> As far as I can tell, the entire support system at Adobe is to serve one
> purpose: Annoy the customer to the point where they just give up and buy a
> new/another copy of the software.
>
> They don't hire support staff...they hire sales staff and stick them behind
> the support phone numbers.

It seems that at least Macromedia support staff got new jobs at Adobe. ;-)

Jukka

Hi Judy

Can you tell me if you have been through the process in the tech note you
directed me to?

I just had a couple of interesting experiences with Adobe activation support
and I am curious about your experiences. I just upgraded one of my computers to
Leopard and it toasted my activation and then I began receiving the activation
error again while trying to get it to re-activate.

In the screen that the tech note refers to, it provides localised phone
numbers for users to call. In Australia one of the numbers is disconnected and
the other transfers to the standard Adobe Activation system...

When I did get a person to talk to the first time, I was told that FreeHand is
not supported under Leopard and therefore they did not have to help me activate
it. I questioned this and was then put on hold and then hung up on.

The next time I called the person I spoke to had no knowledge of the tech note
you refer to, after I gave her the serial number the software mysteriously
activated without any problem the next time I was asked to try... this is
despite repeated attempts over a number of days testing.

I don't want to get into conspiracy theories or anything, however it would
appear that Adobe is actively trying to make the software difficult to activate
in order to drive users to Illustrator instead and effectively terminate the
license by default.

If anyone else runs into this problem I would suggest that they say they are
running OS X 10.3 or 10.4 regardless of what version they happen to be using.
Adobe are trying to use OS X 10.5 as a way to not have to continue providing
activation support which by default renders your software license null if you
can't activate it under the newer OS's.

They could solve this by not forcing us to activate, however then users would
not be forced to buy Illustrator when things don't work.

Another possibility is that internally Adobe will simply turn off activation
(quietly) and force people to call and go through an agonising phone call with
activation support etc. This will also have the net effect of making your
licence unusable and drive people to cross-grade to Illustrator and spend more
$$$.

Adobe should really provide us with an alternative to activation but being the
type of company they are, Im sure this will be the last option they offer
unless it becomes a legal dispute.

Just in case they terminate this thread Im going to mirror it elsewhere just
to be sure they can't brush FreeHand users under the carpet through this
interesting and devious method of not honouring the original licenses.

Let me know if you can add any other info.

Cheers

From discussions I've read on other Adobe forms, product activation is now
handled by a third-party company on contract to Adobe.

> When I did get a person to talk to the first time, I was told that FreeHand is
> not supported under Leopard and therefore they did not have to help me
> activate it. I questioned this and was then put on hold and then hung up on.

Since Leopard (OS 10.5) is the current Mac OS and Adobe still sells FreeHand
MX through its web site, this strikes me as highly unethical.

The Adobe web site gives Mac system requirements for FHMX as " Mac OS 9.1
through OS X 10.3". Maybe activation tech support takes that as an excuse to
refuse to serve you.

http://www.adobe.com/products/freeha...fo/systemreqs/

Judy Arndt

I would love to see them try to support Mac OS 9.1!! Now that would be
funny. I think they are better off trying to support 10.5.

Rich

Judy Arndt wrote:
> From discussions I've read on other Adobe forms, product activation is now
> handled by a third-party company on contract to Adobe.
>
>> When I did get a person to talk to the first time, I was told that FreeHand is
>> not supported under Leopard and therefore they did not have to help me
>> activate it. I questioned this and was then put on hold and then hung up on.
>
> Since Leopard (OS 10.5) is the current Mac OS and Adobe still sells FreeHand
> MX through its web site, this strikes me as highly unethical.
>
> The Adobe web site gives Mac system requirements for FHMX as " Mac OS 9.1
> through OS X 10.3". Maybe activation tech support takes that as an excuse to
> refuse to serve you.
>
> http://www.adobe.com/products/freeha...fo/systemreqs/
>
> Judy Arndt
>

> ....am I the only one that this does not make any sense to? did anyone
> else
> see any details of this when they read their software license?
> I am disgusted to find that these limits are in place.

I'm disgusted with Adobe in general, but especially in terms of the complete
lack of support for their draconian registration/licensing/install systems.

Alas, what are you going to do? They are a monopoly and know it.

Oh well.

-Darrel

> ....am I the only one that this does not make any sense to? did anyone
> else
> see any details of this when they read their software license?
> I am disgusted to find that these limits are in place.

I'm disgusted with Adobe in general, but especially in terms of the complete
lack of support for their draconian registration/licensing/install systems.

Alas, what are you going to do? They are a monopoly and know it.

Oh well.

-Darrel

> ....am I the only one that this does not make any sense to? did anyone
> else
> see any details of this when they read their software license?
> I am disgusted to find that these limits are in place.

I'm disgusted with Adobe in general, but especially in terms of the complete
lack of support for their draconian registration/licensing/install systems.

Alas, what are you going to do? They are a monopoly and know it.

Oh well.

-Darrel

Hi Judy

Thanks for the info re activation. I will have a look into the resource you
linked to see if it could have been the cause.
I suspect that its not the issue in this case as I had been transferring my
activation between a couple of computers without problems in the few months
preceding this latest activation error (I had forgotten about the earlier
experience).
I think what I find most obnoxious about the latest experience is that the
numbers provided to call go to an Adobe centric activation process that is not
relevant to the Macromedia process. You have to persist on hold until it
finally times out and gives you a polite but largely useless support person
reading from a script to talk to.
What would appear to make it even stupider is the fact that the CS3 products
actually encourage you to activate and de-activate without any mention of
limits etc (touch wood). If this is the case then one has to ask why some other
more restrictive and un-supported process is being used for Macromedia products
that are not even under development any more.
Thanks also for finding those excerpts about the licensing. Its good to know
we have something on the public record even if it could take a class action to
get them to stick to their word or implement a policy that is less difficult.
The Adobe support person was polite on the phone but also left me feeling as
if I was being treated like a software pirate. The only information he would
provide me with, was that I would need to call up next time I wanted to install
the software at which point I would be vetted as to my right to have it. He
provided no indication as to if I would have to call them every time from now
on or anything else despite further questions I put to him.
Anyway... enough ranting...

Cheers Elliot

Hi Judy

Thanks for the info re activation. I will have a look into the resource you
linked to see if it could have been the cause.
I suspect that its not the issue in this case as I had been transferring my
activation between a couple of computers without problems in the few months
preceding this latest activation error (I had forgotten about the earlier
experience).
I think what I find most obnoxious about the latest experience is that the
numbers provided to call go to an Adobe centric activation process that is not
relevant to the Macromedia process. You have to persist on hold until it
finally times out and gives you a polite but largely useless support person
reading from a script to talk to.
What would appear to make it even stupider is the fact that the CS3 products
actually encourage you to activate and de-activate without any mention of
limits etc (touch wood). If this is the case then one has to ask why some other
more restrictive and un-supported process is being used for Macromedia products
that are not even under development any more.
Thanks also for finding those excerpts about the licensing. Its good to know
we have something on the public record even if it could take a class action to
get them to stick to their word or implement a policy that is less difficult.
The Adobe support person was polite on the phone but also left me feeling as
if I was being treated like a software pirate. The only information he would
provide me with, was that I would need to call up next time I wanted to install
the software at which point I would be vetted as to my right to have it. He
provided no indication as to if I would have to call them every time from now
on or anything else despite further questions I put to him.
Anyway... enough ranting...

Cheers Elliot

Hi Judy

Thanks for the info re activation. I will have a look into the resource you
linked to see if it could have been the cause.
I suspect that its not the issue in this case as I had been transferring my
activation between a couple of computers without problems in the few months
preceding this latest activation error (I had forgotten about the earlier
experience).
I think what I find most obnoxious about the latest experience is that the
numbers provided to call go to an Adobe centric activation process that is not
relevant to the Macromedia process. You have to persist on hold until it
finally times out and gives you a polite but largely useless support person
reading from a script to talk to.
What would appear to make it even stupider is the fact that the CS3 products
actually encourage you to activate and de-activate without any mention of
limits etc (touch wood). If this is the case then one has to ask why some other
more restrictive and un-supported process is being used for Macromedia products
that are not even under development any more.
Thanks also for finding those excerpts about the licensing. Its good to know
we have something on the public record even if it could take a class action to
get them to stick to their word or implement a policy that is less difficult.
The Adobe support person was polite on the phone but also left me feeling as
if I was being treated like a software pirate. The only information he would
provide me with, was that I would need to call up next time I wanted to install
the software at which point I would be vetted as to my right to have it. He
provided no indication as to if I would have to call them every time from now
on or anything else despite further questions I put to him.
Anyway... enough ranting...

Cheers Elliot