Unsupported adobe software

[glbeas]

Has anybody figured out what adobe did to our computers to allow the older versions of photoshop to run? Since they no longer support the versions up to CS6 i think, it seems someone would have figured out a patch that would allow you to run a version you bought and own on Windows 10. I would love to have my CS3 up and running again so I can work on my digital negatives. Gimp doesnt have the features needed to do the necessary steps.

 

[4season]

I'm guessing that it's updates to Windows security which broke your CS3. It might be possible to continue to use it under an older version of Windows running as a virtual machine.

 

[koraks]

Gimp doesnt have the features needed to do the necessary steps.

Out of curiosity, what are those? A lot has been added to GIMP3 that wasn't available in 2.x

I can't help you with the Adobe problem; I stopped using their software altogether.

 

[glbeas]

I'm guessing that it's updates to Windows security which broke your CS3. It might be possible to continue to use it under an older version of Windows running as a virtual machine.

Im thinking of the stack entries and hidden files the installer puts in place when you go to verify with the serial number on the disk case. Since the website no longer exists to do those changes it would be nice to know what was going on behind the scene and figure a way to do it manually.

 

[glbeas]

Out of curiosity, what are those? A lot has been added to GIMP3 that wasn't available in 2.x

I can't help you with the Adobe problem; I stopped using their software altogether.

Its mainly to do with creating the gradient layer and applying it to the image file. Details are in Mrhars Easy Digital Negatives book. I can find very little in Gimp that corresponds to the instructions for the Photoshop process.

 

[koraks]

I don't have Mrhar's book, but the feature that's known as dynamic adjustment layers in Photoshop was introduced in Gimp 3.0. Anyway, if your work instructions are Adobe-based, then evidently the easiest solution is to use Adobe. IDK what their plans are on a monthly basis, but this is what you pay for - conformity.

 

[Tom Taylor]

CS3 runs as normal on both Windows 10 and the new Windows 11 machines. I know because I had it installed on both. Here's Adobe's explanation:

Regrettably, we must inform you that Adobe officially announced the discontinuation and end-of-life status for CS3 and earlier legacy products several years ago. As a result, the activation servers for older versions of Acrobat and Creative Suite (CS) applications have been retired. Consequently, without these activation servers, these application will not reactivate on new or same machine. If you still have CS3 product already installed and activated on any device, you can still use them. But they can't be re-activated anymore on new or same devices.

In the past, as a goodwill gesture, we provided free replacement serial numbers for CS3 when Adobe was offering one-time exceptions for CS2 and CS3 users. However, this process has also been discontinued in accordance with our support policies. At this time, we no longer have access to download links, updates, knowledge base articles, tools, or support teams to assist with the activation or installation issues related to these end-of-life products.

Here is the replacement serial number that they provided to me at the time: 1045-1631-8110-5780-1232-7825. Try it and see if that number will work on your machine. If it does, check "Never Register" when prompted.

Note, however, that if you get it to work on your, say Windows 10 machine and you move it to the newer Windows 11 machine, then you can only use it for 30 days until it needs to be activated by Adobe. This explains Adobe's unscrupulous motivation:

As a valued long-term customer, we are pleased to offer you the latest Photoshop CC subscription at a discounted price of $13.79 per month, along with an additional eight free months on an annual plan, as approved by our management team (one-time exception). This discounted price offer is available only for limited time period. The latest Photoshop CC subscription includes the following benefits:

Bunch of thieves, in my opinion.

Thomas

 

[glbeas]

I cant get into that subscription model. I dont use it enough to be worth it. I paid for CS3 and expected to use it for a lot longer. I’ll try that new number and see what happens, thanks for the info!

 

[koraks]

I'm with you on that; sorry I can't offer any help other than mentioning that I stopped using Adobe a few years ago and decided I'd try and get the job (whatever it turns out to be) done with alternatives. So far, that's always succeeded. There are some use cases where it's difficult or maybe even impossible to use GIMP for some purposes; e.g. for channel separations (for color printing, in particular custom spot colors) Adobe really has the edge. The same is true for their halftone screening options, although GIMP can be used for at least the latter (I've tried it; works quite well), I think Adobe's PostScript output is more robust (then again, they invented it...)

When it comes to digital negatives and the processes of linearization and adjustment curves, there's no reason this cannot be done with GIMP - it's just that the process will be different from a description based on Photoshop. That's an inconvenience as it means you have to basically reconstruct the same process in a different 'language'. But it can be done; I've done plenty of linearizations using GIMP - but not using Mrhar's guide, so I can't tell you how to translate his particular approach to GIMP.