the ‘free’ (cut down)versions I thought were packaged with certain scanners – not sure available other than this though there may have been some trial version included in the cds of ‘free’ software that some magazines published but Photoshop usually protected its software quite vigorously – many of the versions on free download were actually pirated copies riddled with malware – this used to be a problem in University when students couldn’t afford the real thing

.

Probably in your email archives.

The latest versions of the CS saga are available on a pay by year or month charge. You may of course be able to buy an older version upon disk second hand.

Nick

The links for a free version of CS2 that I am aware of want to install some software on a machine and may not even provide it when that's done. There's no knowing what else may be installed. i doubt if they do it out of the kindness of their heart. Also if you search the adobe site for it you might see what to do if the CS2 activation server is down – probably wait until it's up again.

The best free application is Rawtherapee but it wont do local touch up work like the GIMP can for instance. It also has rather a lot of facilities so takes some time to learn but the wiki manual is pretty good.The GIMP can do a lot but is can also be hard to pick up. There are plenty of tutorials about though, web and youtube.

If some one doesn't mind paying a little Coral Aftershot Pro is pretty good but there isn't much info about on how to use it. There is a manual. That will do local work and although it isn't obvious will also handle layers. There are a couple of video's on youtube showing that. It can be used for a while for free. It's actually a pretty capable package. I tried the 64bit version for a while but at the time the 32bit version had far more plugins available. Not sure how that stands now. It would be interesting to know how these are written. Seems the user community does it.

John

–

Which is Adobe's (and others) philosophy behind the subscription model:

– if you were in the habit of buying each upgrade when it came out, you are essentially unaffected.

– if you weren't in that habit …. you are now.

Adobe now have a steady income and aren't dependent on people upgrading any more. Probably a lot more difficult for hackers to get at it as well.

I run Linux so can't run PS or any of their other products. I use an applications called Fotoxx for a lot of photo work. It's pretty capable in a number of areas and also has some decent video tutorials. I also use the GIMP and Rawtherapee. Fotoxx is only available for Linux. There are a lot of open source photo applications about some just intended for specific purposes such as Hugin. While they aren't in a single package like Adobe they are in my opinion just as capable. Just add – in some areas probably more capable.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 04/09/2016 10:33:02

The full CS2, not just Photoshop, can be downloaded from Adobe's website. You need to register with them but the page includes a working licence key.

However, Adobe state you should be a CS2 licence holder to do this and it's just a facility for people who may have lost the key to an old program

Neil

<smug mode>

Just go to programs and features, select Adobe CS2 and click 'uninstall/change' … oh, did you say you have a Mac?

</smug mode>

I'll get my coat…

Neil