Adobe Says Rumored Free CS2 Software Download Isn't a Giveaway

16 thoughts on “Adobe Says Rumored Free CS2 Software Download Isn't a Giveaway”

1. Regarding the quote from John Nack. Please keep in mind that the disclaimer on his blog clearly says that: “The views expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Adobe Systems Incorporated.” So this and the other comments on Adobe blogs are not official statements from Adobe. I’m afraid in the absence of such a statement, the confusion will continue.

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2. This has better information on this post in regards to the Photoshop Free Giveaway or Photoshop NOT Free Giveaway deal. Many people thought that this is a free for all on Photoshop CS2 and other programs in the same time-frame as CS2, but now it appears it is not the case.

   Since Adobe have released the universal product ID keys for all of these packages in the same date range, I can only think how would they stop someone from downloading especially since it appears to have been made available on other sites too. I suppose Adobe could always block the download, which in my case after 10 MB of downloading and whilst logged in to my Adobe account I get a network error and this happened on two occasions. Maybe now Adobe has set up something up so the people who have CS2 only can download. That would make sense but it appears for a short time there must have been a loophole. If anyone else managed to download this CS2 full program you can post it here. Although, that being said I don’t have the same version so for the CS version I shall just wait until I really need a different version.

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3. Chris Dickman: Regarding the quote from John Nack. Please keep in mind that the disclaimer on his blog clearly says that: “The views expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Adobe Systems Incorporated.” So this and the other comments on Adobe blogs are not official statements from Adobe. I’m afraid in the absence of such a statement, the confusion will continue.

   I know, even now I’m not sure myself but having said that, I rather use my CS5 anyway.

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4. McKenzie Voice: This has better information on this post in regards to the Photoshop Free Giveaway or Photoshop NOT Free Giveaway deal. Many people thought that this is a free for all on Photoshop CS2 and other programs in the same time-frame as CS2, but now it appears it is not the case.

   Since Adobe have released the universal product ID keys for all of these packages in the same date range, I can only think how would they stop someone from downloading especially since it appears to have been made available on other sites too.

   There ARE things they can do. Whether demanding a current license to trade for the universal one, or simply SAYING this is for CS2 owners ONLY… on the “blog” page where Adobe Corporate Communications has decided to make its very vague point.

   Instead, a bunch of apparent reps for different Adobe products are trying to convince people.

   To the millions that have downloaded and installed this ancient software over the past month….. it is very “free.”

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5. I own CS2 and downloaded the serial numbers knowing I was legal, no matter what Adobe intended. But they also had a free download with serial number for Photoshop Elements 5, which I never owned. I registered the serial number and Adobe accepted my registration with no questions asked, so I don’t think they were too worried about people sneaking in on this deal. Maybe they saw them as potential new customers.

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   • No, that’s not it. It’s simply that the product registration system was not changed to reflect what’s happened here… Software registration has nothing to do with the legal aspects of licensing.

     So Adobe would tell you that doing that does not indicate your legal ownership or right to use, sorry.

6. This is indeed an interesting article. I wonder what Adobe tech support would say about this?

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   • They have said it’s correct.

7. Hello again,

   Are there any words when this will happen to CS4, CS5.5 and CS6? Knowing that this now happened to CS3 makes me want to be sure that I can access old software if I ever need to (I got a habit of holding onto old software).

   Thank you :)

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   • Hey Daniel! No, sorry – we haven’t heard anything. Adobe generally wouldn’t announce something like that in advance, if it even ever happened.

     The issues with CS2 (and later CS3) had to do with aging activation servers that needed to be retired. There’s no telling if anything similar will transpire with later releases such as CS4, CS5, etc.

     Note however that with Creative Suite 3, you need a existing CS3 serial number in order to get a replacement serial number and installer, or take advantage of an special upgrade offer. So there’s really nothing free about that one either.

     See:

     Get an Activation or Connection Error with CS3 or Acrobat 8?

8. No worries, I don’t own CS3 – so it’s not like I would take advantage of this anyway.

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9. Got a modern link to the CS2 download? The old links aren’t showing up anymore.

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   • No, sorry – “you can no longer [re]install Creative Suite 2 or 3 even if you have the original installation disks or software downloads… The aging activation servers for those apps had to be retired.”

     This is from Adobe’s site:

     Where Can I Download My Creative Suite Applications?

10. True! You can no longer [re]install Creative Suite 2 or 3, even if you have the original installation disks or software downloads.

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11. So even though Adobe doesn’t have a way to download these, I did find them on Archive.org.

    Made a library for the CS2 Downloads

    Here’s the link – https://archive.org/details/adobe-creative-suite-2

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    • OK, thanks – just keep in mind that CS2 licensing is not free, as described in the article above.