WOW CS2 is being allowed to be downloaded for free!
Well no it isn’t. A link was posted allowing users to download the whole CS2 creative suite. This was an interesting piece of news, CS2 was a good version of Photoshop released in 2005. The software had jumped a lot more from it predecessor than CS6 has done from CS5.
Well the link is now dead. this is not because people overloaded the severs wanting to grab an old but good photo editor for free, but because it was not for free.
Adobe has disabled the link as it was originally made available for people who had bought CS2 and need to reactivate their copy.
“When trying to activate your Creative Suite 2, Acrobat 7, or Macromedia products you may receive an error that the Activation server is unavailable. As of December 15th the activation servers for these products will be shut down…
… To remedy this difficulty we have made available a version of these software titles that does not require activation. For additional details and specific links to the software please see…”
If it had been true that Adobe were letting older editions of their software to be used for free, it would have been interesting. Photoshop is a heavily pirated program, with 58% of users owning an Illegal copy and with 55% of Lightroom users also being from the skull and cross bone ship.
If they were offering these at a discount it could be a way to curb this trend. Photoshop is seen as needed for photo editing but there are other options out there like “Serif Photoplus” for a fraction of the price.
In the end the old saying is true; if it is too good to be true, it is probably not.
Aperture64 
Offering it for free would be an incentive for a lot of people to pay for the upgrades…
I must agree with you there, a free program that can be upgraded to a full version is a great marketing strategy. Serif Photoplus does this offering a reduced edition that can be upgraded to take advantage of all the features.
Thanks for commenting great input as usual.
Any time!
these programs are pricey, making it difficult for the amateur photographer to purchase, as ideflex mentioned offering it free is a great incentive for purchasing other products/upgrades… I’ve heard there is a massive learning curve for Photoshop, so it isn’t something I would consider…I use Picasa, GIMP & Photoscape and even GIMP is a bit more than I need…I’m a complete amateur so these work for me.
Cheers
I will be the first one to agree that Photoshop is expensive and it does make it hard for amateurs or beginners. Though I would also say that Photoshop is not the be all and end all of digital photography.
Most digital editors have the same principles running them and the same basic processes are needed to edit a picture.
I wrote a post last year where i did a quick review of the different options and it is great that you are using Picasa though I personally really dislike GIMP (personal preference).
I wrote this ( http://wp.me/p2DjHx-a0 ) last year about alternatives to Photoshop.
The learning curve of Photoshop is steep and it took me a while to get to grips with it. If you really want to study the program Martin Evening has a book for all the CS versions of Photoshop; one a complete guide and another for photographers. I would sit with these , a note book and Photoshop and just play. I still use them as a desk reference.
Great to hear from a new follower, thank you for commenting.
I will check out your alternatives to Photoshop…a mentioned I downloaded Photoscape… I’ve found my way around very easily…I think I could like it very much…I will still use Picasa as it does great collages…as for GIMP…I expect I will remove it as I found it tiresome to work with, way more complicated than I want/need…simple is better for me at this point.
I believe you are right with simple being best to begin with and then slowly branching out. I have never used photoscape but I will look at it, it is always good to have other alternatives available.
let me know what you think of Photoscape…I found it much like Picasa, but with a few more detailed adjustments available…certainly adequate for an amateur such as myself…