Adobe Photoshop CS2 Now FREE?

[Andyrooc]

If you're anything like me, then you're still using Photoshop 6, which came out last century, and tend to crash and do funny things on Windows 7. This is an expensive bit of software, so I was quite suprised to read that Adobe have released a number of their older product for free download and use!

 

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

 

Sure enough you can downoad it, install it, put in the supplied license...but if you read news articles, apparently it's only for existing customers. Do they mean 'please don't download and use it unless you are an existing customer'? Seems like a giant leap of faith!

 

[cessna729]

I was quite suprised to read that Adobe have released a number of their older product for free download and use!

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

Sure enough you can downoad it, install it, put in the supplied license

That's some find, thank's for the link, as an old costomer, that's very usefull

Not downloaded any yet, but looks like the links are for FULL old versions, they don't look like "demo" versions? So what's the catch? time limited? or what? No catch it seems, just a clever marketing move!

cessna729.

Coment from CNET

Adobe has admitted the error in the information provided. After the news got released to CBS, El Reg, Gizmodo, and Forbes, they realized the cat was out of the bag.

The keys provided on the direct download site work fine. There is no documentation in the process to inform you that you must have a registered copy of CS2 and they acknowledge that mistake. The activation servers are no longer online and the keys provided are standalone offline activation for universal installations.

Adobe's reps have said that they realize this was a bit of a mishandled situation, but they also don't have any way to track who has the files or whom installs them. They do not intend to take any action on this.

They do ask that you do not upload the files to other sites or post on torrents. If you're going to download the files, please do so directly form Adobe to ensure secure files free of any nastiness.

In the end, it's going to help them out with some extra PR. People using GIMP, Manga Studio, or other apps will go to Photoshop instead, and quite possibly be subscribers to the new products as they come out.

Edited January 8, 2013 by cessna729

[Nicola_M]

Maybe just old. I'm on Photoshop 7 and I thought that was old.

[clavel9]

That's some find, thank's for the link, as an old costomer, that's very usefull

Not downloaded any yet, but looks like the links are for FULL old versions, they don't look like "demo" versions?

So what's the catch? time limited? or what?

cessna729.

No catch. The serials are provided next to the download links.

 

CS2 is nearly 8 years old so perhaps their rationale is that it might introduce new customers to the product who may not yet have decided to purchase the full up to date product. There's nothing to lose, really. It might even help combat piracy to offer fully featured, free and legal downloads.

 

I am an Adobe customer, so with respect to Andyrooc's comment, I can't really say whether non-registered customers will be able to use it.

  Edited January 8, 2013 by merisi

[tkyler]

One caveat is for mac anyhow, it's power PC code, which means that it runs in emulation mode and therefore not nearly as quick.  I don't think this is a big deal though as it's hardly animation or video processing and one might not even notice on modern hardware.  I'm giving it a shot!   Not sure about the windows versions though.

 

Tom K

[Ben Russell]

I'll be grabbing a Windows copy of this so I can replace my Mac PPC versions with the Intel version running inside VMware on Windows 7.

 

I expect this too be significantly faster than the PPC emulated route.

 

It also means I'm finally free to upgrade my Mac OS version to something more modern... (eventually)

[Andyrooc]

I installed downloaded and Photoshop CS2, it it looks the real deal. The provided license entered OK and I even registered it OK. Does seem to be too good to be true, but it's from Adobe directly. I'm an old (very old) customer too, but there was no login or anything required, so I remain a little puzzled. However, as you added cessna, while Adobe may not have intended a free-for-all give-away, the cat is out of the bag and since there is nothing they can do about it, they seem to have quickly decided to let it go (they have kept the site up) and try and turn it into a nice PR exercise and opportunity for people to upgrade to a newer version. Awesome for me

[ryancz]

I use GIMP, but I may try to learn PS also. Why not?