Luis

[lpfonseca]

Adobe products are extremely cracking friendly:

I think that is just part of their policy. It worked great with Microsoft.

Almost everybody had a pirate copy of windows, then a pirate copy of office.

Now we all use legal copies of windows and office at work.

Everyone as heard of PS but very few know off GIMP, PSE, PSP, and so on.

If someone gets used to a program will eventually buy it when they can afford it.

If one can't afford PS and uses a pirate copy, he won't buy from the competition either so Adobe wins in the end.

[reeftool]

I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Elements 6 to see if I liked the program and see if it would work on my aging system. I ended up buying it at Staples for $49 dollars on sale which was less than my daughter could have got it at college with her student discount. I liked the program better than GIMP. Elements does what I need so I'm happy with it.

[Mindflux]

I use Aperture 2, which I paid for. Other than that I might use "The Gimp" (photoshop alternative for free)

[quantum]

I got a paid version thanks to my job, but if I didn't I would use a pirated version and put away 2$ each photo I process with it until I'd get enough money to buy it. Really .