CS3 Activation Limits
By now everyone’s familiar with software activation so I’m not going to go into the explanations for it. While each company has its own system they all do pretty much the same thing. They control how many computers on which you can run the software. Notice I that I said run, not install.
With Adobe’s activation system, the user is permitted two activations in order to allow the use of work machine and home machine or even a laptop. It’s important note that this is with the provision that both machines are used by the same user and never at the same time. One of the major concerns users had was the legitimate use of more than two machines. To accommodate users in that catagory when CS2 was released, it contained a transfer activation feature. A few clicks and the software was deactivated on one machine and this allowed for activation on another.
This was a boon to anyone with two offices and a laptop. That person could install the software on all three machines and simply deactivate one of the office machine and activate the laptop. With this system Adobe hoped to control “casual piracy” and still allow honest users to easily move their activations between machines while still stopping multi seat users from buying one license and installing it on multiple machines.
It’s recently come to light though various topics in the User to User forums that the CS3 activation system, while still allowing for deactivation, has a hard limit of 20 activation/deactivation cycles. The fact that it’s taken a year to be exposed tells me that there’s not all that many people testing the limit of the system, but it’s still important for users to be aware that it exists. The last thing you want to do is deactivate your office machine and find out that you’ve hit that limit when you get to a client’s office when trying to activate your laptop.
Should you get bitten by this you can call Adobe and get 5 more activations but that’s not always practical. So, if you’re among those juggling more than two machines with one license please keep careful tabs on that count.
It’s mind-boggling to me that Adobe is still sticking with its draconian activation system. Not only is a royal pain for legitimate, paying customers in many situations, from what I’ve observed in the real world, it’s completely ineffective. Case in point. I teach a photoshop class and had a student seek advice about how to move all the related photoshop brushes, plug-ins, etc. over to a new machine. After giving my $.02 on what folders to copy, and so forth I reminded him about the deactivation/reactivation process to which he replied “Don’t worry bro, don’t need to activate, got a crack”. I was sort of stunned that he would so brazenly admit to being a pirate, but also that he wasn’t deterred or shamed in any way. I then asked my students, in an anonymous fashion, how many have legitimate copies (about 50%) and why they saw fit to steal the software. The answers varied in their exact words, but they were basically all the same in saying that for their limited uses, and for the purposes of learning either they thought it was too expensive or they just couldn’t afford it. None found it difficult to get whatever pirated copies they had. Just one sample, but this activation system business clearly seemed useless.
This got me thinking about what other vendors do. Autodesk, with Maya for example, provides a completely free learning edition that has full functionality but limits the resolution of renders as well as adding a watermark. Maybe Adobe should consider this. It has been suggested by some that “casual piracy”, as Bob put it, actually helps Adobe. Increasing the adoption and skill pool for their software- That many serious users migrate up to companies or situations where legit software is bought. I don’t know. But I do know that for a company to tell you how many times a legitimate user can use or move something they bought, that seems like a reason for even more people to do the wrong thing.
-Bob August
I was already bitten and Adobe gave me a few more. I can sort of understand Adobe’s reason for doing this but they could at least add a count down indicator on the activation panel to let you know how many you have left.
Even without activation those students would be stealing it. Next time you hear someone use the same type of logic ask them if it would be okay to steal a car to learn how to drive because they couldn’t afford to buy one.
Unfortunately, software pirates see this as a victimless crime and it’s the legitimate customer that suffers because of it.
I didn’t post this info to get into a piracy debate, though. I posted it to makes folks aware of the limitations as they exist in CS3.
In general, I’ve been surprised at how easy the activation/deactivation process has been with InDesign (and the CS). But I do wish Adobe would allow unlimited deactivations/activations. The limit makes no sense to me. After all, Adobe can track activation trends for each serial number, so if they suddenly see suspicious activity, they could contact the owner, much like a credit card company handles potential credit card fraud.
The one activation feature I really wish Adobe would implement, however, is a little utility that deactivates without having to launch any of the programs. For example, someone might accidentally delete the Suite without first deactivating it (I speak from first hand experience here). It would be so nice to be able to just run a script or utility to deactivate at that point.
Apple with iTunes lets you authorise upto 5 machines to playback music on and then deauthorise them all on their website. I know this keeps in mind that that people have an internet connection but the facility is out there in some fashion.
As for students I think that collegues and universities could try harder to help their students get legitimate copies of software like being able to buy copies on easily campus and maybe at a subsidied (by the institution) rate.
Adobe I think are going the right way by offering free/lite versions of their products to those people that want to do a bit of editing but not full blown commerical applications.
InDesign Elements anyone?
When I see how many designers use cracked versions of CS3 found on the Internet… I just wonder why Adobe bothers people who paid the licence and then have to justify themselves when they need to reinstall a licence after a complete crash of the PC or because the PC has been stolen.
I love the way Maya’s authorization is done: a hardware dongle. Just install the software where-ever you wish, but unless the USB dongle is in the computer and the matching license info has been inputted, the software won’t even launch.
I’ve had a lot of folks ask me for my copies of (parts of) the Creative Suite 2 and now 3, both for home and professional use. I won’t lend anyone my discs, as there are plenty of alternatives for home users, and people who make money using the software really shouldn’t even think about pirating.
The main problem I have with Adobe’s (seeming) lack of action against piracy is that there are now thousands of folks who own a pirated copy of Photoshop (even CS3) and therefore believe they’re good at it. It costs people like myself a lot of money as I can’t charge what I used to because people believe they can do everything themselves.
Yes, I do a better job, but saving a few Euros is more important than having something look professional…
I agree that there has to be a better way but that better way is not a hardware dongle.
No way in the world that’s going to fly with the user community.
Hardware dongle would be suicide for Adobe. Not only would their costs for dealing with the customer support nightmares of that skyrocket, companies like mine who have site licenses for the CS would drop it almost instantly. We used to use Maya for somethings but have moved to C4D and Modo because they have reasonable and easy to administer registration solutions.
I have to say that I am blown away by this. How dare Adobe tell me I can’t de-active and re-activate my software more than 20 times. You know… when I purchased my copy of CS3 Design Premium I had the opportunity to use a stolen copy that was fully activated. The activation scheme was totally cracked and as far as I know the software is still working today cracked and stolen. I chose to purchase the software even though it was much more expensive than I could really afford. I wanted to be honest and more than that I wanted to support the company that makes the software. When CS4 is released I don’t know that I will make the same choice. And for the record it’s ridiculous of Adobe to think for a minute that the activation scheme has slowed down piracy of the software in the least. When CS4 is released the activation or whatever methods they employ will be cracked within days of the release. That is FACT.
I ask… How can Adobe think this is a good business decision? It’s like a slap in the face to the honest people who try to give Adobe our money and do the right thing. Maybe they are trying to push us to the point that we steal the software instead. Sure seems like it.
I need to create a new user account to enable a colleague to use my mac without messing up all my settings. For some reason though Indesign will not launch on that other user account – whereas all other CS apps will. Anyone steer me towards a workaround?
The activation swap limit is absolutely silly, for all the reasons mentioned above. I am sure the piracy has a workaround for the activation scheme - I believe site license cracks, which don’t require activation, is the way it’s done.
I have never had a need to do this, save for during a machine upgrade, but it seems that those that would need to do this would need to do so more than 20 times.
Since the only way to activate a new machine is to deactivate another, I can’t see how this is in any means a piracy prevention method.
It amazes me how many “professionals” got where they are by not so legal methods and then get all arrogant about their greatness. They are the same people who refuse to help others and are the toughest to work within a work team. If all those folks actually paid for their licenses, perhaps Adobe could charge less for their products.
I got to your blog via a thread on the adobe forum. I agree, the activation / deactivation thing is both a pain and a necessary evil. What I don’t hear about is suggestions for Adobe of another alternative. Any ideas? They won’t change until they get a better way of trying to combat the pirates.
Therein lies the problem. Everyone hates activation but nobody has much of an alternative besides simply opening everything back up like it used to be.
That’s just not going to happen.
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Adobe is a monopoly and is abusing their control over the market to drive up prices. Their licensing program is ridiculous. I had my old laptop broken, and now i cant install cs3 on new laptop because it is still activated on old one. So i need to dish out another 18 hundered just to buy software i already bought! Also, people pirate and use ways to get around the license and activation systems because the rates are insane!
Two points here Tom.
If you were denied activation you should have been given a phone number to call. Use it and explain the situation. There should be no problem getting your activation counter reset.
Secondly, people pirate software because they’re thieves and wouldn’t pay for it if cost $18.00 instead of $1,800.00.
Bob, I disagree completely. If the software was $18.00 I would pay for it. Thats not a difficult decision to make, $1,800.00 is another story.
“Therein lies the problem. Everyone hates activation but nobody has much of an alternative besides simply opening everything back up like it used to be.
That’s just not going to happen.”
Things are exactly “like it used to be” for pirates. The only ones it’s different for is paying customers. What a dumb idea.
I found this site searching for activation tips. I paid $2000 for CS3 - upgrade, at that. I use it professionally, so no hesitation, but I do like to work at home, as well.
This one activation w/20 limit is absolutely absurd. At least Macromedia had the decency to allow two activations, thus allowing a second work machine (ideal for situations like mine.) Now Adobe decides where and when I should work? Single activation I can deal with, even with the headache that it is, but to limit such an expensive professional product is both frustrating and offensive.
As far as providing an alternative - I don’t ever remember receiving an R&D check from Adobe, let alone a discount for offering my ‘professional opinion.’
Dom,
Where did you get the idea that you only got a single activation?
You get TWO concurrent activations.
The problem arises when a third computer gets thrown into the mix and that’s when you have to start worrying about the 20 reactivations.
Just found this blog and am grateful to gain some insight into the activation limits. But those limits are both shortsightedly punitive and completely ineffectual.
Honest customers end up paying more while the cost to pirates remains the same (free). We are hobbled by limited usage rights while pirates are not. So how are Adobe’s practices combating piracy? How are they making one iota of difference to software pirates? It sounds to me as if Adobe is simply increasing their price simply to make up for (perceived) loss from piracy. Meanwhile, their actions are probably having a reverse effect, compelling normally honest folk to raise the Jolly Roger.
A few posters above had the right of it: as you decrease your price point, you increase the number of buyers. That’s Capitalism 101. While there may be some inveterate software pirates doing it just for the thrill of breaking the law, it’s more likely that most of them would buy if they could afford it.
Well, the thing is, I did call the number provided, and I told them my laptop was stolen and I cannot install my program that I already purchased on my new computer because the old one still had it installed, and guess what their answer was? Tough cookies!
So now I have to go spend another 2 grand to buy software I already have purchased! Fair?
Tom, installation has nothing to do with activation. You can install it on a thousand machines. But you can only activate two.
I find it very difficult to believe that you were turned down if all you had were two activations. This type of thing happens quite often this is the first time I’ve seen a report of someone being turned down.
Call back and insist on speaking to a supervisor.
Tom, surely Adobe could cancel the activations of the other software you have, provide you with new serial numbers and activation codes. Does Adobe really want stolen software being used by unscrupulous people? Surely they can deactivate that activation number and supply new ones?
Eugene, as far as I know they can’t do that. Once the software is activated, that’s it.
What they could do is supply a new serial number and mark the other as pirated and refuse any further activations.
I thought I said that? Well that’s what I meant… sorry for the confusion. I did say “provide new serials” from that point new activation codes.
What could have hapened was that someone else used your key without you knowing!