Compared to productivity software, video games are considered relatively cheap but yet people still pirate them anyway (or at least they try to). So it really does not come as a surprise that when it comes to productivity software like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, there are many users who would rather pirate the software than paying hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to own it.Heck, even subscribing to the software can add up to quite a lot of money, especially if you’re someone who might need it on occasion. That being said it looks like Adobe has come up with a new way to annoy pirates, which is by issuing constant notifications (like the one above) to inform them that the software they are using is no genuine.
Adobe frames this as them being concerned at the risks this might pose to your work. According to the company, “Adobe now runs validation tests and notifies people who are using non-genuine software. Our tests check for software tampering and invalid licenses. If you’ve received a notification, that means the software on your machine isn’t a genuine Adobe product. It isn’t covered by a warranty or our support programs. And because it may not perform as we intended, it could pose risks to you and your work.”
However apart from the potentially annoying notification, it does not appear that there will be penalties involved, unless of course someone in your home or office decides to tell on you, like that time Forever 21 got in trouble for allegedly using pirated Adobe software.