Did you buy your Photoshop or Lightroom or download it illegally?

Did you buy your Photoshop or Lightroom or download it illegally?

  • Option 1

    Votes: 109 72.7%

  • Option 2

    Votes: 107 71.3%
  • Total voters
    150
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I bought my Lightroom and CS3 design premium, I was awarded CS5.5 Web premium as a disabled student along with my Mac. I can not be bothered to go looking for a free copy and I could not live with myself if I did. I have bough every 2nd/3rd Photoshop since 4or 5 it has paid for its self many times over. I am not sure if I would upgrade again as I can not see any features they could add over 5, I would like to see content aware cloning in Lightroom though. If I could not afford it etc I would go either for PSE or learn to use the Gimp, the Gimp in itself is reason to me that there is no excuse to use a dodgy copy of PS. There is a lot of free good software out there, I use Picasa and open office on my netbook, they do a good job.
 
This is Foolishness

This is Foolishness

I's rather see who has the oldest version of Photoshop. I have a working version of Photoshop 2 on a non Power PC Mac. That's the first Adobe branded version.
 
I downloaded a trail version of Lightroom and did not like it, so I did not pay for it and uninstalled it after the trial expired. I have done the same with other products.

I do use ACDSee Pro, which I did pay for.
 
Bob Michaels said:
...
I feel strongly about software piracy. I have invested my time and money in software / software technology companies. I own a small amount of Adobe (and Microsoft as well) currently. As such I have paid for all the software I have ever had on my computer since 1985. It is not an academic or philosophical issue for me. It is part of my money.
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I would like to remind you of your signature... "it depends"
I downloaded illegally Lightroom, tried it out, discussed it with my colleques, gone to my boss, had said we need this, and he buyed 6 licences.
For playing around and learning I don't buy software. For serious use already.

So it seems Adobe has more won then lost.
Sadly I think, I can't buy any Adobe product without being reminded at your small huckster soul.
...part of my money... my treasure...
 
Lame.

I never really had an opinion about you, but I definitely do now.

Bob


Bob Michaels said:
Remember when we pay $600 for Photoshop, we are paying $400 for our share of the development and support cost for our copy.

And each of us is paying an additional $200 to cover those same costs for *********************** and other people who did not pay theirs.

When we pay $150 for Lightroom, whether direct purchase or bundled in the price of a M9, we are paying about $100 for our share of the costs plus another $50 for ***********************who did not pay their share.

Thanks to all of you who were honest and help pay your share. Those who did not should not ever expect me to do anything for them.

edit: The lesson is to save confession for church. Don't add your name to a public list of people who took things without paying.
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Bob Michaels said:
Remember when we pay $600 for Photoshop, we are paying $400 for our share of the development and support cost for our copy.

And each of us is paying an additional $200 to cover those same costs for Bill Roberts, cmdrzed, colyn, danielmk2, forsakenrider, jarski, Mablo, MaxFrank, meso, Tadhgo and other people who did not pay theirs.

When we pay $150 for Lightroom, whether direct purchase or bundled in the price of a M9, we are paying about $100 for our share of the costs plus another $50 for cmdrzed, colyn, forsakenrider, haempe, karlori, MaxFrank, rxmd, Travis L. who did not pay their share.

Thanks to all of you who were honest and help pay your share. Those who did not should not ever expect me to do anything for them.

edit: The lesson is to save confession for church. Don't add your name to a public list of people who took things without paying.
Click to expand...

April fools!!! You were kidding....Weren't you?

Joe
 
I got the CS3 from research center I worked for (and don't since about a year) so technically I am not using a legal version anymore. I do not feel comfortable about it though. I am considering a full Photoshop version, but will first research other possibilities as paying about 900 € is a bit on the high side for somebody using the software only for hobby and on average 1 - 2 hours a week. I would love to see a different type of license for non commercial use for some 300 € or so. Elements does not cut it for me.

I do not consider getting a cracked latest version (which, frankly, can always be done) - my dignity does not allow me to go that far.
 
Years ago a coworker was caught using proprietary diagnostic software by the computer system manufacturer.
Not surprisingly they sued. The court awarded them an amount greater than the net worth of my company.

I have observed that most people have no qualms about using unlicensed/pirated software.

Chris
 
I use PSE 9 (paid $50 on sale at COSTCO!) in conjunction with LR4. I only use PSE to clone out mistakes like harsh shadows, unavoidable reflections and stuff I forget to move out of the shot. Using PSE is like torture to me so it is punishment for not getting it right when I pressed the shutter.

I also have several paid LR plug ins that do exposure averaging (Photomatix Pro, HDR Efex Pro), selective image processing (Viveza 2) and non-Flash web site production (Impact Web Site Publisher Pro). I bought a stand alone layer masking package (Perfect Layers 2) but I can't figure out how to use it to mask interior windows. I have to try again someday. All these work in conjunction with LR.

Viveza 2 is excellent and saves me a great deal of time when I prepare client images. It's worth every penny. I highly recommend it. Viveza also is a plug in for PSE so I only have to leave LR once for images that need extra help.

Everything these plug ins do can be done with Photoshop. The thing is it would take me weeks of messing around, watching on-line tutorials and paying for courses and books to do it with PS. That time investment just adds to the already astronomical cost of PS. This is why I buy specific plug ins that do exactly what I need. I may spend as much, but my time investment and frustration level is greatly minimized.

I will die happy if I never have to use PS, or Microsoft Office again.
 
Haha, handbags at dawn in this thread.

I tried Lightroom on a free trial and have now bought LR4 (student edition). Will I use it for work? Yes, but not just for work.
 
divewizard said:
I downloaded a trail version of Lightroom and did not like it, so I did not pay for it and uninstalled it after the trial expired. I have done the same with other products.

I do use ACDSee Pro, which I did pay for.
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And that's a piece of software that does the job very effectively without suffering the 'gouge' from adobe IMO.

I have a very old version of photoshop on my ancient PC which I didn't put there. The guy who built the PC installed it though I didn't ask for it .... he had a lot of pirated software!

Strange poll ... that seems to have achieved little!
 
Hmmm.

I have some legal copies of Photoshop Elements, which I didn't specifically pay for as they were bundled with a scanner and a camera I bought. I no longer use them or even have them installed on any computer I use.

I haven't paid for Lightroom because I don't use it and have never installed it - even a legal trial version - on any computer I use. (I have used my father's paid-for copy on his computer; I assume that's OK with the software police, though I may need to watch myself.)

I have a legal copy of Photoshop CS4. I paid full price for Photoshop CS, and have paid the upgrade fees to upgrade from CS to CS2 to CS3 to CS4. So I should get a pass from the software police, right?

Well, maybe not so fast. I may be a piratical eypatch-and-parrot wearing type after all. The full price I paid for Photoshop CS was in the US, and I paid full US price for it. But I brought it here to Australia where Adobe, in their wisdom, want to charge more than twice as much. They also want to charge Australians much more for upgrades than they want to charge people in the US. When I registered my copy of Photoshop CS I registered as a US user (after all, I bought it in the US and - initially - installed and used it there). So each time I've paid the upgrade I've paid US prices, not the far higher Australian prices.

So, am I an illegal, evil, piratical, theiving b*st*rd? Or an honest bloke who has paid for his software?

All you software policemen out there: please tell me.

...Mike
 
greyelm said:
No I wouldn't but I would shop around for the best value for money. Much software is way to expensive which encourages piracy. If these companies pitched them at a reasonable price (like the apple app store does for many apps) then they would sell more. I understand that many app developers have sold millions of their 99cent app. Apple OS X is very low priced compared with Windows and makes it cost effective to upgrade.

I love Lightroom and purchased the latest LR4 with gift vouchers so the price didn't worry me, it would be even better if it was less than 50 dollars.
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I agree one should shop around and find the best deal. Of course it would be great if say Adobe CS was a LOT cheaper than the current MSRP, but the "reasonable" price is rather subjective term. For the amount of money/business I make using the CS, for example, I have no problem paying the current full-price when I have to. But of course that's because I really live off of these tools. Illustrator and Photoshop are running pretty much 24/7 on my machines. But for casual users, hobbyists, and even for occasional freelancers, the current MSRP could be very steep.

There are many other cheaper/free alternatives for Adobe Suite, but you really can't use anything else but CS if you are living in the workflow of your design team. But that's probably not much of problem for hobbyists. And like you said, now Apple is selling Aperture for very "cheap" (again, it is subjective) and there are new options like Snapseed for photo enthusiasts. I think the trend is definitely in favor of extremely low priced apps (and sell more copies) so maybe Adobe might get on that bandwagon in near future. Of course they do currently sell more casual apps for computer and mobile devices at a lot lower prices as as well.

I think the market and the technology/industry trends will force the companies to adjust the price and strategy if they want to survive. It is rapidly heading to that direction now as there are so many alternatives popping out everyday.

Film photography is my hobby, and even for that hobby, I wouldn't rob someone to get a Leica because I can't justify the price tag for the hobby tool. I don't think most of us would. Many of us here are fortunate to be able to afford Leica and other expensive photography tools, and only handle full of us are using that Leica for living. (I'm not) There are many other alternatives to Leica if you want to enjoy RF photography with a lot lower cost. And either you are professional requiring a specific camera system or hobbyist and could use whatever you want, you won't be steeling the camera, and the "reasonable" price varies greatly depending on your situation. I think the software should be treated in the same way.

I continue to buy all of my tools that I need. And like you said, it would be nice if the price was lower. :) And legal/illegal gray zone talk is a bit beyond my ability. I'm probably breaking some laws once in a while, if not more often in my life. Some are intentional because I see it's not biggie, and some are completely unintentional. In the end, I just have to try to obey my own ethics, guidelines, rule books to/for myself, and that's the best I can do anyway.
 
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