At my wits end with software companies.

scharky

scharky

Veteran
What I'm about to say may offend some companies, but at this point I don't care any longer. I have always bought my software, have been a big supporter of non pirated software, but today may have changed my whole outlook on this. So I have been working on a project for the last two weeks, very high budget Microsoft shoot (and no this doesn't involve microsoft). I got the final revisions tonight and have to have it ready to go to D5 tommorow morning. So I have one after effects change that I have to make. I go and open after effects CS3 which I purchased just for this job, had to make the upgrade, and all of a sudden it gives me BS about my security key being invalid. Well, it's 9:40 PM, I can't get customer service and now becasue of some ****ing glitch my expensive software no longer will open, becasue it's protecting itself from Pirates? **** YOU adobe. This isn't the first time this has happend. Back with Photoshop CS I was on location on a shoot about 3 hours from the closest internet connection, and all of a sudden Adobe is telling my my system settings have changed and it needs to reconnect to Adobes site to re activate before I can use it. **** YOU adobe.
RIght now I am in the process of reinstalling, but from the looks of it online, it doesn't seem like this is going to work. That's right **** YOU Adobe.
 
It might be of no use to you, but Adobe's trial-version of AE is pretty much fully functional and doesn't watermark renders anymore. Of course, it wont do you any good if you used some plugins that wont be supported by the trial version, but it might be worth a shot to DL and try opening the project that way. Sorry to hear about the trouble.
 
I had that happen to me with my Sony DVD Architect program. Frickin annoying. Luckily mine wasn't for big job.

Good luck man.
 
I would do the trial thing, but I started this with the download of the Trial of CS3 to see if it had everything I needed. It did, so I bought it, so now the trial will no longer run on my system, aint that great :). Thanks for the suggestion though. UPdate, just tried reinstalling, no luck :( Now I'm really pissed.
 
You know what's funny, is tommow morning I have to make the drive over to Microsoft studios in Redmond, guess what other company is located in Redmond WA :(.
 
Ya i know what you mean. Codes and numbers are fine, but when programs have to phone home to check piracy and require activation over the internet and phone, its total BS and just a slap in the face of those who purchased.

(...i love apples software btw )
 
So, if we see tomorrow morning on the news that Adobe headquarters has been burned to the ground, we'll know who we should deny egging on to do so.

Do it! Jk ;)
 
Yea after effects has died on me at exactly the wrong time, i had to VNC into a friends computer and finish my project getting 1 FPS over the internet... im glad it turned out ok.. LOL
 
Well I finally just installed it on my laptop and things seem to be working ok, but what a pain in the ass. You can be assured that Adobe will get a piece of my mind once they open up at their "oh so convienient" business hours.
 
Product Activation is indeed evil. After Effects (version 7 and newer) is already on my list of products to boycott due to activation. It's a shame that so many companies refuse to respect their paying customers by allowing them to utilize the products they paid for without having to ask for permission first.
 
They're kind of killing themselves with the product activation crap. No matter what they do, pirates will find a way around it. They're actually making it easier to steal the software than it is to buy it. Not exactly what they had in mind, I would imagine.
 
I had a similar problem with Epson's proprietary CD printing software. There CS hours include Saturday, but nobody who was there could help me. I had a job due at 9AM Monday morning, and they swore someone would get back to me in 48 hours. That was about 3 weeks ago. Luckily I was able to find a way around the glitch after working on it all weekend.

I hate that crap.
 
This is just bad engineering. And bad marketing. Software protection should be designed in such a way, that it is EASIER to use the software for paying customers than it is for pirates. As is, badly engineered software protection does the opposite. Example: many compnies (for instance, Final Draft screenplay writing software) have this stupid scheme by which you have to go to a lot of hassle every time you want to use it on more than one computer or need to change your hard drive or reinstall the OS or whatever ("please insert disc, blah, blah, blah). Meanwhile, cracked versions by pirates avoid all these hassles, and are way, way more user friendly. A good friend of mine did this with Final Draft - he actually bought the software, but then went ahead and downloaded a cracked version from bittorrent and uses only the cracked version... now, clearly this is a guy who is willing to pay (and he did!), but he still prefers to use the cracked version. That is a perfect example of where the software companies do bad engineering and bad marketing - when you alienate your paying customers. You can do nothing about pirates who will always have a price advantage (free!) - but you should never, ever hand them a FUNCTIONAL advantage.

What bad protection engineering does, is promote piracy - even by people willing to pay.
 
Thanks for the warning re Adobe's engineering problems. Adobe has a very active forum, perhaps you should raise the issue there where it is sure to be brought to their attention.
 
I hate that about Final Draft. I work on 2 desktops and a laptop. I either have to carry the disc with me or pay extra to have more tha one computer "authorized"

Nonsense.
 
Hey Shcarky, I totally understand your situation, my theoretical solution:

{Legal Notice}, I do not take any liability, the following is my view only, it is merely for theoretical discussions only:

Since you brought the original software, you are allowed (I think) to have backup copies. And in this manner you may think of a pirated version as also a backup copy. It is technically the same compiled program, albeit with restrictions removed, however since you have a valid license, you would not have such restrictions in any case. If a software malfunction is causing restrictions, then it is restricting your legitimate right, to access it under that circumstance in another mean.

If you had lost your car keys or damaged them, you would rightly call upon a locksmith to effectively "break in", of course if you call upon a locksmith to open a vehicle that you do not own then that is completely different issue entirely.

Any pirated version may lock up your system, even legitimate versions on that system, so a dummy install on an expendable PC may be wise.
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I am merely talking in hypothetical terms and none of the above constitutes any form of advise or Personal consent.

Anhar
 
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I agree with Anhar, and would go so far as to say Pirated software is likely as reliable as the "authorized" product, if not more so. You be sure to tell Adobe I said that.
 
:Drogar-Dum(DBG):
scharky said:
Well I finally just installed it on my laptop and things seem to be working ok, but what a pain in the ass. You can be assured that Adobe will get a piece of my mind once they open up at their "oh so convienient" business hours.
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Me too! Me too! Me too!
 
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