So here’s my rant about stupid Adobe software upgrades (boy do i miss Macromedia’s simplicity & seems i’m not alone – Adobe CS3 install horror… round 2):
After trying the Dreamweaver CS3 for 60 days (30 days trial, plug in fake serial key, run unregistered for another 30 …) , i finally got my job to purchase a full fledged Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) Design Premium. Thinking (silly me) that after setting Dreamweaver up the way I want it and plugging in all the web servers i work with, that all i’ll have to do it put in the serial number that come with the CD/DVD. Nah ….
When i tried to apply my serial number to the trial version of dreamweaver i got the red x (incorrect serial number). When i called customer service. i was informed that i need to speak to technical support … which after additional waist of my time informed me that i need to un-install trial & re-install full version.
I gave it another trial & wrote to the tech support via email (when fail with the first tech support guy, call back). Here’s the response I got :
______________________________________________
*** Notes to Customer *** 12/12/2007 13:02:10
Hello xxxxx,
Thank you for contacting Adobe Customer Service.
I understand that you are not satisfied with the service provided by our
Customer Service department for the inconvenience caused to you.
Maciek, the trial versions of Adobe software provide an introduction to
our applications to help you with your purchase decision. You cannot
apply the serial number of the upgrade version to unlock the trial
version. For upgrade versions you require to have the original program
version on your computer.
Adobe has dedicated support for providing technical help to the
customer. Our Customer Service is not trained to handle technical is
sues. Once they determine the issue is technical in nature they refer you to
the technical support department.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
As an Adobe customer, you are our first priority. Your comments help
guide development of future versions of Adobe products and support.
Adobe takes its Web mail very seriously, and we dedicate substantial
resources to routing this feedback to the people inside Adobe who need
to know what customers are telling us.
Please let us know if you have any issues and if there is anything that
we can do.
xxxx, for your records, your customer ID number is 111111111. The
customer ID number is the easiest way for us to access your account in
our database. In the future, please provide this number when you contact
Adobe. Your case number is 2000000.
The Web Support Portal Representatives are available from Monday to
Friday. For your convenience, on weekends we have a dedicated phone
support for Customer Service related queries. Please feel free to
contact our phone support.
______________________________________________
well … just when i finally decided to say “ok, i have no choice, i’ll go ahead & re-install the damn thing”. guest what? 
when i did start the installation of the entire Design Premium CS3, the Dreamweaver is grayed out & it says “product already installed”!!! & there doesn’t seem to be a way to un-install it & re-install it from that screen (i know, i can go to “add / remove programs”, but … come on!)
at that point i’ve waisted about 1 hour on trying to deal with tech support, 2 hours trying to re-install the CS3 suite & … it took me about 15 min to find this crack
open letter to Adobe about their “upgrade” issues:
- why mislead the customer with promise of an “upgradeable” trial version?
- why inconvenience the customer by re-installation requirement and hence loss of already applied program settings & server/ftp information?
- why not better train your customer service and inform you customer about product incompatibility before transferring to another person and in process waisting customer’s and company’s time?
it is easier for your customer to crack the product instead of making a legal purchase, which proved to be a more difficult and time consuming process!
[...] fed up while trying to legally upgrade from Adobe Trial CS3 to Adobe Design Premium CS3 (see my upgrade horror story). I found this extremely simple way to crack Dreamweaver CS3 (i think this will work on Photoshop [...]
I had the same problem. How did you eventually fix it? Could you email me?
What exactly are you complaining about? That the upgrade didn’t work the way YOU expected it to? Just follow their instructions doofahs!
When you upgrade from a on-line trial from the adobe website, when you order the product if you don’t specifically say “I want to upgrade from my trial version” We just ship you the retail version and retail serial number. We can’t read minds you know. If you don’t tell us your currently using the trial then how are we going to know?? Which as you probably already know THE TRIAL SERIAL NUMBERS DON’T WORK WITH THE RETAIL MEDIA. A trial version is the exact same as the retail, but the serial number are specific to the media it’s installed from just like any other software.
I can give any one who needs help the step by step info that you would need to remove the trial and install your purchased version.
But to those who want to make an upgrade from the trial into the purchased version.
AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE NOTIFY THE REP THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE AN INTERNET UPGRADE FROM YOUR TRIAL.
This is not customer service dropping the ball, and this info is available at the adobe site.
I guess some folks fail to read the finer points of what they need to do before they purchase $600-$800 dollar software. Go figure.. you think you would pay extra special attention to the details before you spend that much money. Oh well!
ha … an angry “adobe tech” reply
. if you read my post carefully, you’ll find i really did try to go the “legal way” (it was on my co.’s dime) – the problem was, that new (yes, CD) install nuked my previous “sites” – as in – it didn’t carry them over. sorry to say, but for a $600 product as you say, that’s waiste of MY time.
kicker? CS4 _still_ has the same version – just installed a trial & …. nope, my sites weren’t carried over. again, waise of my time & for that reason alone, i simply don’t have time to upgrate ….