Older version of InDesign

My client is waiting for her company to upgrade to CS4 in the meantime we need to work on a project in her CS. An old school version 3. I've looked through the forum for solutions on back saving files etc, but nothing seems to be working. Where can I find an old version of CS? A trial or demo would be preferred. Any ideas on how to solve this problem. Cheaply.

thanks in advance.

Older version of InDesign

Have you tried exporting to .inx files?

Older version of InDesign

There is no getting around the fact that even older copies of InDesign, or any of the Creative Suite programs retain their value. Especially on the Mac. Just look on eBay and see what I mean. That is your best bet or try Craig's List. Or ask your colleagues in your area.

Most of those offers on eBay are for illegally pirated software or copies ineligible for transfer. As for craigslist, the less said about it the better.

Bob

Now Bob,

I'd like proof of that statement. Most sellers are monitored by Adobe and they wouldn't be selling on eBay if they were selling illegal software for very long. I have gotten Legal Versions of Adobe software and had the licenses transferred to me legally, all purchased on eBay. So not all is illegal, though anything sold outside of resellers channels seems to be illegal to Adobe these days (not to mention Microsoft). So you will get no love for Adobe from me and this bias of mine should be known to all who read this post.

Those of us who are on tight budgets please take note:

If you do your due diligence, ask the seller (if not already noted in the ad) if the software is registered and if so, will he/she transfer ownership, then it is legal and Adobe or anyone can't do anything about it (Resale laws prohibit Adobe from taking action then). If it has never been registered, then you are home free. And if you pay through PayPal and the seller rating is over 95% and has a long selling history, you are well covered.

Agreed, Craig's List is flaky (about 90% are) but I've never had trouble purchasing anything from anyone there as long as I did my due diligence and saw the item in person or used PayPal. But again, I have only used it for about 5% of my purchases but have done 50% of my sales there.

So in fact, one can purchase a legal copy of InDesign CS.

Knock yourself out but others have made the same remarks and come back to report regrets with pirated copies that were so good that even the reseller was unaware.

Let the buyer beware.

Bob

Adobe does not monitor any sales outside its regular reseller network. Nor is there any policy of hindering legitimate license transfer under the EULA -- just fill out the required paperwork -- but the transfer must be full and allowed under the license terms.

It is indeed possible to buy a legal copy of Adobe software on ebay or other sites, but the odds of doing so are not that good. Much of what is offered That isn't out-and-out counterfeit) turns out to be educational versions, which are license restricted against any sort of transfer. If they were never registered you might TRICK Adobe into registering it in your name, but you would be committing fraud, particularly if you are not a qualified educational user.

Another large segment of offerings is older versions that were upgraded, and the sellers don't understand that the license requires them to transfer the entire chain as a unit (and deliver all of the media). If they transfer the CS license used to later upgrade to CS2, 3 or 4, they are also tranferring the upgrades and no longer have the right to use them themselves. These programs will probably install, and might even register, because the activation counters reset automatically after a period of time, but one or the other of the buyer or seller winds up in violation of the EULA. The same thing would apply to an upgrade disk -- the license covers all earlier versions, so the seller cannot legally sell you just the upgrade if it has been installed. He must uninstall that AND any earlier versions in the upgrade chain and sell them together.

Do your ''due dilgence'' indeed.

Peter and Bob are right.

There are very good pirated copies out there and some sellers don't know that they can't sell educational versions or an old version or upgrade which they can't transfer ownership. Again, due dilligence.

But pirates of InDesign CS? Not worth it at this late date. If the seller has a high rating and has solid selling history then there is very little worry. If they are selling out of Hong Kong then you are a fool for even thinking about it.

But I do believe Adobe had eBay set up rules for sellers on their software. And if not Adobe, sellers who violate those rules will get reported by someone to eBay. Even if perfectly legal and well within their rights, as eBay is very skittish about this, they will remove any auction item they believe is a violation of the rules.

Mark Hebert wrote:

But I do believe Adobe had eBay set up rules for sellers on their software. And if not Adobe, sellers who violate those rules will get reported by someone to eBay. Even if perfectly legal and well within their rights, as eBay is very skittish about this, they will remove any auction item they believe is a violation of the rules.

I recently bought Windows XP from a reputable eBay seller, to use with VMware Fusion on my new Intel Mac. I queried the seller before buying, to be sure that it was genuine (and also that it was not OEM, but full). He reassured me. I paid. It arrived. I installed. Then, I thought to check the MS verifier stuff, and found that the very convincing item I'd bought failed one of the several hologram tests. The seller didn't want the thing back, but did credit me the full amount of purchase and shipping.

I'm now using the MS Windows 7 public beta release candidate with Fusion on the Mac. I don't enjoy hearing myself say, ''Hmmm, this isn't bad!!! Very OS X - like!'' %26lt;G%26gt;

Related to this experience: I began an eBay Buy-it-now MacBook Pro, new, great price. The vendor had 100% positive feedback. However, the posting required contacting the vendor before paying over PayPal. The contact brought a response NOT TO USE PAYPAL, but instead to contact the vendor at a different email address, off eBay. EBay often cautions against this, partly because they don't want to lose their commissions, but also because it's usually indicative of a scammer. When I questioned the vendor, I got an unbelievable response, something like the ''I can make you rich if you just advance me a million'' SPAM letters you often see. I reported this to eBay and bought from a legitimate vendor.

MORAL: know your vendor. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is not true. Trust, but verify.

Regards,

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Why this as all been very interesting (LOL) it doesn't solve my problem. I am assuming that my finding a trial version of a program this old (2004) is NOT going to happen???

And - Yes, we've tried INX. No joy.

thanks

k

Peter,

I am from the planet that has tried to sell legitimate, license transferable software and have had at the very end of the sale, eBay cite me and had PayPal cancel the sale, holding up the buyers money for over a week. So someone was watching and eBay took action. I sold it off eBay for more than it went for in the auction. I'll not sell there again.

We are talking InDesign CS here. Not CS4 Design Premium.

Trial versions are hard to come by (read impossible) unless you know someone who has one.

Yes, I have CS4 purchased through Apple. She has just plain old CS version 3.0.1. She is being upgraded by her employer but not in time for this project. I need to do the layout and she's going to add the guts. I hate to buy anything for just this one job, and am a little confused (read frustrated) that I can't just back save the file so she can use it.

Yeah, the trial will be REALLY hard to find, and it's only good for 30 days. Is your friend full patched to the last patch available on the Adobe website for their CS? If not, that would be one possible reason they can't open the .inx. Another might be that the .inx is the wrong version -- you can only go back one step at a time. CS4 %26gt; CS3, CS3 %26gt; CS2, CS2 %26gt; CS, and no further.

Mark,

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble. I suspect you were the exception, rather than the rule. Did you offer in the listing to include the transfer of license form? That's a good sign that the lister is legitimate.

I don't blame you for getting soured on eBay, I've gotten some real bargains there, but also a lot of real dogs. Anything that is selling for more than half it's current new price and or fifty bucks gets a pass from me now. I figure I can afford to kick myself for losing fifty bucks, but not much more...

kb5 wrote:

Yes, I have CS4 purchased through Apple. She has just plain old CS version 3.0.1.

Peter,

That is exactly how I feel. If it is more than $50 then I let it go. You pays your monies and yous takes your chocies.

Hardware is something I like to see myself. I got my PowerBook from a Recycler ad, saw it and tested it and it is still running well, albeit slow now.

I did get CS4 Design Premium off eBay for the company I work for at $899 and it is legit. We did it on a credit card through PayPal and I am loving it after a year of Quark 6.5. We have policy in place to do such but the buyer has to abide by our purchasing system.

When? She can download the CS4 demo and use that for a month.

Bob

No, her employer won't let anyone download.

Oh well. Thanks for trying. I guess I'm going to have to go into her office and put the file together there, bummer tho, as it's going to be extra work that I probably won't be able to charge the full rate for.

c'est la vie

kb5 wrote:

No, her employer won't let anyone download.

On behalf of Adobe ...

Adobe absolutely does not monitor Adobe products sold on eBay. Make no assumptions as to whether Adobe-branded products sold on eBay are legal or not. What is true is that there is indeed quite a bit of illegal (pirated, cracked, previously registered and subsequently upgraded but not eligible for license transfer) Adobe software hawked on eBay.

Per Mark Hebert's admonition, you need to do due diligence in validating that what you are purchasing on-line is indeed ''kosher'' for sale (or resale if previously used).

Contrary to a number of other software developers, Adobe has absolutely no problem with valid resale and transfer of software licenses for its products where such license transfer is permitted. In fact, it readily provides information and forms for such transfers via its websites. Academic/student licenses are definitely not transferable. Licenses of products that have already been used as the basis for an upgrade to either another Adobe product (such as from Photoshop to a copy of one of the Creative Suite versions) or the next version of the same product cannot be transfered. Likewise, a purchaser of a quantity/bulk license of an Adobe product cannot unbundle such a license into individual licenses for resale.

With regards to Mark's comments that ''anything sold outside of resellers channels seems to be illegal these days,'' we most seriously challenge that assertion! Yes, we do go after those who sell pirated and cracked software, academic/student software to persons who don't so-qualify to purchase such academic/student versions, or those who attempt to illegally unbundle bulk licenses (and much of that ''pursuit'' is due to complaints from those customers who were ''had'' by such vendors!). We don't in any way harrass anyone buying or selling legitimate software outside the official resellers channels!

?- Dov

Dov,

Well thanks for setting me straight.

So someone, a competitive seller, would seem to report any sale that they believe violates some eBay rule to reduce competition for sale of a similar product. Hence my sale removal. I have had this happen more than once and it is frustrating, to say the least.sorry for the shotgun approach to lay this at your doorstep.

And you are right, I have transfered ownership from someone else to my name and now have several Adobe products registered legally to me.

Now if I can dig up enough cash to upgrade to CS4...

I have CS4, CS3, and CS2 loaded here. I can save from CS4 to INX, from CS3 to INX, from CS2 to INX, and your client should be able to open the INX in CS, as long as she's fully patched. If you haven't used any features in CS4 that are unavailable in CS, she should see only some minimal text reflow. Send your file to me: kbenson at pegtype dot com.

Ken

KB5, unless you actually sent a blank message, it looks like the forum has decided it doesn't like your email client and is only posting blanks.