Re: [Framers] Adobe removes functionality from a perpetual license? Adobe response???
IMHO, I would think this was theft (stealing functionality long since paid for) and possibly extortion, maybe even a form of ransomware (pay up for a new product or you can't use aspects of what you've already purchased). I agree that abandoning support is one thing. But this is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I am using a stand-alone version of Adobe Acrobat Pro 2017. I don't use the functionality you describe, but what else is going to be taken away...? I guess I have issues to report to IT - and no the answer isn't "buy the subscription". Alison -Original Message- From: Framers On Behalf Of Tammy Van Boening Sent: Thursday, April 6, 2023 6:40 AM To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Framers] Adobe removes functionality from a perpetual license? Adobe response??? !---| This message is from an external sender This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. If you are not sure, you can use the ReportPhish Button to submit the message for analysis. |---! Warning: LONG POST!!! I have Framemaker 2019 (the last version for which a perpetual license was sold) and Adobe Acrobat Pro XI (a perpetual license) and have successfully used this combination for years to create Reader-Extended PDFs that my users can comment on for editing purposes. As old as Acrobat Pro is, I have NOT needed to upgrade to any version as I use only this basic function in it. Yesterday, out of the blue, after creating a Reader-Extended PDF that was enabled for commenting and measuring, I received the following Error message: You do not have permission to write to this file. To say that I was stumped was an understatement. I am an independent contractor and therefore, the account that I use for my business systems is my Administrator account - full privileges to do anything and everything that I need/want to do - and I couldn't fathom why I was getting this message/ how it was being generated. I thought that perhaps at first it had to with a hiccup caused by a recent Windows update. (If you recall, a Windows update a few years back torpedoed the Adobe PDF engine and users were unable to generate PDFs from Framemaker, Word, etc.) I reached out to Rick Quatro for assistance as it was related to PDF generation and after a bit of sleuthing on his part, he came across this post from Adobe (just put an https:// in front of this): helpx.adobe.com/ca/acrobat/kb/reader-extended-pdfs-and-adobe-root-ca-expiry.html. In a nutshell, this post states that Adobe is removing functionality from its Acrobat products, including those that had a perpetual license and the ONLY option that a user has who owns an Acrobat version older than 2017 is to upgrade to the latest version. (Users w/ versions 2017 and older have the option to download updates to resolve this issue.) I won't get into the details of the visceral response that this elicited in me, but has anyone EVER had an issue with any other vendor besides Adobe removing functionality from an application for which you purchased a perpetual license? I am not referring to support - I totally understand why a vendor no longer provides updates/supports for older versions of SW, but removing functionality to force you to upgrade? This does not remotely strike me as ethical, let alone, can it be legal? The real icing on the cake is that without a formal warning/announcement sent to the affected users, how would you even know that this would be an issue? R ealistically, would a user of a perpetual license go to the vendor's website to look specifically for an announcement because you just were wondering if you were going to lose functionality in your application? Adobe keeps putting nail after nail into the coffins of some of its most loyal users (I have been a Framemaker user since 1996) and it's for reasons such as this that I have recommended MadCap Flare or other vendor products for my most recent client projects. Does anybody from Adobe care to comment about this? As an IC that is semi-retired and that is on a tight budget, having to upgrade to a subscription license just to get the most basic of functionality that I thought that I should always have because I purchased a PERPETUAL license is unfathomable to me and not remotely financially feasible and several other users w/ whom I have spoken. Thanks! TVB Tammy Van Boening Tammy dot vanboening at spectrumwritingllc dot com https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.spectrumwritingllc.com__;!!Oq50-tQ!sWsVNRlZlS657iwanc3j5CmKLI_uxfObTQL7DuF3ih7ERp8GIoaBTfjpfCJ5qU0cv6bIFnXcACsU-6HkFpaECsH-HxsN88vDEg$ ___ This message is from the Framers mailing
Re: [Framers] Adobe removes functionality from a perpetual license? Adobe response???
Tammy, our company has had it with Adobe. Except for Acrobat (for which we succumbed and paid their subscription fee), we have pretty much dumped Adobe products. Sadly, we have also relegated FrameMaker to "use only if you must." We stopped upgrading after FM12, which I continue to use when necessary and still works quite well. We now are moving everything to a content management system, Author-it. Their Author tool is clunky and can be a pain to use, but it works, and has enabled us to do things with digital editions that we couldn't do with FM. We now can offer documentation as a portable website that's contained on a USB card and can be easily copied to any device. If we can ever get our Swiss owners to allow customers to download updates from the internet, customers will be able to keep their documents up to date with a few easy clicks. (I'm retiring in February, so I'm not holding my breath on that one). -Original Message- From: Framers On Behalf Of Tammy Van Boening Sent: Thursday, April 6, 2023 9:40 AM To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Framers] Adobe removes functionality from a perpetual license? Adobe response??? Warning: LONG POST!!! I have Framemaker 2019 (the last version for which a perpetual license was sold) and Adobe Acrobat Pro XI (a perpetual license) and have successfully used this combination for years to create Reader-Extended PDFs that my users can comment on for editing purposes. As old as Acrobat Pro is, I have NOT needed to upgrade to any version as I use only this basic function in it. Yesterday, out of the blue, after creating a Reader-Extended PDF that was enabled for commenting and measuring, I received the following Error message: You do not have permission to write to this file. To say that I was stumped was an understatement. I am an independent contractor and therefore, the account that I use for my business systems is my Administrator account - full privileges to do anything and everything that I need/want to do - and I couldn't fathom why I was getting this message/ how it was being generated. I thought that perhaps at first it had to with a hiccup caused by a recent Windows update. (If you recall, a Windows update a few years back torpedoed the Adobe PDF engine and users were unable to generate PDFs from Framemaker, Word, etc.) I reached out to Rick Quatro for assistance as it was related to PDF generation and after a bit of sleuthing on his part, he came across this post from Adobe (just put an https:// in front of this): https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__helpx.adobe.com_ca_acrobat_kb_reader-2Dextended-2Dpdfs-2Dand-2Dadobe-2Droot-2Dca-2Dexpiry.html=DwICAg=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM=zzmJd9V-AOY-pLCA-v8cPy_mRSvZCZwNZBdUabWmOfQ=N7xZ2SjYf4AG7gXHAF6jlfTdRjjovWu49q-x9Y15iRI=qNGFBsODVSEOEeb7vpDa5z_nT0lAFRxUb-s_HWJCjfE=. In a nutshell, this post states that Adobe is removing functionality from its Acrobat products, including those that had a perpetual license and the ONLY option that a user has who owns an Acrobat version older than 2017 is to upgrade to the latest version. (Users w/ versions 2017 and older have the option to download updates to resolve this issue.) I won't get into the details of the visceral response that this elicited in me, but has anyone EVER had an issue with any other vendor besides Adobe removing functionality from an application for which you purchased a perpetual license? I am not referring to support - I totally understand why a vendor no longer provides updates/supports for older versions of SW, but removing functionality to force you to upgrade? This does not remotely strike me as ethical, let alone, can it be legal? The real icing on the cake is that without a formal warning/announcement sent to the affected users, how would you even know that this would be an issue? R ealistically, would a user of a perpetual license go to the vendor's website to look specifically for an announcement because you just were wondering if you were going to lose functionality in your application? Adobe keeps putting nail after nail into the coffins of some of its most loyal users (I have been a Framemaker user since 1996) and it's for reasons such as this that I have recommended MadCap Flare or other vendor products for my most recent client projects. Does anybody from Adobe care to comment about this? As an IC that is semi-retired and that is on a tight budget, having to upgrade to a subscription license just to get the most basic of functionality that I thought that I should always have because I purchased a PERPETUAL license is unfathomable to me and not remotely financially feasible and several other users w/ whom I have spoken. Thanks! TVB Tammy Van Boening Tammy dot vanboening at spectrumwritingllc dot com
