I can't install Photoshop 4.0. Am I an idiot for trying?

In My Humble Opinion
1

or, is there something obvious I’m missing? Is it okay to be pissed off about it?

I have no idea where to put this thread. It’s sort of a (BBQ Pit) rant, but it’s rather (MPSIMS) mild, and asks a (GQ) question that is really more of an (IMHO) opinion. So here I am.

My office owns Photoshop 4.0, and folks have said that it is the version they like the best. I’m sure it will do just fine for my purposes. At least, it would, if it worked.

At about 2:00 today I installed it and opened it to make sure it was working. It was. I didn’t have anything to do at the time so I closed it again. (I swear I’m not making this up. it was on my screen and open.)

When I went to re-open it, back to the “Adobe” part of the Start menu, it said “(empty)” in that irritating grayed-out way it does. I did a search on my hard drive for “photoshop” (and “photo*” and “*shop” and whatever else came to my mind) and found nothing.

When I tried to re-install it, the exact same way I installed it the first time, it asked me to put in Disk 5.

Disk 5? There is only one disk, the one disk that installed it fully the first time, not two hours ago. There is no Disk 5. There are two disks, in a neat little two-disk folder. One is the installation disk. The other is the tutorial. There is no Disk 5, and the packaging confirms that there never was a Disk 5.

So I called the tech support number from the package, which of course is disconnected. I found the Adobe customer service number on their site and called that. And the guy there told me they don’t support Photoshop 4.0 any more.

So they’ve effectively put a firm expiration date on their software. Even though it might be perfectly good software, I can’t use it because they don’t support it, and now it’s doing something really stupid.

I’m annoyed enough for my anti-corporate paranoia to convince me that they do it on purpose, somehow cause these things to stop working after a while so I’ll have to go buy another one. (Kind of like Microsoft only started nagging me that my copy of Windows XP “might be illegal” - it’s not - just after Vista came out …)

So since I’m in IMHO I will seek opinions: is there anything I can do, or do I have to just go get the newest Photoshop?

Am I justified in being highly irritated if that is the case?

Thanks as always.

2

I vote no. That’s six major versions (at least a year apart), and who knows how many minor ones, out of date. The hardware and operating systems you’re trying to run it on didn’t even exist when it was released; it’s unreasonable to expect it to work, or for them to be able to make it do so this long after the fact. Certainly they’re not going to CHANGE the old version if you find a bug; I bet they don’t even have the compilers that created it any more.

Want it to work? Get an old PC, install Windows 95 on it, and you should be golden. Once you’ve started upgrading major components and operating systems, you have to expect that you’ll need to upgrade to at least reasonably modern software. You don’t need the latest version, but a version that’s probably a decade old isn’t going to cut it.

3

Photoshop 4 doesn’t even have a History/Undo feature. You’re better off finding a version of 6.5 somewhere, which should work okay on modern computers because I used to have a copy at home.

4

But it’s not perfectly good.

When my mother was alive, I discovered that she was using bath towels that were worn out and frayed, but she wouldn’t replace them, because they were “still perfectly good.” I bought her a new set, and she was amazed at the difference.

Get the new version of Photoshop (even the light version), and you’ll be amazed at the things you’ll be able to do, that the people using 4.0 can’t. Then call Adobe tech support and thank them for dragging you into the 21st century.

5

Seconded. I’m sure you could count 'em all if you wanted, but even if I told you that you could get it for free, trust me, you still don’t want it. 4.0 was 1996, an unspeakably long time ago. Still, it is pricey. Fortunately, there, are many alternatives, even some free, open-source tools, such as GIMP.

6

I still use Photoshop 3, actually.

I have Photoshop CS, which is OS X native. But I’d rather cue up Classic and run Photoshop 3 for ordinary everyday stuff. (And I’m not a professional retoucher).

PS-CS annoys the starch out of me. Every time I paste it creates a new freaking layer. It does text as text very nicely but trying to convert text to bitmap so I can apply filters to text as shapes? Ugh!

7

I got it working. I re-installed it today and it’s fine.

My colleague suggests that it was my use of the tutorial CD (after the first successful installation) that messed stuff up. So when I restarted the computer and reinstalled it, it was a go.

It bugs me a lot that “new” and “updated” versions of technology usually amount to a vastly increased complexity with very little added value, but we’re expected to keep buying them anyway because they stop supporting the old ones. (Note that “support” in this instance would have amounted to their tech guy telling me to restart and reinstall because the tutorial CD sometimes upsets things. Really not much to ask.)

I’ll use an example of a program I know much better: Word 98 has every function that I have ever and will ever need to use for word processing, and will always remain my preferred version of Word. Why can’t I choose to use it on a new computer? Instead I have to buy the newest version and make thirty changes to my preferences to make it work as well as Word 98.

8

But as someone mentioned above, PS 4 doesn’t even have a History function, and that to me is required. There’s a difference between having to upgrade a 2 year old piece of software and an 11 year old one. I don’t use Word that often so I can’t pinpoint any major changes, but I don’t doubt there have been a few.

Okay, maybe I’m just having nightmares over this thread because I work with graphic and web design suites all day, and the thought of having to go back to pre-CS Adobe software and Macromedia MX versions instead of version 8 scares me.

9

Oh, I’m with you there! Did Photoshop 4 even have guides/rulers? Also, Adobe changed the colour profiles with version 5 (I think?) which made significant improvements to the program.

I do agree that they can change programs to the point where the changes are just bulky and slow your workflow down but Photoshop is one program that I consistently upgrade when new versions are launched. Same with my Mac OS. Go back to Photoshop 4? I’d sure miss some very cool features that I can’t do without!

10

And speaking of Adobe customer service - I can’t praise them enough.

I bought the professional version of CS2 last year, along with Macromedia products in a bundle for a hefty price. All was fine and then I went and did a few stupid things and suddenly all of the programs crashed into a huge black hole.

I called Adobe, got a guy at customer service.

It took three hours on day one, FOUR hours on day two (and finally got everything back to normal) and the guy actually called me back on day three to make sure everything was still working. That was over seven hours of on-line help - basically, had to erase tons of embedded code and re-install the program from scratch - and yes, it was 99% my own stupidity that caused the problem.
(I was trying to erase what I thought were needless programs on my computer.)

As far as I am concerned, Adobe customer service is the best I have ever had.

That said, I am in no hurry to by CS3 just yet, but have already started to save my pennies to purchase the upgrade by year’s end.

11

My instructor’s wife bought the CS suite and then CS2 launched days after - Adobe gave her the upgrade for free!