That was fast, and not entirely surprising: even though Adobe Creative Cloud was supposed to make it harder to pirate the world’s most-pirated program, someone did within a day of its release. Yes, there is reportedly already a pirated version that reportedly works. (No, we’re not going to tell you where or how to find it.)

As it turns out, Creative Cloud isn’t software-as-a-service like you might think of it: it’s a standalone program that checks in periodically with the Adobe servers to say hi. To be exact, it validates your license when you first install, then every 30 days. Makes sense, when they bill monthly. Over at Fstoppers, they report that by disabling this checkin, pirates were able to produce a working version that functions without Internet access, or–more importantly–a subscription.

So, okay, people can pirate it. But will they? When subscriptions start at $20 per month, ZDNet’s Andrew Nusca argues that talking about whether anyone has pirated it yet isn’t the right question. By making it cheaper to get started with its Creative Suite programs, Adobe makes it easier to not pirate. Think of it this way: are you more or less likely to download entire seasons of a TV show if it’s also available as part of an $8/month Netflix membership or a $70/year Amazon Prime membership? By taking away the huge up-front price tag, it’s easier to just go legit and pay for a subscription.

Back when the Creative Cloud news broke, 61% of you said in our poll that if there will be no Creative Suite 7, you’ll cling desperately to whatever version you currently own. 32.5% of you answered that you’d rather go to open-source software than pay Adobe for cloud access to its programs.

Adobe Photoshop CC Has Already Been Pirated In Just One Day [FStoppers]
Photoshop CC pirated already? You’re missing the point [ZDNet]

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