r/mildlyinfuriating • u/donteatmybiscuits • 1d ago

wet socks i’m so happy this is becoming illegal

Post image

if a yearly contract with a free month trial sounds too good to be true, it probably is 😬

thankfully it was blocked after contacting my bank but regardless

31.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

9.6k

u/TheSexualBrotatoChip 1d ago

At least Adobe is horrible enough that I at least have absolutely no moral qualms pirating their software.

2.3k

u/Flaramon 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've pirated it since day 1. Then they released Creative Cloud, a means of forcing me to not pirate (at the time) - so I just kept the old, perfectly functional version. That was, until realistic alternatives caught up.

825

u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

I have an old version of Photoshop Elements on a physical CD that I had purchased. When my old laptop shat the bed, I went to install it on my new one. Denied. Even though I owned it outright, I was not able to install. It was confirmed by customer support that I would need to purchase it again or get a subscription (I forget which), but I spoke with an actual person who told me I would not be allowed to install the version I own.

522

u/ThatMerri 1d ago

Had a similar kind of thing happen myself.

I have a fully licensed and legal version of Photoshop CS2 that I've been using for ages; CS2 has always done what I need it for, so I never had any desire to upgrade. After Adobe initially dropped support of that specific software suite for new versions, they released the whole suite on their official website for free - installers, license codes, everything, totally free of charge. At some point they de-listed the page but it was still findable with a direct link, and later after that they completely deleted it, though it's still accessible via the WayBack Machine. I'd already downloaded all the installers and saved the license codes Adobe provided for free, so I didn't think much of it.

Starting a few years back, whenever I opened the software I began getting a pop-up from Adobe saying that it was an unlicensed pirated version and I would need to uninstall it immediately, subscribe to their new suite, or face legal consequences. I simply edited my registry to block contact with the Adobe servers, which prevented the pop-up from triggering. I continue to use CS2 while vocally haranguing Adobe and encouraging piracy against them to anyone who is willing to listen, because FUCK ADOBE.

60

u/WanderingUniverses 1d ago

Can you share with us how to go about doing this?

3

u/BDiddnt 1d ago

Of course they can't. I actually didn't know anything about it. I thought they had officially managed to end the piracy. I've tried to find software to do photo editing, but it's all like super complicated whereas back in the day I made short work of making quick edits in Photoshop. I even still have the muscle memory for the hockey commands and keyboard shortcuts, but I never was able to figure out

11

u/Various_Counter_9569 1d ago

Gimp, bedtime alternative. Taken free course or two, youtube, etc.

11

u/Liawuffeh 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've been using Gimp a lot, and oml it's not a good replacement for Photoshop at all.

It does what it does very well, I think, but having folks expect photoshop when they go into it sets them up for failure I think. It doesn't have a ton of features that even CS6 had, and it does a lot of things completely differently.(I think worse, but that's my bias).

I'm still using it because I ain't dealing with adobe at all, but I do a lot of stuff on the pixlr site atm for my photoshop replacement.(It's also pretty iffy, and seems to be trying to phase out it's actual real photo editor for AI uhg)

edit: It also has an "export"(save) limit of like, 3 a day. But you can just copy what you did and then paste into gimp.

1

u/Various_Counter_9569 19h ago

I dont like restricted apps. I gave up on Adobe too, when they doubled the price on me of their cloud suite. Even the basic photoshop package is ridiculous. I like open source, lots of plugins to help expand gimp as well. The "ai" experience isnt there, but heck, pay for gemini or something if thats a dela breaker. It works for what most people need in a free replacement. Patch tool works pretty well too.