And this is why…

I just bought a new Mac: the old one was five years old and beginning to be a little slow for comfort, for my heavy and intensive Lightroom use. The new one: 27″ 5k retina screen, fast processor, lots of RAM, fast graphics; fusion drive: a dream. It starts everything “instantly”. Amazing.

(By the way, the old one, a 27″ iMac, mid 2011, would also be great for most people. Interested? Ping me).

Fine. So I install Lightroom. But I cannot run it, because I need to deactivate it on another computer:

Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 11.54.58 AM

And now we hit a few snags. One is that Adobe don’t tell me how to do that. And when you search it, all you see is links to the CC product: the “pay us every month so you will pay thousands and thousands” kind. Instead, I have the app. It’s mine (or at least the license is).

After much searching, I think the solution is to de-install from the old machine. But that will not work either: obviously, to properly transfer everything, including plugins and settings, I will need both to work for a week

Well, tough. Adobe will not let me.

And that is why people hate licensing, passwords, “call home” checks… and Adobe, one of the worst offenders in these areas.  That is why they pirate software. I don’t mind paying for products at all. Value deserves it. What I mind is Adobe trying to stop me from running my business the way I see fit. Adobe: charge me whatever the software costs, then get out of my way.

Fat chance.

Even the normal “30 day trial” option seems to be unavailable. So, other than Pirate Bay, what other options do I have?

I run Little Snitch, software that tells me what apps ask for access to the Internet, and allows me to allow or deny that access. And I must say, Adobe is a very bad offender: dozens of calls to dozens of sites when you as much as start up the software.

My advice: beware, because these corporations are obtaining more and more power to run your life, or to deny you the right to run it the way you like. One day this will bite back, hard.

I am glad Apple seems to have found its post-Jobs voice in the current FBI/encryption disagreement. We need more such critical thinking. 1984, anyone?

 

 

4 thoughts on “And this is why…

  1. I enjoy using my PSE and LR software from Adobe….but I must say, the most disturbing thing about their software is Adobe Flash. The virus writers love that vulnerable software. And Sumatra’s PDF reader is much better than Adobe’s, too.

    PS: glad to see you were able to overcome the hacking your web site took.

    • I refuse to install Adobe Flash on my computer, personally.

      And the built-in Preview app on OS X is good enough for PDF viewing that I don’t bother with Adobe Reader either.

      The only Adobe software I use now is Photoshop, Lightroom, and occasionally Illustrator and Premiere.

  2. “So I install Lightroom. But I cannot run it, because I need to deactivate it on another computer, And now we hit a few snags. One is that Adobe don’t tell me how to do that”. Michael, to deactivate your copy on the old computer go to the help tab and it should drop down the deactivate option.The repeat on the new install and repeat to activate.I have hard copies installed on two machines and frequently activate and deactivate depending on which computer I need.
    P.S., I refuse the rent the software approach too.

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