On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 17:17:38 +0200, Christian Westphalen wrote:

every little change in the system causes a new activation. Why can´t they use the dhcp-number or something better that they use now? This happens 17.05, automatic mode fails, hotline closes at 17.00. I use more than one Software with this crappy Adobe Activation. This has to work more professional. 24/7 Service f.e.

Christian

I'm glad to be reading posts like this..because it confirms I made the right decision when Adobe announced its plan to put activation technology into its entire product line. I decided to go cold turkey on Adobe. And I'm NOT looking back. It's been a great ride Adobe...but I'm not going to let you hold me by my nuts in order to use, install and reinstall if necessary the license I purchased for your product.

I have been upgrading to Adobe's product line for YEARS...and have been a faithful user. After you put activation onto the product...I said goodbye. Photoshop 7 is the LAST version of Photoshop I intend to EVER use as long as Adobe hammers into its product line this ridiculously heavy handed activation technology.

Personally...I can say from reading posts in the Adobe forums that people are having too many problems with this activation technology Adobe has put in. It's very aggressive and not user friendly at all. For example...God FORBID...you have a virus that corrupts your OS...you may panic and decide as a last resort to reformat your hard disk and reinstall all your apps. Fine. That should be allowed. But you're in for a GOTCHA! moment when you try reinstalling your Adobe Photoshop CS2 upgrade or full version. You'll get the message that your activation will be DENIED. Why? Because you FORGOT to DEACTIVATE your Photoshop CS2 copy before formatting your hard drive!! Now, the poor souls will be forced to call Adobe's customer service line and BEG them to let you reinstall your application with another activation key.

How ridiculous and frightening is this kind of "protection"?! It's not only inconveniencing the legitimate users...it's also driving them away. I know when I heard Adobe was going to do this...I stopped getting their products. I am using Photoshop 7, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 5.0 Professional and PageMaker 7.01. No activation required. No worries about being FORCED to call their hotline if my hard drive dies and being FORCED to beg them to let me use the legally purchased license I have for these products. NEVER. They've LOST my revenue for upgrades FOREVER.

I really liked hearing about the Illustrator CS2 version with its Live Trace and Live Paint features. I drooled over hearing about those new great features. But they're wiped out when I remember Adobe has activation technology built into the product. So long. So I have to make do with my old software. Okay...so I'll have to work alittle harder...but so what. At least Adobe can't FORCE me to upgrade my software when my computer hard drive dies out. I simply reinstall the programs back into the new drive without the hassle of having to call their customer service line.

As for being left out of the "Live Trace" feature built into Illustrator CS2...oh..yeah...I got that covered Adobe. I simply scan my images into my OLD outdated Photoshop 7, make selections, convert to working paths, and then save the paths. Finally I export the paths to Illustrator. Okay, I do some more steps than people do with their shiny new Illustrator CS2. But at least I won't have to lay awake at night worried to death if my hard drive dies I'd be forced to call your customer service line if I FORGOT to deactivate the copy before not realizing my hard drive can fail on me without warning.

Don't get me wrong. I use Windows XP Home edition, legally purchased and Office XP 2003 Professional, legally purchased as well. But at least Microsoft got it right the first time they introduced the technology! I've formatted my hard drive and there was NO NEED to DEACTIVATE my copies of my legally purchased software and simply reinstalled my XP applications and reactivated with no problem. Until Adobe "gets it" about activation I'm staying away from Adobe products and starting to look at alternatives.

Christian Westphalen

Replied in the following topics

Activation sucks! Please find a better way, Adobe!