Mac Activation

[DavidTO]

One of the things that Mac users have never had to deal with is now a reality. Starting with CS 2, Mac users will need to activate Photoshop.

Article here (http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11209).

[mercphoto]

One of the things that Mac users have never had to deal with is now a reality. Starting with CS 2, Mac users will need to activate Photoshop.

Sounds like a sensible approach to me.

[wxwax]

Sounds like a sensible approach to me.
:huh :huh

[mercphoto]

:huh :huh

I can't tell if you agree or disagree with me. :) I don't have an issue with a company trying to protect their products from piracy. Adobe seems to be trying to take an approach that has little impact to the legitimate customer, as well as providing a means of transfering a license to a new computer, and replacing a license in case of theft or damage to a computer.

[wxwax]

I fully understand why they want to protect their investment etc.

But it's a pain. So as a consumer, unburdened by Adobe's financial concerns, I hate it. It adds many seconds to every start-up every day. And I'm gonna be really mad if my expensive investment can't transfer to my next computer.

[mercphoto]

And I'm gonna be really mad if my expensive investment can't transfer to my next computer.

That I completely agree with! I also didn't know that activation was something that happened each time you start up. So I guess you need an active internet connection then? I guess I'll learn soon enough when I upgrade to CS2...

FWIW, when I changed to my new PowerBook I was able to effortlessly transfer my license rights to my iTunes purchased music, and de-authorize the old machine. So, in theory, this can work when done correctly.

[patch29]

I fully understand why they want to protect their investment etc.

But it's a pain. So as a consumer, unburdened by Adobe's financial concerns, I hate it. It adds many seconds to every start-up every day. And I'm gonna be really mad if my expensive investment can't transfer to my next computer.


It checks every time? I have several pieces of software, they only needed to be activated once unless they were reinstalled. I am for them protecting their product. I would be very upset if a customer of mine copied prints and handed them out to anyone they wanted. That said I hope it is not a PITA.

[wxwax]

You can get in without a daily activation. But at some point it will insist, can't remember the time limit.

[pathfinder]

One of the things that Mac users have never had to deal with is now a reality. Starting with CS 2, Mac users will need to activate Photoshop.

Article here (http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11209).
I've been afraid of this. It may be while before I decide to upgrade from CS on the MAC.

[rutt]

For PS 7 -> PS/CS, Dan Margulis recommended upgrading on mac and not on windows because of this exact issue. His review of the upgrade was that it did offer significant new functionality, in particular shadow/highlight. At the time camera raw was also supported as a $100 option for PS 7. Since then, new cameras have been adeded for PS/CS but not for PS 7, which is kind of a lousy business parctice IMHO, since people actually paid $100 for the option. They should have at least gotten a rebate on the upgrade.

Dan hasn't weighed in on this upgrade yet in public, but I'm keeping an eye on it. He hinted to me that he will have a new version of his book for PS/CS 2. But I haven't seen that yet. The book is probably a more worthwhile upgrade than the software, unless there is some specific new great feature. Is there?

I hope Adobe doesn't stop supporting new cameras for ACR in PS/CS, but I suspect they will in order to extract their pound of flesh. That might be enough to get me into C1, which I have tried, but I just hated it's workflow model too much. But maybe not as much as activation and Adobe in general.

[rutt]

If the upgrade is like other Adobe upgrades, it will leave you with a functional PS/CS as well as a PS/CS 2. So you will have a fallback when activation causes problems. This is one case where I would be careful not to delete the old version. I'm waiting with baited breath for user experiences with the upgrade. Does it have any great new features?

[cletus]

You can get in without a daily activation. But at some point it will insist, can't remember the time limit.
:scratch

Is the activation system going to change from what's currently on PS CS for Windows???

With a couple short exceptions my work PC that runs PS CS has been off the 'net for four months and PS is running fine. The time or two my PC has been internet connected have been just long enough to download software updates (for stuff other than photoshop) and to activate Acrobat 7.0. I definetly did not run Photoshop during the times it was hooked up to the net. I guess it is possible that when I got my Acrobat activation the Photoshop activation was updated as well, but I doubt it.

I just checked - PS CS does try to access the 'net at startup. Could be an activation thing, could just be checking for updates :dunno

[wxwax]

I know mine checks every time I fire it up because my Zone Alarm asks me if I want to grant it permission.