Why is it so hard to get an Adobe Distribution license (for .msi installers)

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Has anybody ever tried this?

I cannot believe the rough waters I've had to sail through, just to get .msi installers for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Shockwave Player. I want to install these using group policy, so they're quickly and easily deployed to all machines on the domain. No, those terrible stub "installers" (I use that term very loosely) which don't work when you have a proxy server on the network and are also riddled with crapware are not good enough for me.

There was a time when the Adobe Distribution page for Flash Player and Shockwave Player were easily accessible, but those days are gone, you're now required to have an Adobe ID and a valid distribution agreement in order to download the enterprise installers.

I tried signing up to the distribution agreement with many different email addresses, but Adobe did not respond, not even to inform me that my license application has been denied.

However, I noticed that I was able to sign up with my work account. Not ideal though, because I'm leaving the company next week. But from this, I concluded that Adobe automatically denies any license applications made using a free email provider (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook etc.).

That's not going to stop someone like me... no way!

To get an Adobe Distribution license, I had to...

1. Register my own domain name (e.g. theblackpearl.dynamicdnsprovider.org). I used my existing dynamic DNS hostname, because it had already been set up a long time ago and has worked flawlessly with my self-hosted VPN service since last year.
   
2. Find a hosted email provider which can be configured to use my own domain name. Not many of these about which will let you use your own domain name for free.
3. Prove to the hosted email provider that I own the domain name which I want to use. This required me to set up a web server on this domain name, download a file from the hosted email provider and then upload this file to the web server's root.
   
4. Add the MX record for my hosted email provider (e.g. mail.provider.com) to my dyanmic DNS hostname. This has to be done using your dynamic DNS provider's control panel. This step also takes a few minutes to "go live".
   
5. Set up my own mailbox with the hosted email provider (e.g. (e-mail address removed)).
6. Test my new mailbox to ensure that it's possible to send and receive emails.
   
7. (Optional) Configure my BlackBerry Z10 smartphone and Microsoft Office 2010 to access this mailbox using IMAP.
8. Very important: Sign up for an Adobe ID, using my newly created hosted email address.
   
9. Apply for the Adobe Distribution license.

After doing this, within a minute, I then received the license approval email with links to the .msi installers. SUCCESS!


(image has been censored, just in case Adobe is watching)

I can't post any direct links to the installers, nor any further information contained within this email, because it violates the distribution agreement and Adobe might hunt me down and chop my head off.

What a absolute nightmare. Any thoughts on this, or has anybody else applied for a distribution license, just to get full installers and .msi installers from Adobe?

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[Ian]

Sounds a bit of a ride, just to get MSI files . A few months ago, I wanted to get MSI installers for lots of different apps that I use across our network, but it proved so difficult that I just ended up giving up and resorted to manual installations for some of them. Quite a few apps that are free for personal use don't allow MSI installers unless you've got a corporate license, I guess as it's unlikely that many individuals would need MSI packages and corporations may abuse free software licenses if they gave them out easily.

I'm glad you persisted - I just gave up .

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Sounds a bit of a ride, just to get MSI files . A few months ago, I wanted to get MSI installers for lots of different apps that I use across our network, but it proved so difficult that I just ended up giving up and resorted to manual installations for some of them. Quite a few apps that are free for personal use don't allow MSI installers unless you've got a corporate license, I guess as it's unlikely that many individuals would need MSI packages and corporations may abuse free software licenses if they gave them out easily.

I'm glad you persisted - I just gave up .

You think that's bad - check out Oracle's JRE (Java Runtime Environment). Not only do you have to use a 'company' email address, you also have to pay a subscription fee for Oracle's support plan. And no, extracting the MSI installer from the EXE installer will not work.

Sadly though, I still have a dependency on Java, because my Ubiquiti UniFi access point uses a controller, which of course, is written in Java.

You raised an interesting point about licensing. I can see what you mean, but why should companies care, especially if it's free software? If the software is licensed as free for personal use only, then I can understand, but both Flash Player and JRE are free for commercial use, yet they still want to make it hard for us!

When free is not free. Reminds me of those "free trials" which still charged your credit card regardless.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[Ian]

Oh I agree entirely, home users can benefit from MSI installers greatly. It's strange that Oracle won't provide JRE as an MSI, as that is one of the apps that almost everyone would benefit from having an MSI available.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Oh I agree entirely, home users can benefit from MSI installers greatly. It's strange that Oracle won't provide JRE as an MSI, as that is one of the apps that almost everyone would benefit from having an MSI available.

I think I've found out why they won't provide .msi installers. ADVERTISING. It's harder to advertise with .msi installers because they are designed to be installed silently. Notice how many applications ship with advertisement-ridden installers, some even try to install crapware if you aren't careful to uncheck them.

The only thing worse than advertising installers are fake "installers". This is the current evil trend adopted by many major corporations where the "installer" you download isn't actually an installer, it connects to the internet to download the real installer, throwing advertisements left-right-and-center at you. They might also attempt to install crapware.

Thankfully, these kinds of "installers" don't work in our environment because they can't get through our authenticating proxy server, which is required for any kind of internet access.

Some of these "installers" can happily get through a proxy server which doesn't require authentication, but I've never come accross one which can get through a proxy server that does require authentication.

If a software company does not offer a full, offline .exe installer at the very least, then it's simple, I won't use their software.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.