Update: this was too good to be true, and Adobe shut it down (the dead link is not a result of overload). Read what this download was all about after the jump.
Here is something I did not see coming. (and had to verify that it was not April’s 1st for a second). Adobe has just release their entire Creative Suit for free download.
It is not the latest version, but rather the 2005 CS2 version, but it rocked back then and it still rocks today if you are looking for a free photo editing program, video editing program, layout and all the rest of Adobe’s Creative suite goodies.
I figure Adobe would rather people use their (bit dated) software for free than have 60% of its users pirate it.
For the complete Creative suite download including the manuals, installation discs (win or mac), serials and the works head over to Adobe’s site.
You need an Adobe account to download, but you can easily generate one for free.
I am really hoping that Adobe is starting a trend here and will advance the free version as they roll out new commercially available versions.
Update: it seems that Adobe were not releasing free software after all. A message on the Adobe support forum indicates that the download page was meant for photographers who bought CS2, but needed to reactivate it. The download link has now been disabled. Here is what the Adobe forum says:
“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…” #
Two things: 1. CS2 is 7 years old, it would have been an interesting signal to the software community if Adobe released the files under some sort of permissive license; and 2. I would hate to be the IT guy who did not protect this directory with a password.
Update 2: Here is the official announcement from Adobe’s blog. I hope they will help their customers with each new version that rolls out.
Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers. While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers.
