[Framers] Final note about Adobe Licensing

Fri Jun 22 13:14:26 PDT 2018

So, I debated a bit about posting this information to the list, but decided
in the end that it would be appropriate as it details Adobe's final actions
on this issue.

This morning, at 7 am my phone ring and caller ID stated that it was Adobe.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up the phone, but it was an Adobe
representative who quickly got to the point and stated the following: "We
have processed your request and have issued you a genuine Adobe serial
number for your CS6 suite. We have also updated your Adobe account to
reflect this new serial number. It is effective immediately. Also, I will be
receiving an email with a link to a survey about your customer satisfaction
and kindly fill out and let us know that you were satisfied with how we
resolved your issue." I politely stated my thanks and hung up. 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about the request of a customer
satisfaction survey. . . . I won't be an a***hole, but at the same time, I
wish there was a place to write a lengthy response that wondered why it took
an act of G*D to get this resolved for a longtime customer. I guess what
really fried my about this one is that licensing issues with Adobe have cost
me (and so many others) days of billable work, time, and just plain sanity
and I am sooooooooooo over it. Everybody remember the cluster**** that was
the Adobe Framemaker 10 licensing issue - the one where, apparently, the
licensing adhered to the Mayan end of civilization timeline and all
perpetual licenses just died on 1/1/13? That cost so many of us several days
of time and money.

And for another time - I had a legally purchased (from Adobe) copy of
Acrobat Pro 9 installed and I decided to update to 10. Again, I purchased
from Adobe and when I went to install on my new system, I got flagged w/ the
message that I was installing an upgrade license and that I did not have a
previously installed copy that would allow the installation of the upgrade
to continue, even though I provided the valid license number for 9 at the
prompt that stated enter your previous valid license ID to continue. That
was a whole series of events to get the challenge code, etc. which cost me a
good couple of hours. Another time, and don't ask me how this happened, when
I was installing Acrobat Pro 10 on another new system, I was primed and
ready for the challenge prompt, but lo!!! Somehow, someway, my registered
version of 9 was NOT showing up as a registered product in my list of
products and that took ranting and raving again on the forum until Priyank
stepped in, did some research and found out that someway, somehow, Adobe had
moved my individually purchased and registered license information out of my
account and had it marked as a volume license~!!! No one could explain that
to me, so it was yet another tortuous path to get the all righted in the
world. As yes, Adobe can get in to your account, because along w/ today's
phone call, I also received the message that Adobe had already updated this
new licensing information in my account and yep - when I logged in and
checked, there was the new serial number.

I really, really hope that Adobe has stepped up to the plate and resolved
licensing issues for others out there who are experiencing this ridiculous
issue. It shouldn't be like coming Mt. Everest w/out oxygen to get customer
service and resolution. (Well, actually, climbing Mt. Everest w/out oxygen
is probably simpler and safer, but I that was the best analogy I could think
of in terms of how dangerous and unpredictable things can become!)

I do appreciate all the support on and offlist and the many thoughts of
commiseration I received. I just hope some of this good karma can rub off on
you!!

TGIF!!!

TVB

Tammy Van Boening
Tammy dot vanboening at spectrumwritingllc dot com
www.spectrumwritingllc.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers
<framers-bounces+tammyvb=spectrumwritingllc.com at lists.frameusers.com> On
Behalf Of Rick Quatro
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 8:30 PM
To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.'
<framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Re: [Framers] Final note about Adobe Licensing

I agree that this is a situation that should have never happened. Because of
some software pirates, Adobe puts its loyal customers through grief with all
of the activation and licensing issues. Tammy is one of the many long-time
Adobe customers that have loudly evangelized for Adobe products over the
years. She shouldn't have to beg to activate a program that she already paid
for and registered.

Adobe has its cash cow CC subscription program but has let its customer
support and quality control degrade over the years. It took me about 45
minutes to downgrade my CC subscription to a single product subscription
(InDesign). This somehow caused my installed CS6 programs to stop working.
Another long chat session and they finally got it working. Then I was double
billed on my final month of the full subscription ($53.99 for full CC and
$22.67 for InDesign). I didn't bother to contact them about that; it wasn't
worth another 45 minutes or more to get a refund.

Years ago, Quark was the company that treated their customers like dirt. Now
it is Adobe. I love FrameMaker for its features and its ability to be
automated, but its quality and workmanship is disappointing. Anyway, I don't
rant very much and don't like to be negative, but I know that Tammy and I
aren't the only ones that are frustrated with Adobe Systems. 

Rick Quatro
Carmen Publishing Inc.
rick at frameexpert.com
585-729-6746 NEW!

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers <framers-bounces+rick=rickquatro.com at lists.frameusers.com> On
Behalf Of tammyvb at spectrumwritingllc.com
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 7:04 PM
To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.'
<framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: [Framers] Final note about Adobe Licensing

So, I had some offlist inquiries about how the licensing issue went with
Adobe, and in a nutshell, it didn't.  Here's a quick summary:

1.	Adobe wants proof of purchase or invoice for this extremely old
software. I bought it so long ago (when it first came out), that I simply do
not have that anymore. I do have a registered product, but evidently that is
not good enough.
2.	Adobe provided an email to me that stated that they would be more
than happy to charge me out the wazoo for upgrading to the latest and
greatest subscription version of CS - Basically, pay every year for what I
paid for this one time perpetual license.
3.	They also sent the email below:

You might have been using this license for last couple of years. You are
facing this issue now because Adobe is running a new program
<http://www.adobe.com/genuine.html> http://www.adobe.com/genuine.html under
this, we are running a validation test to check the software is properly
licensed or not. We introduced this in 2016 and gradually we are going to
cover all our customers those who have unknowingly purchased the non genuine
product.  Earlier Adobe was not aware of this counterfeit issue, so even
those invalid serial keys were able to register and use it without any
interruption, but after Adobe notice this issue all those in valid serial
keys were flagged out.

Uhm, OK, but the whole irony is that Adobe is notorious for licensing
problems with valid licenses, so how on earth could an invalid serial number
even be allowed to be registered? I don't buy that at all. I can even
remember a few times entering a license number wrong for a product and
getting an error message and having to double-check and redo my entry!!! So
an invalid number going through unscathed for multiple installations
throughout the years and then blam, it is dead in the water??

Compare this experience to the absolutely incredible one that I had w/
Madcap Flare:

1.	Had a license transferred to me (the whole process took less than 30
minutes.)
2.	Called support to activate the transferred license - someone
answered like in 5 seconds  vs. the hour wait on hold with Adobe w/out any
help whatsoever.
3.	Provided my identifying information, CRS replied "one sec," and
voila, license was activated, and now working beautifully in Flare.
4.	Just downloaded the latest and greatest version of Flare and
automatically get one month of PLATINUM support (yes, PLATINUM support) for
free. Have a whole list of questions I want to ask, submitted them to MadCap
and they are setting a specific time for me to use this support to get all
my questions answered.

Final result - Flare purchased and is being used for a new client project
with the prospect of another soon. Adobe was absolutely NO longer in the
running. . . .I will have to stick w/ Adobe for my long time clients that
know it and have been using the setup that I established for them - but
going forward, unless a client really balks, it's Flare.

TVB

Tammy Van Boening

Principal/Owner

Spectrum Writing, LLC

www.spectrumwritingllc.com <http://www.spectrumwritingllc.com> 

303-840-1755

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