Adobe CS4 Student Edition

thomashodgson

Senior Member
Okay, the Student Edition of CS4 is priced on the Apple Store is £243.43 (+VAT) whereas the full version is a whopping £1,250.21 (+VAT). So. my question is this, what do you need to have to qualify as a student?

Also, is the Student Edition 'limited' at all? As in less features or inability to upgrade etc.?
 
No limits at all, just supposed to help design students out, and grab some other students who think it'd be fun to mess around with it (going on the fact they'll be more likely to buy a cheaper version).

I have CS3 and CS4 for mac. Got a spare copy if you want it?
 
I'm not too sure about Apple terms and conditions, but in England, as long as you prove your school, college, or uni, then you're fine for the discount. Go on the Apple store, down to the bottom (where all the links are) and click "education"
 
You lads do realise that it's for non-commercial use?

Took me a while to dig in and actually find that out. Thankfully managed to upgrade from Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium Student Edition to Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium for around £500, could have been worse.

I believe in America you can use Student Editions for commercial use but for some reason not in the UK.


Also, Student Editions are exactly the same copy as a normal, they send out the same box, so calling it a different edition is a little misleading. It's just a student license of the same product. You can also carry on using the student edition after you have stopped being classed as a student, but still only for non-commercial work.
 
How the hell can they ever find out whether it's being used for commercial projects? Does it watermark the output somehow?

What if you do a project at college and it then gets used as for commercial purposes after you leave, or if you do a commercial project whilst at college as a live brief?
 
matt said:
How the hell can they ever find out whether it's being used for commercial projects? Does it watermark the output somehow?

What if you do a project at college and it then gets used as for commercial purposes after you leave, or if you do a commercial project whilst at college as a live brief?

My thoughts exactly!
 
What if you're doing an MA? You're expected to continue working on commerical projects alongside your college work/research.
 
You lads do realise that it's for non-commercial use?

According to someone I spoke to about this, your student status comes before your commercial status, so you're fine if you're doing both :) This also seems to answer the next four posts after the original one too!
 
So once you graduate you need to upgrade to the full version?

And how exactly can Adobe hope to police this? It seems like a flawed system to me. I may have to get a student friend to buy my upgrade when the time comes.
 
And how exactly can Adobe hope to police this? It seems like a flawed system to me. I may have to get a student friend to buy my upgrade when the time comes.

There's no policing system, just Adobe reserve the right to spotcheck the user for proof of being a student. Adobe are flawed entirely, you can download cracked software (obviously, you can with anything), but also download something which stops Adobe from asking you for a code!!
 
Well the student edition has some of the functionality removed (some not so vital ones) and not all of the programs sometimes from what I remember of CS1 Student Ed. You have to go and purchase the upgrade that gives you the full stuff (like the extra functionality and bits like that) if you want them.. i know of a couple of design houses who just use the student edition because a student worked for them and got the student to buy the copies instead :)
 
chrismitchell said:
Well the student edition has some of the functionality removed (some not so vital ones) and not all of the programs sometimes from what I remember of CS1 Student Ed. You have to go and purchase the upgrade that gives you the full stuff (like the extra functionality and bits like that) if you want them..

This makes so much more sense, I can't see them selling identical versions of a product with such hugely different price-tags. The not so vital functions to you may be imperative to the next person though.

In terms of downloading cracked versions, only students do that anyway. No professional with half a brain would rely on illegal software which could potentially go wrong at any time with no back-up or assistance available. You stand to loose so much more than the cost of the license.
 
matt said:
How the hell can they ever find out whether it's being used for commercial projects? Does it watermark the output somehow?

What if you do a project at college and it then gets used as for commercial purposes after you leave, or if you do a commercial project whilst at college as a live brief?
Not really the point IMO. But then again, if you want to thieve it you can do it anyway you so choose.
 
What do you mean that's not the point?

Say a student buys a student license for CS4 for their graphic design degree, are you telling me they're not allowed to work on live briefs? What if that same student designed a record sleeve for their mates' band as part of their degree. Then, six months after they've graduated, the band sign a record deal and want to release the record with the same artwork for the packaging? They're not allowed to, right?

My point is that, according to other posts on this thread, a student license lets you do non-commercial work with the the exact same software, at a fraction of the price, but it doesn't let you do commercial work, for that you need an identical copy of the software at a much higher cost.

This seemed flawed to me because it didn't seem like it could be true. Someone has since posted to say that the student version is in fact a limited version of the software, which as I mentioned previously, makes much more sense – do what you like with the work you create with the student version, but you're limited in the work you can create because of the limited functionality provided.
 
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