[Framers] Final note about Adobe Licensing

Sat Jun 23 08:18:34 PDT 2018

Thanks for the update, Tammy. Glad to hear that somehow at least one
empowered Adobe employes was able to take action and restore your license.
Let's hope that this indicates that the system might be getting the
attention to fix the issue for the rest of us.

I received an email about my AdobeID account not being accessed within some
past months, and the need to go into it soon, before it's completely killed
off. The note from Jules Harrell puts a little more clarity on what's going
on. Thanks for that info.

The history of the tech industry is littered with HUGE companies that have
disappeared when their neglect and abuse of customers became known. Here's
hoping that Adobe's smart enough to not make the same kinds of mistakes.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 3:14 PM, <tammyvb at spectrumwritingllc.com> wrote:

> 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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