This place is offering Lightroom 5 for less than the upgrade price?
Too good to be true?
- Thread starter riverside
- Start date
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Any time you see Microsoft, Adobe or any major software at a discounted price, RUN. They all have fixed prices. I just bought PhotoShop CS6 Student prices. Every where I checked had the same price.
Russia is known for having some of the most talented code writers in the world devoted to scams and ripoffs though I hear India is giving them a good run for their money. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some have copied Lightroom and others right down to functioning registration keys.
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Someone posted here recently about buying Office from a seller on EBAY. Two years later he needed to upgrade his computer and then uninstalled Office from the old computer and was going to install it on the new one. It would not work and after calling MS he found that the copy was a developer copy that should never have been sold. No key for him to reinstall it now.
The software may work for a while till that key starts showing up to many time and then they will not allow it anymore. Not sure if Adobe does it or not but some software makers are now starting to have their software Call Home ever so often to check in. Illegal software gets bricked.
The software may work for a while till that key starts showing up to many time and then they will not allow it anymore. Not sure if Adobe does it or not but some software makers are now starting to have their software Call Home ever so often to check in. Illegal software gets bricked.
Agreed and I'm aware of the differences between pirated and scam software. I'm also an advocate of if it sounds too good to be true it can't be. Hopefully the Russian will get back to me with what the seller's doing. I do think it would be hilarious if some coder had determined how to get around corporate legislated monopolies. The US certainly wasn't shy about ignoring English patents and copyrights while establishing our early industrial efforts.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Lots of times discount software dealers sell Student/Academic licensed software which is typically sold at a huge discount. The only real difference in the TOS is that it prohibits the licensee from using the software for commercial purposes. The academic license is just one possible, but legitimate, explanation for the low price.
Maybe the dollar is trading really well these days??
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Maybe the dollar is trading really well these days??
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ohkphoto
Snow White
I'm curious to know what you mean by "clout". I have friends in that part of the world too, but they certainly don't have clout. Have you ever been there? . . . a very eye-opening experience.
He owns a security company which services notables on a personal basis, cargo vessels and energy producers. As you probably well know none of those endeavors are possible in Russia without significant political ties.
No, much to my wife's dismay I reached travel burnout before visiting mainland China or Russia. Russia was still the USSR when I discontinued overseas travel.
ohkphoto
Snow White
They've taken "capitalism" to a whole new level. Sadly, the only difference between Soviet Russia and today is that the Soviet oppression has been replaced by the terror of the "Russian mafia" and smaller gangs . . . I was in the middle of a busy city when a vehicle stopped, 3 men jumped out, grabbed a guy who was just walking on the street, and beat him up, and nobody did anything (including me . . . sigh), at least it wasn't to a bloody pulp . . . people still disappear mysteriously . . . alcoholism and crime are still rampant . . . and the small rural villages still use hand drawn wells. Very sad what has happened to them and the surrounding countries.
Sorry for the digression . . . I just have problems with lining mafia pockets . . . with Russia, it's a little personal for me.
I would be concerned doing any kind of business with them, including purchasing software.
Sorry for the digression . . . I just have problems with lining mafia pockets . . . with Russia, it's a little personal for me.
I would be concerned doing any kind of business with them, including purchasing software.
Fred Kingston_RIP
Senior Member
The larger problem with that site isn't whether the software works, and/or for how long... but, you're giving them your credit card/payment credentials... THAT could cost more in the long run than the $59 for the software...
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I did notice the absence of any mention of things like, retail packaging, license type, physical copy vs. download link etc.
I see a lot of graphic photos, read personal opinions and follow Russia in context with geopolitics. The societal aspect definately reminds me of the US in the roaring 20s; rampant corruption/crime, racism, bigotry and a strong religious overtone. I've sold some things to individuals in Russia but only delivered with tracking, sig required, insured carriers. Haven't bought anything but would never provide any financial info online to anyone, including the US, other than PayPal or my bank.
From that site:
By placing an order with us, You indicate that you have read and understand our terms.
You also indicate that you understand and accept any limitations of the particular product type(s) you are purchasing.
Please note that we sell only downloadable copies of software, it means that we does not ship boxed versions of software and paper documentation.
Also please note that you will not be able to get a support from manufacturer and register your product online, because you're buying OEM software.
You will be able to download software from special download area which will be created after a successful order.
Software products comes as ZIP archives (you will have to extract it first using any archiver, i.e. 7-zip) or as ISO image files (in this case you will have to burn downloaded ISO image file to DVD disk or mount it to virtual drive. You will get step-by-step instructions in your customer area).
I wonder about their definition of OEM. Sounds like copies with hacked registration code.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Not that I'm in the market for any software but that tells me everything I need to know... They have a batch of corporate license keys. They tell you you won't be able to register the product (because the license keys are known to, and have been disabled by, Adobe) so not only will you not be able to register your product, you won't be getting updates for that product, nor will you be able to apply legitimate upgrades. The activation key will allow for install (assuming they don't just take your rubles and run), but after that, you're done; the product is forever static.
For those prices one could be comfortably static. I'm still running Office 2000 with almost daily, complex Excel usage.
I'm not advocating anyone use that source, someone passed it to me and it did catch my interest.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
LOL... Agreed. One could do that for several versions and it would still be economically feasible given Adobe's [extortionist] price points.
Well neither am I advocating it, this is obviously "grey market" at best and one could argue much worse. Then too, ignoring that this sort of thing goes on is not going to make it go away, either.
JudeIscariot
Senior Member
Which, while I wouldn't recommend doing it, is actually really easy to avoid and stop from happening. You can reroute it to home or simply install a firewall that can stop it from contacting anybody.
If they were smart, they'd do what Microsoft almost did with the upcoming Xbox, and simply require it to check in. As it is now, most software doesn't require it to check in, it just does. If it doesn't require it, it's easy to stop it from doing anything.