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Adobe Warns Creative Cloud Users With Older Apps of Legal Problems (engadget.com) 173

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers who haven't updated their apps in a while may want to check their inboxes. The software company has sent out emails to customers warning them of being "at risk of potential claims of infringement by third parties" if they continue using outdated versions of CC apps, including Photoshop and Lightroom. From a report: These emails even list the old applications installed on the subscribers' systems, and in some cases, they mention what the newest available versions are. In a response to a customer complaint on Twitter, the AdobeCare account said users can only download the two most recent variants of CC apps going forward.

A spokesperson said in a statement, "Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and were provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions." However, the spokesperson said Adobe can't comment on claims of third-party infringement, as it concerns ongoing litigation.
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Adobe Warns Creative Cloud Users With Older Apps of Legal Problems More

Adobe Warns Creative Cloud Users With Older Apps of Legal Problems

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  • I guess the upgrade to the new version is free of charge?

    • Now please, that would get in the way of things... if you're busy using bullshit fear-mongering to sell product, the last thing you want to do is give any of that product away. Doubly so when the end-goal is perpetual debt-slavery

    • Re:So you buy Photoshop, than can't use it anymore (Score:5, Informative)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:14AM (#58589586) Homepage Journal

      It's a subscription.

      instead of dropping a one time fee to use an app for 10 years.. you have to pay every year and have the application change on you every now and then, you wanted it or not.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ruddk ( 5153113 )

        And you have to pay pr. year. There's a "monthly" subscription, but they are still going to charge you for a year.

        • There is a monthly subscription, you just get a discount for paying for a whole year. We've used it a few times for freelancers.

      • Regardless, have you read your agreements with any software where you purchased a perpetual license? What are the manufacturer's obligations to you in the event their product is found to be infringing on someone else's IP?

        Maybe you have no rights, in which case you are left with potentially infringing software. If there are obligations on the vendor, I'll guess they don't include redeveloping your existing version to be non-infringing, rather they probably have the right to license the rights or to redevelo

      • This sounds like a great advertisement for the Affinity products, Phantom PDF, and other tools.

        I just don't understand why Adobe is doing this. They may think they are the only game in town, but there are competitors starting to appear which are evolving and getting just as good.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by OYAHHH ( 322809 )

          I know I just bought Affinity Photo for my MacBook Pro. I got a good deal (at that time) on Photoshop/Lightroom and bought a couple years subscription for my Windoze machine, so no need for Affinity there for a while. When subscription is up I'm probably done with Adobe.

          For vector type stuff I still use Paintshop Pro which has served me well for years and years now.

      • It's a subscription.

        instead of dropping a one time fee to use an app for 10 years.. you have to pay every year and have the application change on you every now and then, you wanted it or not.

        This is why I'm still on CS6 lol

      • It's a subscription.

        Yep. I got tired of $50/month and switched to Affinity tools, which I can buy. They work just fine for my needs.

      • And totally at the mercy of what they think they can get away with. This is a company without decent competition (yet)

        https://www.canonrumors.com/adobe-testing-new-price-point-for-the-creative-cloud-photography-plan/ [canonrumors.com]

    • I guess the upgrade to the new version is free of charge?

      Bwahahahaha!!
      I needed a good laugh to start the day and I salute you for providing it!

    • I guess the upgrade to the new version is free of charge?

      It is if you keep paying.

    • Yes, that's exactly how it works. If you are subscribed to Creative Cloud, upgrades are incremental and free. However you pay a monthly fee to use the product, regardless of whether it is the upgraded version or not.
  • or $REALLYBADTHING might happen to you.

  • Is there a list anywhere of specifically which versions of Adobe software are affected by this?

    • Every version that doesn't have a yearly support contract attached to it, I bet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by teg ( 97890 )

        Every version that doesn't have a yearly support contract attached to it, I bet.

        The opposite. This only affects old CC versions. If you bought a version before Adobe went subscription only, you can keep using it - but if you have a subscription and have skipped applying upgrades, they want to force you into doing so.

    • The article mentions:

      * The older Photoshop CC 18.1.6 and earlier,
      * Flash 2015 (15.0), and
      * Animate 15.2 and 16.0.

      Does anyone know if Adobe has an official list?

    • Re:List of affected versions? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by the_skywise ( 189793 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:23AM (#58589644)
      Yeah - I'm curious too but from what I can gather from the article and some quick searching it appears that Dolby sued Adobe for not properly paying Dolby for use of their tech on a per install basis and pulled their license making whatever Adobe put out using that unnamed tech in violation.
      The bigger issue is that this new "rule" applies to EVERYTHING going forward and the question is will they force remove the "unlicensed" apps or attempt to penalize you in some way especially once your subscription roles over and you re-agree to the EULA.

      Or in the words of Darth Vader "Prey I do not alter the bargain any further"

      This will get more interesting in the future as all apps are run IN the cloud on their servers and features can be dropped at whim and users will have no recourse.
    • Not really an official list, but here's an post claiming to be the email from Adobe which lists a bunch of products and versions, More of the Adobe Saga [dpreview.com].

  • WE have decided YOU no longer have a license. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nitehawk214 ( 222219 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:09AM (#58589524)

    "Oh its not our fault."

    What bullshit. They are just flexing their muscle to see if they can force upgrades. They desperately want to make sure everyone is on their yearly pay model.

    • Re:WE have decided YOU no longer have a license. (Score:5, Informative)

      by TWX ( 665546 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:11AM (#58589552)

      And this is what happens when the IT department or the end user accepts the Software as a Service model.

      We need to wholly reject this idea.

      • We can, but enough people won't so this will continue to happen.

      • Frankly, SaaS has so many advantages that relatively minor issues like this are more than worth it, at least in my opinion. Seriously, this actually affects a very small number of users.

        If you must have a specific version of the software, why are you paying for the subscription? Just buy a copy of the version you need.

        • If you must have a specific version of the software, why are you paying for the subscription? Just buy a copy of the version you need.

          They may not SELL the version you want. Many companies are moving from perpetual licence to subscription-only. "Used" licences are the only way to get new perpetual ones, and there's no guarantee of the authenticity of them.

          in the case of Adobe, 2013 is when they moved to subscription only.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by antdude ( 79039 )

        This is why I avoid these online DRM craps when possible.

    • They desperately want to make sure everyone is on their yearly pay model.

      Not in this case. If one is a CC user then one is already on the subscription model.

      • I am surprised I had to go this far to find someone pointing this out. This isn't Evil Adobe(tm) forcing people to use Software as a Service, this is the people who have already bought in to SaS being told they should upgrade. They are not making any more or less money off these individuals, as the subscription fess are the same whether you upgrade or not.

    • Nope. Them depreciating perfectly working APIs such as the geotagging for Lightroom API asking users to upgrade in order to continue to use something with zero additional functionality is "forcing upgrades".

      This is just lawyers reminding everyone why they need to burn in hell.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by darkain ( 749283 )

      The bigger issue is that this only effects people already paid into their yearly model. The effected versions are Adobe CC products, just ones that are a few years old instead of the current install. These people are still paying the subscription fee every month.

  • Software Rentals are Better! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Software rentals solve this problem. As companies merge, features that are expensive can be licensed seperately, making it actually CHEAPER for consumers,as they pay for what they use.

    • Re:Software Rentals are Better! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by maralatho ( 5087207 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:30AM (#58589686)
      Cheaper? When you rent, you never stop paying. The price is infinite. And if you stop paying, what you did pay for stops working. Worst deal imaginable.

  • "I'll take Why I never changed from Lightroom Classic for $500 Alex"
    Why I never went to cloud

    • ^^^ this ^^^

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by wwphx ( 225607 )
      Ditto. Bought Creative Suite CS6 when the subscription model was announced, never looked back. I'll have a decision point in a few years when Apple changes their CPU architecture, I'll probably just stick with used Intel equipment and Mojave and pre- OS versions, or VMs.
  • I thought moving to the "cloud" was supposed to prevent this type of garbage from occurring.
    • That was idealism.
      Then they found that they could make a steady amount of money and all bets were off.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      How about this adobe --> FUCK YOU!

    • I thought moving to the "cloud" was supposed to prevent this type of garbage from occurring.

      Where did you hear that from? I don't at all recall that being one of the touted "benefits".

    • I thought moving to the "cloud" was supposed to prevent this type of garbage from occurring.

      If you pay the fees and download the latest then it does. Adobe keeps you up to date. They also offer you the chance to download an older version to install for local use for those times when you can't get to the cloud. Adobe famously left the download link open to the world back when this was CS2, and they posted the registration keys on the download page, too.

    • I thought moving to the "cloud" was supposed to prevent this type of garbage from occurring.

      That's part of the bullshit that "cloud" salespeople liked to spread. But anyone who has spent more than one second thinking about it quickly realized that it was extending one hand in friendship, only to use it to pull you into the knife held in the other hand.

  • And you were expecting saints? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This IS adobe. Bringer of evil.

  • If Dolby sues users then users can sue Adobe (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:14AM (#58589588)
    Adobe is the one who apparently violated their licensing agreement with Dolby, which is what necessitated Adobe's sunsetting of these older versions of CC apps. Adobe can't just do a jujitsu move and parry their legal issues onto its users with this announcement.
    • The original version of the subscription agreement talked about the license you are paying for only being guaranteed for the latest release of the product. It may no longer apply to the version you have installed. You will be required at times to update. For support you must be using the newest version.

      It is perfectly legal what they are doing because you are no longer buying a product, you are buying a subscription license for their current version of the product.

  • Welcome to the subscription business model (Score:5, Informative)

    by Comboman ( 895500 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:16AM (#58589598)
    You keep paying and paying, yet you never actually own anything.
  • Who expected that?

  • SaaS strong arming? No, legit license issues (Score:5, Interesting)

    by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:21AM (#58589630)

    This is why proprietary SaaS software sucks: You DON'T own it, you license it, aka pay a monthly rent / tax.

    On my work MBP I have Photoshop CC, on my home MBP I have Photoshop CS6. There is few differences in functionality but at least I can use the CS6 version indefinitely.

    So what versions are effected?

    * The older Photoshop CC 18.1.6 and earlier,
    * Flash 2015 (15.0), and
    * Animate 15.2 and 16.0.

    Looks like it is due to Dolby licensing. (Why is Photoshop effected???)

    It is too bad GIMP still sucks (still doesn't render native layer effects from PS CS2 .psd properly) and are clueless about retaining a Photoshop keyboard shortcut compatibility option. More people could be free.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It is too bad GIMP still sucks (still doesn't render native layer effects from PS CS2 .psd properly) and are clueless about retaining a Photoshop keyboard shortcut compatibility option. More people could be free.

      Don't use Adobe file formats with gimp. As for as shortcuts? Who cares, it is easy to learn a new set of shortcuts.

      • > Don't use Adobe file formats with gimp.

        I've been using Photoshop before GIMP even existed.

        Do you even understand the concept of migration? What am I supposed to do with all my old, existing .psd files? The ENTIRE point is to REPLACE Photoshop with another tool.

        > As for as shortcuts? Who cares, it is easy to learn a new set of shortcuts. /whoosh

        1. I use *both* PS and GIMP.

        2. Was I complaining about having to learn a new set of shortcuts? No.

        3. The User Experience of GIMP is badly designed and badly i

        • 3. The User Experience of GIMP is badly designed and badly implemented. If the GIMP team was smart they would make it as easy as possible for PS users to switch instead making them waste their time

          Sadly, this is true. For a piece of software that's been around for so long, it's still clunky as hell. It's functional, but the UI is for shit.

          Refresh the UI, make it easy to remap the key bindings, and rename it to something that that sounds less weird and goofy. Make plugins easier and more stable. Do those things and usage would probably skyrocket.

          The name "GIMP" has the same problem that the author of the FCK Editor had. He's German (I think) and he named it after his initials, "FCK", not realizing tha

          • If you don't know about single-window mode, look into single-window mode. At least they got that right. It makes a massive difference.

            • If you don't know about single-window mode, look into single-window mode. At least they got that right. It makes a massive difference.

              Yep, that's the first setting I change on a new GIMP install. That whole multiple floating window thing probably sounded like a good idea at the time but in reality it was just annoying and counter-productive.

    • Re:SaaS strong arming? No, legit license issues (Score:5, Informative)

      by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:49AM (#58589800) Homepage Journal

      It is too bad GIMP still sucks (still doesn't render native layer effects from PS CS2 .psd properly) and are clueless about retaining a Photoshop keyboard shortcut compatibility option.

      Take a look at Affinity Photo [serif.com], available for both OSX and Windows.

      Brand new engine, often I find it much faster than PS. It also has many of the same keyboard shortcuts, and you can customize all you want.

      I'd say it hits about 98%-99% of anything you'd ever want to do in PS.

      They have a free trial....and I think to buy is like about $50...and they do put out free upgrades.

      They have desktop and iPad versions and the iPad version is amazingly powerful too.

      • Thanks for the tip! I will have to check out Affinity Photo. That's also awesome to hear they have a version I can run on my iPad Pro -- will have to see how it is with the stylus.

        Thanks again for the info. Appreciate it!

        • Thanks for the tip! I will have to check out Affinity Photo. That's also awesome to hear they have a version I can run on my iPad Pro -- will have to see how it is with the stylus.

          Yes, check out the Affinity Photo for iPad Pro.

          Mine is one of the older iPad Pro 10.5" ones that came out, but I got mine loaded with RAM at the time, etc.

          I've been amazed at what it can do, I"ve done like a 10 or so RAW image focus stack that, while it took a minute or two to crunch through, was successful. I'm amazed at how m

          • Just checked out the system requirements for Affinity Photo. It supports:

            * Windows 7
            * OS x 10.10

            No stupid SaaS rental is awesome. That $50 price is sweet with free upgrades.

            Thanks for sharing some of your tips!

            I have a first gen 12.9" iPad Pro w/ 256 GB loaded up with a ton of drawing apps. I just took a look and yup, I don't see Affinity Photo there. Oooh, the iPad version is only $20. OK, I'm sold. Just bought a copy. LOL. :-)

            Alpha support has always been a PITA with PS.

            * Will be interesting to see how m

    • are clueless about retaining a Photoshop keyboard shortcut compatibility option

      I wasn't sure if you are aware but there is a menurc out there to change the keyboard bindings to Photoshop. You can find some information about it here [linuxuprising.com]. If I remember correctly, Adobe wasn't keen on GIMP using PS keyboard layout by default and gave a "friendly" nudge to not do that. For what it's worth, GIMP is pretty good. I get that it is not as good as PS but it is definitely a pretty good piece of software. I'm no professional, I just do yard sale signs, vacation photo touch ups, and other around

      • I've used something in the past with GIMP that mirrored the PS keys (don't recall the name) but it was discontinued. Thanks for the back story. I'm not sure you can copyright key usage.

        I use *both.*

        * For _new_ content I try to use GIMP whenever possible.

        * But until GIMP can import 100% of my existing _older_ .PSD files with ZERO issues, PS isn't going away, sadly.

        Every year GIMP sucks less, but it is STILL not a replacement for PS (yet). I have one file created in PS CS2 that I use as my litmus test to tell

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jimbo ( 1370 )

          I understand the frustrations but who cares about the name? What I associate it with depends on the context and I never even think of the mythological meaning when talking about the application. English is also full of words with several meanings and we unconsciously pick the right one based of context. The tech sector specifically do this a lot, people need to calm their tits.

          • Yes, technical people don't care about the name but marketing 101 says bullshit like this matters, sadly.

            The name is indicative of their philosophy. If they don't even care about having a dumb name then why would I trust them about the rest? Sadly some people dismiss things based on how they sound.

            Worse, it's about brand building and thoughts / emotions conjured up by words. Go take a course in industrial psychology, branding association, and marketing if you don't understand the subtle nuances. Or read s

    • This is why proprietary SaaS software sucks: You DON'T own it, you license it, aka pay a monthly rent / tax.

      Depends. Just because one side says so doesn't make it so. Such a unilateral license agreement hasn't been tested in the courts.

  • It costs nothing to scare customers into thinking they must upgrade, unless you think Adobe execs still have a soul to sell. ;)

  • Patent infringement? SRSLY FUD (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Moneygrab by Adobe. Coupled with their really evil exit clauses for cancelling, this is pure greed.

    Nobody is really going to go to each user and sue you for using software that you bought, that happens to infringe on someone elses patents. They can sue the people that made the software though for infringing the patent.

    It's like Qualcomm suing every intel apple iPhone user instead of apple. That's not going to happen, ever.

    I'd like to see more about this alleged patent. I suspect Adobe is sprouting bullshi

  • I tried uninstalling it (Score:5, Informative)

    by ruddk ( 5153113 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:33AM (#58589700)

    I tried uninstalling the "creative cloud" after my free trial expired. Seems to keep license crap running on the machine. I managed to cleanse the Windows machine, but it OS X keeps telling me that there's some Adobe crap installed that won't work on future versions.
    Apparently, their uninstall procedure, does not uninstall everything. Need to go grep at some point to find the remaining crap.

  • But you kept drinking the Adobe-aid. You have no right to complain.

    • Re:You have had 20+ years to contribute to the GIM (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @10:19AM (#58590070)

      How? I'm a photographer/artist, not a developer. The GIMP team had no interest in my input when I tried years ago, they kept doing things the way they wanted so I stopped trying. I have better things to do than wasting my time with software that doesn't do what I need it to.

      • You can learn to program (just like every other programmer did, nobody is born knowing how to program a computer). You can bring your insights to the public and ask extant programmers to help you gratis by implementing your ideas. You can hire a programmer to work on improving The GIMP. Thanks to the freedom of free software (particularly strongly-copylefted free software such as The GIMP) you already have all the permission you need to do any of these things. You don't need to get The GIMP hackers' to coop

        • Re:Software freedom helps you keep your freedom. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by StormReaver ( 59959 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @01:12PM (#58591452)

          You can learn to program (just like every other programmer did, nobody is born knowing how to program a computer).

          This is a very counter-productive attitude to have, and will do nothing but drive people away. Expecting non-programmers to learn to write complicated software is an unrealistic non-starter. As a software developer with over 30 years of experience, I totally agree with end-users who believe that a software developer's main objective is to create something that their users want. Otherwise, there is little point to releasing software to the public.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jbn-o ( 555068 )

            You say your experience in developing software took you 30 years to get to where it is now, and that is how skills work for everything. As we get older we often find that there comes a time when we have to learn to do some things for ourselves. When it comes to computers, that will sometimes include programming. I'm sure that making photographs works the same way: taking simple shots requires less skill and then one reaches a point where one has to take on the cost and time of learning photography and editi

            • You say your experience in developing software took you 30 years to get to where it is now, and that is how skills work for everything.

              Barring prodigy or genius level intelligence, I agree that it takes a very long time to become proficient in any given skill set.

              I'm sure that making photographs works the same way....

              Yes it does, which is partially my point. People have lives that don't revolve around writing software, and aren't going to spend years learning to do so when they have their real lives to live. While you and I can see the value in Free Software bettering humanity, the vast majority of people see computer software as a tool to get a job done. If you want to appeal to those peop

        • And while he's doing that, he WON'T BE EARNING A LIVING as a photographer/artist. This is the biggest bullshit the OS movement is infected with, expecting every-damned-one to "become a programmer" and spend countless hours learning the program they only want a few things altered on. It's unrealistic and incredibly pompous. Added plus, it's a way to fob off actually doing what the *users* of said software want.

        • Yes, lets have completely novice programmers with little to no direction update the project.

          What could possibly go wrong?

          I don't know if you know this, but all the easy problems are solved on established projects like this. You need experienced programmers putting serious effort in to go to the next level. This kind of effort requires compensation, period. Nobody does this for free.

          Usually the compensation is monetary, but it doesn't have to be. It can be status, or experience, or even just a happy fuzzy fe

    • If I gave you the option of urinating into a cup and you drinking for free or paying a small fee for some "Coolaid" would you drink the piss?

      GIMP is not a competitor to Photoshop. Not by a longshot, and if you poured millions into its development it would continue to fall short.

    • I'm an artist at an animation studio, maybe if I used this software for a hobby at home I could use GIMP, but I don't make the software decisions at the studio.

      We have freelancers working for us that need to turn in work in a consistent format.
      We need to continue work started by other studios.
      We need to use images sent by the clients.
      And it all has to work with our production pipeline and be loaded in the other software we use.

      No one likes Adobe or Autodesk, no one is drinking the cool-aid, some software li

      • I'm an artist at an animation studio, maybe if I used this software for a hobby at home I could use GIMP, but I don't make the software decisions at the studio.

        But it's not for hobbyists! Hobbyists complain about features and GIMP develops scoff at them saying the software is targetting professional level like Photoshop. Professionals don't use it because it's a piece of shit. Who uses it?

        I'm not a professional, nor a hobbyist. I either use a 20 year old copy of Paint Shop Pro (version 5), Paint.NET (which is offered through SCCM at work, and free for commercial and non commercial use), or MSPaint for my minor image manipulation needs. PhotoFiltre is also interest

  • Competition (Score:3)

    by Galaga88 ( 148206 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:39AM (#58589746)

    And Adobe wonders why there's been a boom of third-party competitors to their design products, like Pixelmator, Affinity, etc. Reminder Adobe: There's no such thing as too big to fail.

    • The "boom" in this case is a little firecracker going off in the distance. The "boom" is not a threat to Adobe and you're mad if you think this will affect them in the slightest. .

  • It's about time that the FTC investigate Adobe. They have a monopoly in bitmap editing programs, and now they are throwing their weight around? I made a choice to own software, and not rent it.
  • why doing all your work on the cloud is a good idea. I haven't seen any improvements in cloud services over what my disk resident, forever mine applications do for me.

  • Classic rent-seeking behavior.

    Adobe can go fuck themselves- if I bought it, I own it, and I'll use it for as long as I want.

  • Remember, one of the biggest risks from using Open Source software is the threat of IP infringement.

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