Adobe the year 2009's most hacked software

[TheMasterOfOrion]

never liked their programs

[Mr. B]

you mean most pirated?

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I can believe that. Interestly enough, the Trek movie seems to be the year's most pirated film.

[Robert Maxwell]

I get the impression nobody pays for Photoshop.

[Marc]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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I get the impression nobody pays for Photoshop.

Good thing to - otherwise it would cost them twice as much given the thing is pain in the arse to support and I've had to wipe a client's system a couple of times becase Adobe CS fucked up (though in this instance it was a legal copy of CS just not a very reliable one).

[Canadave]

Marc wrote:

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Good thing to - otherwise it would cost them twice as much given the thing is pain in the arse to support and I've had to wipe a client's system a couple of times becase Adobe CS fucked up (though in this instance it was a legal copy of CS just not a very reliable one).

Which is why I use GIMP.

[Galactus]

Maybe if they charged a respectable amount for it then people would buy it. As it stands now only business and people with money to burn buy. Everyone else I know just uses a pirated copy.

Me I use GIMP and other programs.

[Robert Maxwell]

GIMP here, too. I haven't seen anything about Photoshop that makes it a "must have."

[Shaw]

Marc wrote:

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Good thing to - otherwise it would cost them twice as much given the thing is pain in the arse to support and I've had to wipe a client's system a couple of times becase Adobe CS fucked up (though in this instance it was a legal copy of CS just not a very reliable one).

Wow... that is a curious statement.

I've been using Photoshop since the early 90s and have been providing tech support for both independent graphic designers, graphic design houses and magazines for more than a decade now and have never (not once) wiped a client's system because of an Adobe product (or any single application that I can recall either). How does an application take a system to that point of no return?

In the economic climate that I've faced in the last year (with few people able to afford upgrades or extras for their systems) something like that would have increased business for me as I support more than 30 client's systems that have some version of Adobe's professional software on them. Other than moving from PowerPC to Intel based systems (which caused issues with older versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat Pro), Adobe products don't generate a lot of phone calls for me.

Of course, the only time I usually get to wipe a client's system is when they are getting ready to sell their old systems... I can't imagine using it as a remedy for software issues.

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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I get the impression nobody pays for Photoshop.

-and-

Joy To The World wrote:

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Maybe if they charged a respectable amount for it then people would buy it. As it stands now only business and people with money to burn buy. Everyone else I know just uses a pirated copy.

None of my clients are using a pirated version of Adobe's software (but then again, it is Adobe's software that is helping pay the bills), and I've always owned all the software I use (including multiple copies of Photoshop since the early 90's).

I don't make a lot of money, so I've always let my software pay for itself. If I needed software for a job, I found that many places (like Adobe) offer 30 day trials. This is long enough to do the work that pays for the software. If the software doesn't pay for itself, then it must not have been worth it for me.

People who can't afford it don't need it. People who need it, it'll pay for itself. People who want it just to have it complain about the price (even though Photoshop Elements is under hundred dollars).

Of course I doubt I'm one of Adobe's favorite people as I firmly believe in a if it ain't broke, don't fix it policy with software, and discourage upgrades unless their is a compelling reason. And I've told friends at Adobe as much (and they privately agree with me).

But I don't know anyone who uses Adobe's products that doesn't pay. Maybe you guys should reconsider the type of element you are associating with if you see pirating as normal.

[Ar-Pharazon]

I paid for PS & Acrobat. Once I wiped the (2nd) HDD PS was on without deactivating it and Adobe phone support got me a reactivation #.

Same thing over the weekend, but Acrobat had the deactivate option grayed out. So when I reinstalled, I had to go back to the phone support and they got me going.

So the moral is, once in a great while, phone support actually works and having a legal copy is a good thing.

[Marc]

Shaw wrote:

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Wow... that is a curious statement.

I've been using Photoshop since the early 90s and have been providing tech support for both independent graphic designers, graphic design houses and magazines for more than a decade now and have never (not once) wiped a client's system because of an Adobe product (or any single application that I can recall either). How does an application take a system to that point of no return?

becasue it wouldn't run and it wasn't possible to uninstall it and re-install to repair the problem (couldn't even deactivate). He wanted his Adobe to work and it was my job to make it work.

Now given the amount of development stuff that the person put on this machine I will admit it's quite possible that he loaded something on that broke Adobe and it cascaded or that fact it was a Sony Vaio with Toshiba hard disks could of played a role.

But I've never been one to take the wipe/reinstall approach unless I absolutely have to but in this case it was necessary and as I was paid a fixed monthly fee it spending 10 hours rebuilding the computer didn't make me any more money so it wasn't something I was doing to pad my invoice.

[Shaw]

Marc wrote:

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...

He wanted his Adobe to work and it was my job to make it work.

...

What happened when you attempted to recreate the problem on another system?

I assume when you talk about being a pain in the arse to support that you have more than one client using Adobe software. And that finding the root of the issue would be important enough to recreate the issue to find a solution that doesn't require toasting all your client's systems every time an issue with an application arises.

I find it both hard to believe and a little sad that Adobe products work so poorly on Windows. I was under the impression that Adobe considered the Windows platform quite important.

[J. Allen]

Whether one likes Photoshop or not, it is severely overpriced. I use Paintshop Pro X2, and have used PSP since at least v7. $59 is more than fair for the capabilities this software has, and if it were in Adobe's hands, the price would be triple that with no added benefit, just like what they did to Cool Edit Pro 2.

J.

[doublegood]

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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So the moral is, once in a great while, phone support actually works and having a legal copy is a good thing.

Hahahahaha....oh, you were serious.

[Shaw]

Santa Claus wrote:

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Whether one likes Photoshop or not, it is severely overpriced.

And not meant for everyone... something which seems to be continuously overlooked here.

I use Paintshop Pro X2, and have used PSP since at least v7. $59 is more than fair for the capabilities this software has, and if it were in Adobe's hands, the price would be triple that with no added benefit, just like what they did to Cool Edit Pro 2.

Well, I think a better question has to be what does Paintshop Pro X2 offer that Photoshop Elements (at nearly the same price) doesn't?

The only people I know who use the full version of Photoshop are those who use it professionally (as in it is an important tool in how they make money). Everyone else I know uses Photoshop Elements because it does everything they need. Professional tools for professional people, hobby tools for those who just like to play around.



Of course if Photoshop Elements were in Adobe's hands, the price would be triple what it is now with no added benefit. Lets hope that never happens.