Good and Reliable Texturers

Funny, just yesterday I was fixing a friend's computer cause he thought he had a virus. A scan showed only 262 (yes, two hundred sixty two) separate instances of virii in his Gnutella download directory.

Friends don't let friends drive warez. And, he should have known better.

As others have noted, the GIMP is free and works.

Very good point, Strange, but the only product Adobe does this for is Photoshop 8. You can't use 8 until you validate it online. I would imagine sooner or later they'll do it for all their new products, but I highly doubt they'll go backwards and bother with changing the way the old ones work.

Anyway, the way it works is each copy of Photoshop 8 will work on up to 3 activated computers. You can add a new machine at any time as long as you remove one of the original 3. The way they have it set up is pretty good I think. They've added the extra security the product deserves (although it's not fool proof) while still allowing for people to give it away/sell it if they are no longer using it. If you buy it used you just have to be certain the original owner has de-activated it on all his or her computers.

As I said though, this kind of thing was never done for version 7. As long as you have a valid serial number for installation, you're good to go.

So, once again, GIMP is free, Photoshop 7 can be relatively cheap, and Paintshop Pro is not too expensive either (although I personally hate the program). I would not recommend using Photoshop Elements though, as it does not allow direct access to channels, so making alphas requires quite a bit of work-around knowledge, and takes a lot of extra time.

Amazon.com currently has several copies of Photoshop 7 for sale, including a couple that are advertised as "brand new with factory seal" for $150 and $189. If you have the money, go with that. If not, go with GIMP.

Someone can search this out if interested because I don't have the details. But last night on the news, it was reported that a guy was being sued by Microsoft for selling his personally purchased copy of a piece of their software on eBay ))

As far as IT where I work, I work for an organization that employs more than 15,000 people. One would assume he knows better. If not, oh well. Our conversation was not about who my company purchases software from. It was about me discussing the outrageous price of Photoshop.

Oh and incidentally, I tried Gimp. Nuff said.

It's definitely a hefty pricetag for a hobbiest but there's no way I'd call the price of PS outrageous. It's a professional tool aimed at the professional market. Print designers who use it tend to bill out at around $75-150 an hour. When you look at it that way (they can make back their investment with a single day's work, it's incredibly cheap

I don't want to hijack this thread any further, as the orginal question has been asked and answered several times now, but just to clarify things a little, here's the specific legal information regarding reselling a copy of software:

1. The first piece of applicable legislation is "The First-Sale Doctrine", an exception to copyright codified in the US Copyright Act, section 109, which allows the purchaser of a particular, legally acquired copy of protected work to transfer, sell, rent, or give it away without permission. This means the distribution rights of a copyright holder end on that particular copy once the copy is sold.

2. The second piece of applicable legislation is "Limitations On Exclusive Rights: Computer Programs", codified in the US Copyright Act, Section 117, which states that consumers cannot make copies of computer programs contrary to a license, but may resell what they own. This means that if the EULA on a program says you can't make copies, then you can't make copies, but you are free to resell the copy you own no matter what the EULA says. Law holds precedent over agreements, always.

3. In regard to what I said earlier about the US supreme court having been involved in relevant cases, it appears I was misinformed. In Softman vs. Adobe (2001), DISTRICT COURTS in California and Texas issued decisions supporting the doctrine of first-sale in regard to computer software. So, it wasn't as grand as the Supreme Court, but hey, a court is a court.

4. Some software makers are trying to get around the law by calling their sales "licenses" and not "purchases". Since the first-sale doctrine can only be applied to an actual sale, it would hold no sway over a rental agreement. In Davidson & Associates vs. Internet Gateway (2004), this argument apparently worked, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri found that the plaintiff's EULA, which prohibited resale, was binding. This is an obvious contradiction to the the Softman vs. Adobe ruling; the difference has yet to be resolved by a superior court.

In any case, it is the reseller who is responsible, not the purchaser, so there's nothing to worry about if you're buying a used copy of Photoshop. Just make sure it is the original copy (not a duplicate), and that the seller is no longer using it.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming.


EDIT: Oh, and by the way, Jana, the only info I could find regarding Microsoft and Ebay were afew suits aimed at obvious massive software pirates. I couldn't find anything regarding an individual reselling a copy he/she is no longer using. If you have any info on this, I'd be interested, but I'd be willing to bet you saw a case involving an active pirate. It's unlikely they'd spend the money to sue over one copy.