Monday, May 13, 2019

Adobe Warns of Legal Risk to Customers Using Old Versions of Software

I've been vocal on my opinions of the changing landscape of software ownership. I think owning software is a fantasy today, forcing developers to step out of their lane and create subscription models. That's scratching the surface, and I usually don't fault the developers for this, but you can read about that in full here. Adobe recently sent an email to Matt Roszak regarding the use of older Adobe software. It states that because they discontinued some older versions of their software, the user is no longer licensed to use them, and as a result, they may be liable to legal action. Now, please do not take anything I say as legal advice. I don't claim to be knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, but this is what I take from this. Adobe software is used at big companies for big projects. Adobe makes professional software for photo editing, video editing, and way more. So, if a big company were to used software that they technically didn't have the license to because it was out of date, hypothetically, someone could take legal action against them. I'm not saying that's Adobe, but for a company, it's a risk not worth taking. I don't think those using Adobe software for personal use should have much to worry about, but again, I'm not a lawyer. That's just my uneducated, shot-in-the-dark guess. By saying certain versions are no longer licensed to users, Adobe is heavily incentivizing its users to stay up to date with their software. This is a big deal for Adobe because they are able to do this with their subscription model. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, just clever. Again, I heavily prefer the major update model that lets users choose when to upgrade. The scary part comes when Adobe decides to remove a feature. What if a business needs that feature for a project? What if a professor requires that feature for a class assignment? These features could be deprecated at any time with this rule. In short, this likely won't affect too many people, as most (I believe) are satisfied with the current version enough to not care, but we'll have to see if that changes one day.

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