The company will enable licensees to deactivate a license on one machine in order to install it on another, but analysts take a wait-and-see attitude.Starting with its Creative Suite 2, Adobe Systems Inc. has implemented a feature that has met with some controversy: an activation requirement for individual license holders, both on the Mac and Windows side.
Once installed, users must register their copies of CS2 either over the Internet or by telephone within 30 days or the software will no longer be usable. CS2 is scheduled to ship in May.
"Adobe's product license agreement permits the licensee to install and use the software on a primary computer, and another computer for home [or] portable use, provided these are not used simultaneously by the licensee," said Mihir Nanavati, senior product manager of license management technologies at Adobe.
"Activation does not collect, transmit or use any personally identifiable information or hinder licensed users' ability to use the software the way they always have under the Adobe product license agreement," Nanavati said, adding that the process is identical for both U.S. and international customers.
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Activation schemes are not new in the software space. Microsoft Corp. has required users to activate Windows versions of Microsoft Office since Office XP was released in 2001. Apple Computer Inc.'s Logic Pro requires licensees to plug in a USB hardware dongle to use the program, while Final Draft's screenwriting software has had an activation scheme in place since its inaugural version came out in 1991.
Before the release of CS2, however, Adobe had not adopted, except in isolated cases, widespread piracy prevention technology across its product line. According to Nanavati, the original version of Adobe's Creative Suite and Photoshop CS had an activation setup for Windows users in five of the 18 languages in which the software is available.
Read the full story on Publish.com: Apprehension Greets Adobe's CS2 Activation Scheme
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