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Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4

Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia | October 2, 2008 6:17 AM PDT

Little more than a week after its global launch, Adobe's Creative Suite 4 has shown up on popular BitTorrent tracking sites in large numbers.

The software represents updates to Adobe's flagship Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Acrobat and InDesign products, among others, with the full Master Collection edition, which includes the entire range, selling in the UK for around £1,969 (ex VAT).

However, several casual searches conducted by ZDNet.com.au revealed what appeared to be copies of CS4 and its various included products littered across most of the popular BitTorrent tracking sites--although the files were not downloaded to verify if they were genuine.

For example, on The Pirate Bay, hundreds of people were downloading the Mac OS X version of Photoshop (a 1GB file), while others were splashing out for the 7.2GB Master Collection edition, which appeared to be a leaked pre-lease version of the software. A number of beta versions of the software were also popular, as were illicit serial numbers.

The downloading frenzy even spread to the training field, with videos from educational site Lynda.com (which charges for its content on a subscription model) explaining CS4's new features available for BitTorrent download.

It was a similar case at Mininova, where several dozen people were downloading Photoshop CS4, although Flash CS4 was also generating interest.

In a curious phenomenon, despite the availability of Photoshop CS4, the previous version, CS3, which was released in early 2007, was still much more popular than the latest version.

On the Pirate Bay, thousands of people were downloading or hosting downloads of Photoshop CS3 and the complete CS3 Master Collection. It was a similar situation on Mininova, but on a smaller scale. Lynda's CS3 training suites were also extremely popular, as were ebooks, or scanned copies of real books, that dealt with CS3 training.

Adobe Australia declined to comment on the pirating effort.

Creative Suite is Adobe's software aimed at content professionals; the company also sells an 'Elements' line at a substantially cheaper price that offers a reduced feature set to consumers.

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RE: Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4
themicromage@... 12th Nov 2008
No matter what the charge or what the use it is stealing, Somebody or bodies worked to produce something and no matter what the price pirates are stealing their sweat.
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Just like Microsoft would be screwed without pirated copies of Windows floating around street corners across the globe.

Without pirated copies of Photoshop, it would have a truly limited market. Look at the bloody price of it to figure out why.
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Incorrect
j.m.galvin 2nd Oct 2008
Adobe became the de-facto standard
with the professional graphics trade because they make an excellent and
reliable product. The cost of the
product is miniscule compared to the
value of the product produced by it.

Any graphics shop with reasonable
business can recoup the cost of the
entire Creative Suite package in a day.

There is no reason for the home user to
buy Photoshop or the other professional
Adobe products. All contain many
features that are only of use to
professional graphics users. There are
many low priced graphics products for
home users, including Photoshop
elements.
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Home users?
lassarina 2nd Oct 2008
I think you are misunderstanding what 'home' users want the software for.

Many people who use Photoshop - at least in my experience, in the groups I have collaborated with - want something more extensive than MS Paint or Corel Snapfire, but are not graphics professionals. This includes many people who produce graphics for free use on the Internet. Your assumption is flawed and over-generalized.
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Ever hear of Photoshop Elements or PSP?
ibtechnologies@... Updated - 6th Nov 2008
Quote

"I think you are misunderstanding what 'home' users want the software for."

I have to counter that you don't understand either and that your assumption is flawed and over-generalized.

Photoshop appx $699 and Photoshop Elements appx $139 are targeted to different "audiences". The full Photoshop CS4/CS3/CS2 etc were targeted for graphic professionals.

Photoshop Elements is targeted for home users.

A competing program similar to Photoshop Elements from Corel is called Paint Shop Pro appx $100.

Quote

"Many people who use Photoshop - at least in my experience, in the groups I have collaborated with - want something more extensive than MS Paint or Corel Snapfire, but are not graphics professionals."

That would be Photoshop Elements or Corel Paint Shop Pro. These have those features beyond MS Paint but ARE NOT $699. Those are often bundled with digi cams, printers and scanners.

I just love all these "experts" that post here ....

YOU DID NOT READ THE POST YOU DISAGREE WITH CAREFULLY DUUUUHHHHHH !!!!!!!!
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All the experts that post here
deanders 7th Nov 2008
You probably complain about all the sinners in church too...
just so she can resize and crop her digital photos...

go figure... grin
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Actually very correct.
Suicida| 6th Oct 2008
Without pirated copies where do you think people gain skills in using professional products like photoshop?

You don't actually think that the average lab time a student gets in a technical or traditional college is time enough do you?

No, they have pirated versions and they start editing for fun on photos of family of friends or even enter the occasional Fark.com Photoshop contest.

I know this was the case with me installing a Windows domain, exchange, SQL at my house and continually gaining skill in using and administering those programs.

Later I eventually did the Same with Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP & Perl.

Products like photoshop are an acquired taste and takes quite a while to become proficient at.
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Actually very correct?
ibtechnologies@... Updated - 6th Nov 2008
Quote

"Products like photoshop are an acquired taste and takes quite a while to become proficient at."

THAT IS WHY THERE ARE CHEAPER VERSIONS FOR HOME USERS **DUH** $138 vs $699

All you "experts" should know there are home user versions of PS like "Elements" and PRO Versions of PS like CS4.

Theft is theft, that is why Adobe and many other companies offer home users a great price break so they don't have to STEAL the PRO version. 90% of CS4 features are in "Elements" the missing 10% are only somthing a real PRO would need.
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This is news?
GrubLord 2nd Oct 2008
I'm sure you could type "paraplegic hooker" into BitTorrent,
and it'd have something relevant for you.

Pirates are plundering every program anyone's charging
money for.

Why not write an article on people stealing copies of, I
dunno, Super Solitaire?

Also, given the ten times lower price of the educational
version, I don't think people really need to be pirating this.
Adobe's software is the 'de-facto standard' because it's
the best.
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I could not find a single torrent related to the term "paraplegic hooker". Perhaps this CS4 piracy is a big deal after all.
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RE: Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4
profsmichael@... 2nd Oct 2008
I would agree with other posts here. This is NOT news. ANY software can be found within torrent searches.

Windows '95? Yup. Is this important news to anyone who has been reading news reports for the last 5 years? No. In fact, I believe the story was written primarily to allow the writer to use the cute tite: "Pirates Plunder..". ANY software, movie, or song title could have been used.

As far as this being news? Sure; just as my special report below is news too!

NEWS BULLETIN:
The STATE of California is STILL a state of the United States of America! I will report this to you every SINGLE day...until it is no longer a state...which by the way, WOULD actually be news...
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ARRRRG!!!!
Duke E. Love 4th Oct 2008
Pirates on the Internets?

Never heard of such a thing!!! What a silly notion. I think the author is making this up. Next thing you know ppl will be complaining about ppl pirating MP3s. Lord knows THAT will never happen.
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Grrr.....
Suicida| 6th Oct 2008
Beat me to it.
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What do they expect when they ask more than Microsoft does for the Operating system that runs there computer?

I would never pay that for CS4
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Love all these experts
ibtechnologies@... Updated - 6th Nov 2008
Of course **YOU** wouldn't pay $699 for CS4.

If you had a clue you would know that Photoshop Elements is about $139 and has most of the features that an average home user with a digicam would ever need. That should be a program that **YOU** should buy.

graphic PROS like myself DO pay $699 for PS CS4 BECAUSE WE MAKE OUR LIVING FROM IT and the extras that it has that PS Elements doesn't ... we need those and the casual user doesn't.

Do you suppose Adobe is so foolish to charge $699 for when nobody would buy it? They charge that much because **there is a demand for it** and it is a awesome tool for those that truly need the power.

For those that don't need PRO capability you can buy a more affordable version at $139 for those that don't need the extra power.

Comparing CS4 to to a MS OS ... just love all you experts here.
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I'm not paying that much to upgrade. Is it really worth it??

-C
http://www.cdiabu.com/blog/post/mudbox-and-maya-2009.php
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The author is just being helpful here
vashoko@... 7th Oct 2008
Maybe the author wanted to direct us the cheapest way to get the new CS4, i mean he couldn't say, folks CS4 is now available on PB go for it, he had to say in a diplomatic tone to avoid some punches from the maker.
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The "tech????" editor should know better -

People are NOT downloading Adobe from Pirate Bay.
They are downloading torrent trackers from Pirate Bay.

People are downloading Adobe form other people's computers. Let's have some editorial honesty here - surely in a tech article the author could show some tech savvy.
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get the FBI after them now!
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RE: Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4
binstock@... 6th Nov 2008
I have had and used several PS editions, thru CS2, have used DNG Converter for Fz50 imports (conversions to dng). Adobe discontinued DNG Converter for use with CS4 and Bridge. Adobe did not allow DNG Converter to read Canon G9 raw. Since I recently purchased a G9, I bought CS4 - much to my great and ongoing disappointment. 'Tis a resource hog far worse than CS2, has numerous features I don't need (far more so than CS2). I feel as if I was forced into CS4 by Adobe's decision not to have DNG Converter read Canon G9 raw. I recommend to anyone interested in CS4 - try a trial version - see what you'll be losing if you already have a prior photoshop that works for you. By the way, I also have PSE, and gimp on Linux, so my critique concerns Adobe's having lost my faith and respect. I realize some people like CS4 and its features. I feel that obtaining CS4 was a big mistake.
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Love all these experts
Of course **YOU** wouldn't pay $699 for CS4.

If you had a clue you would know that Photoshop Elements is about $139 and has most of the features that an average home user with a digicam would ever need. That should be a program that **YOU** should buy.

graphic PROS like myself DO pay $699 for PS CS4 BECAUSE WE MAKE OUR LIVING FROM IT and the extras that it has that PS Elements doesn't ... we need those and the casual user doesn't.

Do you suppose Adobe is so foolish to charge $699 for when nobody would buy it? They charge that much because **there is a demand for it** and it is a awesome tool for those that truly need the power.

For those that don't need PRO capability you can buy a more affordable version at $139 for those that don't need the extra power.

Comparing CS4 to to a MS OS ... just love all you experts here.

If YOU had a clue, you would have noticed that the only "so-called 'Expert'" here consistently demonstrating themselves to be an ass, ..is you!

Your problem (I mean, other than your glittering ignorance in general) is that you think you ARE something special because you consider yourself a "PRO", when truth in fact is, that with the FULL version of PS, even the AMATEUR can get the SAME RESULTS as the 'so-called' Pros like yourself....And that's what you hope no one ever finds out.

Adobe uses its price as a 'barrier to entry' of these amateurs into the pro ranks, but as was quite correctly pointed out here, today's pirates BECOME tomorrow's pros because that's the ONLY way they can become proficient on the FULL PRO VERSIONS of Adobe's over-priced bloatware.

Pirates don't exist because users are dishonest.

Pirates exist because "professionals" like yourself are greedy to the extreme. If you think you're so smart that you can charge more than your service or product is worth, the "pirates" out there will quickly dissuade you of that notion by simply stealing it from you.

The same way Gates "stole" the Windows UI out from under Apple...

Nothing screams louder than a thief being robbed.

Or a politician being busted for prostitution...
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To True!
Drakaran 7th Nov 2008
*laughs* I've seen some of the "photo retouching" that "pros" charge an arm and a leg for, and it amazes over and over, that even with a great piece of software like photoshop, they can still totally screw up!
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What? Microsoft Steal?
rick@... 11th Nov 2008
Look, all you experts and others, our childrens' great- grandchildren need to know that, while Microsoft stole Apple's GUI concepts.... Apple FIRST stole them from Xerox PARC. Voice of wisdom... out.
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Since CS3 was
Gradius2 8th Nov 2008
a total crap (no kidding!) I don't blame them at all.
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RE: Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4
themicromage@... 12th Nov 2008
No matter what the charge or what the use it is stealing, Somebody or bodies worked to produce something and no matter what the price pirates are stealing their sweat.

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