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Forget erroneous info about Adobe software being necessarily expensive. Hear this instead. And we should investigate this further.
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Posted by 22111
Jan 23, 2014 at 09:56 PM
“Posted by MadaboutDana - Jan 22, 2014 at 10:19 AM - You’ll find many of us in the forum are enthusiastic users of PDF-Xchange Viewer and derivatives. We’ve been using it for years as a substitute for Adobe Acrobat (the Pro version only costs ca. USD 40; Acrobat Pro costs ca. USD 250 - go figure, as our American cousins say).”
Yes, and no. Yes, in Europe, it’s even much more expensive, in regular price, AND then there’s VAT. But there’s a trick, and obviously one Adobe WANTS people to use, and this puts into perspective all false comparisons.
In Germany, there are legit Adobe sw retailers where not only students and “Abendschüler” (= adults who follow evening classes in a very serious way, e.g. 5 evenings, 4 hours in a row, 20 or more hours a week, in order to get their “university entry exam” (German “Abitur”) or similar) get (very substantial) “academic discounts”, for Adobe sw (but probably not for FrameMaker and such, but for Acrobat: I checked)) but also people who just can prove they follow some “evening classes” (in fact, just one such class, 45 min. a week will suffice, and you will just have to pay for the course, e.g. 20€, you won’t even be obligated to go there then) at the VHS = “Volkshochschule”, which means German towns organize evening courses / classes where you can learn some basic programming language, “how to use the net for “seniors” (=old people)”, “how to use dtp progs”, “how to do knit”, and so on.
What I don’t know is:
- will you only get German versions of Adobe sw by this offer? (ok, this would be totally awful, even for Germans)
- does Adobe have similiar offerings in other parts of the world, e.g. the U.S.? (which would imply that there are some offerings similar to “VHS” in Germany, to begin with, in order for Adobe to hook into those then)
- are you entitled to use those versions “commercially”? (but then, most people do not really do “commercial” use, but “personal”, “academic”, etc., and some work here and then, in-between, and for which then you’d get paid 50 bucks for, would not make it “commercial”)
So this “evening school (45 min. a week)” alternative is certainly a viable one for more than just one single reader, I hope, and I’d be happy to hear from you re what we could expect from this venue for people in the U.S., in Latin America, in Switzerland, in France, wherever. All you’d be in need of was proof you paid for such a class, some 20 or 25 bucks, in a country in which Adobe offers such a licensing scheme.
And in Germany, e.g., that would be Acrobat, e.g., for about 100€ instead of 450.
Please share what you’ll find out.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jan 29, 2014 at 03:42 PM
I have not heard of such a flexible definition of ‘student’ in licensing schemes before. I have purchased commercial software at significantly reduced prices in the past during my academic ventures. However, the licensing scheme made it clear that the software was not to be used commercially. In my case, this is a deal breaker; I don’t just make 50 bucks here and there, my whole business activity goes through software.
I have myself opted for commercial but very reasonably priced solutions like PDF Xchange, as well as freeware or open source tools like PDFill and PDF SAM, over Adobe Acrobat. I’ve even delved into professional desktop publishing with open source software Scribus and have never looked back.
Posted by 22111
Jan 29, 2014 at 05:27 PM
Of course, there are several scenarios of “intermediate” use between “strictly private” and “real professional” use, and here, there might be “possibilities”, at least when in your “shop”, there isn’t some staff that one fine day could “give you in”...;-)
By the way, similar considerations apply, individually, to student sw which then, after exam and all, you continue to use in your work, legally or unlawfully, depending on the respective sw vendor’s policy (and not speaking of those cases where the vendor deliberately restricts use from start on, or by annual re-activation (and re-entering the current student records).
But seriously, google “adobe volkshochschule site:.de”, and you’ll get several hits (so I didn’t make this up! ;-) .)
AND I described this “vhs concept” in some detail above, in order for users “abroad” (seen from Germany) to comprehend what that concept means, and to then find the possible corresponding terms for their respective country - just by looking out for “volkshochschule italiano” is not guaranteed to bring valid results in such a search for your possible local equivalents or similar. (And in Belgium, e.g., there is no such thing: they’re very happy to have some public libraries for a start…)
Back to the above links (and there are many, many others):
http://www.cobra-shop.de/vhs-adobe?pk_campaign=dvv-vhs&pk_kwd=dvv with,
“Hier sparen vhs-Kursteilnehmer*, vhs-Dozenten und vhs-Mitarbeiter bis zu 80 % beim Kauf von Adobe-Software!
* Kurse die nicht länger als 6 Monate zurückliegen. Diese Produkte dürfen nicht gewerblich genutzt werden.”
(This means, up to 80 p.c. off for people taking vhs courses (or having done so within the last 6 months), for people giving courses there, and even for the janitor there! And yes, “These products must not be used… well, “gewerblich” is NOT “commercially”, but it’s neither “professionally”: “gewerblich” means something like “professionally, AND for the purpose of making profits (which is different from income…), and on a constant basis (for the purpose of making profits, not for the sw use)
Ok, that’s the administrative and the inland revenue’s pov I’m relating here…
But I think the best translation would be “for business use”, and that does NOT include but those but who are self-incorporated or incorporated, and use the sw for the tangible benefit of their business.
and especially,
http://www.adobestudentlicensing.de/vhs/ (= official info from Adobe Germany!)
with,
“Frei im Handel erhältliche Adobe-Angebote für Lehrer, Schüler und Studenten (Student & Teacher Editionen) sind für vhs-Kursteilnehmer weiterhin nicht erhältlich.”
And that means you cannot buy your “Student & Teacher Edition” anywhere and then send your 15 euro receipt for the vhs course to Adobe, but you must it buy at the above-mentioned address or similar vendors having been included in this special Adobe-VHS arrangement…
I think we’ve got a real scoop here, for many (fully or barely) legal uses, and similar offerings might exist in other countries.
(And no, you will not be entitled to upgrade from those versions (but which do not seem to be crippled in any way) - but Adobe now rents, not sells most of its current sw anyway, so you might get the very last “install on your pc and be safe for that pc’s lifetime at least” version here… and for cheap.)
Posted by 22111
Jan 29, 2014 at 05:29 PM
OMG - “barely legal” - I didn’t intend to say this…
Posted by 22111
Jan 29, 2014 at 06:01 PM
AND they literally give away Mindjet 11:
http://www.cobra-shop.de/5655-Aktionsangebote
http://www.cobra-shop.de/8708-Microsoft-Office-2013-Home-and-Student-Mindjet-11
etc.
No wonder, it has been renamed to MindManager again (!), and current version is 14. ;-)