Old Lightroom / PS software?

[Graham W]

I've been sorting out the loft to make room for more useless junk.
I have CD copies of Lightroom 2 ,3 and 4 and PS2,3 and 5.

I'm now on the Adobe subscription plan so have no further use for the discs.
Are they of any value, can I flog them on or should I turn them into bird scarers?

 

[Retune]

Are those ancient pre-CS versions of PS, or do you mean CS2, CS3 and CS5?

The problem with the CS versions is activation. The activation servers are no longer available for CS2 & 3, so they can't be installed from the CDs. Adobe made activation-free versions of the CS2 packages available for download on an open website, and they are still available from mirror sites. I suppose someone might be interested in acquiring your licence, but the CDs themselves aren't usable. For CS3 it was more complicated - the user had to exchange their original product keys for new ones and corresponding activation-free installers on another Adobe website, but this service is no longer available. Again, the CDs can't be used directly, and the licence would only be useful to someone who already has the activation-free installers and keys and (say) wants to run additional copies legitimately.

CS5 can still be installed and activated (for now), and there's certainly a market for the CDs if they come with a licence and it can be transferred to a buyer. It might get complicated if you only have an upgrade version of CS5 that depends on earlier licences, especially if it checks for an earlier installation that can't now be performed without one of the CS2 or 3 activation-free installers.

Ancient pre-CS versions don't require online activation, but they won't install or run on modern operating systems. They'd only be of interest to retro-computing enthusiasts. On a Mac, I don't think even the CS versions are compatible with the current OS.

I don't think LR before LR6 requires online activation, so LR 2, 3 & 4 might still be of interest to people who have cameras supported by these older versions. Full versions will be more attactive than upgrade versions.

 

[Graham W]

Are those ancient pre-CS versions of PS, or do you mean CS2, CS3 and CS5?

The problem with the CS versions is activation. The activation servers are no longer available for CS2 & 3, so they can't be installed from the CDs. Adobe made activation-free versions of the CS2 packages available for download on an open website, and they are still available from mirror sites. I suppose someone might be interested in acquiring your licence, but the CDs themselves aren't usable. For CS3 it was more complicated - the user had to exchange their original product keys for new ones and corresponding activation-free installers on another Adobe website, but this service is no longer available. Again, the CDs can't be used directly, and the licence would only be useful to someone who already has the activation-free installers and keys and (say) wants to run additional copies legitimately.

CS5 can still be installed and activated (for now), and there's certainly a market for the CDs if they come with a licence and it can be transferred to a buyer. It might get complicated if you only have an upgrade version of CS5 that depends on earlier licences, especially if it checks for an earlier installation that can't now be performed without one of the CS2 or 3 activation-free installers.

Ancient pre-CS versions don't require online activation, but they won't install or run on modern operating systems. They'd only be of interest to retro-computing enthusiasts. On a Mac, I don't think even the CS versions are compatible with the current OS.

I don't think LR before LR6 requires online activation, so LR 2, 3 & 4 might still be of interest to people who have cameras supported by these older versions. Full versions will be more attactive than upgrade versions.

Thanks for the speedy and fulsome reply. I'll probably chuck the Lightroom on the freebies section and turn the rest into bird scarers.

 

[Retune]

Thanks for the speedy and fulsome reply. I'll probably chuck the Lightroom on the freebies section and turn the rest into bird scarers.

Before you scare those birds, take a look at what people are charging for CS5 on ebay (some people are still selling CS3 and earlier, but I'm afraid the buyers of those are going to be disappointed!). I had another look for the CS5 upgrade instructions, and it looks like it doesn't check for an earlier installed version, you just have to supply your previous serial number when asked:

https://feedback-readonly.photoshop.com/conversations/photoshop/photoshop-do-i-need-to-have-a-previous-version-installed-to-installreinstall-the-upgrade/5f5f44ee4b561a3d4229e8d4

So CS5 (which can still be activated) still has significant value even if it's an upgrade version, especially if you can also supply a CS3 serial number as part of the deal...

 

[EJB]

FWIW....I still run PS Elements 2 and 5 (2002/5) on the latest Windows incarnation.
They have been used on each successive Windows version.
I do use Capture One 2021 though!

 

[Retune]

FWIW....I still run PS Elements 2 and 5 (2002/5) on the latest Windows incarnation.
They have been used on each successive Windows version.
I do use Capture One 2021 though!

Photoshop 7.0 (full version) from 2002 also still runs on Windows 10, though you need a small partition for installation and file saving (1TB limit), and there's no requirement for online activation (which came in with CS the next year).