Looking for more Information regarding SWID

I've seen a few posts that say something like, "Adobe Photoshop CS5 serialized as Creative Suite 5 Master Collection (Suite)" - what exactly is meant by this?

When you buy a license for something like Master Collection you're only allowed to use that license on one machine. (The EULA forbids splitting the applications across multiple machines.) However, if you only pay attention to the application titles in your inventory then you have no way of knowing whehter Photoshop was installed as a stand alone license or part of one of the many suites Adobe offers. SWID tags don't tell you which applications you have installed. They tell you which licenses you have installed.

I've installed standalone Photoshop CS5.1, but no .swidtag file seems to be generated...

If you installed Photoshop using a Master Collection license then you'll only see a Master Collection SWID tag. The tag reflects the license you've used not the applications you've installed.

@talkingmoose wrote:

If you installed Photoshop using a Master Collection license then you'll only see a Master Collection SWID tag. The tag reflects the license you've used not the applications you've installed.

I never understood why AAMEE (RIP) allows(ed) creating individual CS application packages, since the EULA doesn't allow splitting across machines.

Sean,

I can provide some details on SWID tags - you can also find more on the website tagvault.org.

talkingmoose and cem seem to have provided quite a few details in the related thread. I'm extremely glad to see that even though Adobe isn't pushing SWID tags as much as they can or should that people are finding out how to use them anyway.

Adobe has done a few things that don't follow the expectations for SWID tags. For one thing, they don't seem to place the file on the disk until one of the applications is run. So, if you have installed CS, but not run it on a device, you won't find the SWID tag - this is one issue with the Adobe tags. Another is that they should be installing a tag for the suite and a tag for each app that's installed - this allows people to actually see which individual components are on which device. Sadly, I've tried to get Adobe to work on these issues, but they don't seem to think that it's a major concern for customers...

You also asked what the phrase, "Adobe Photoshop CS5 serialized as Creative Suite 5 Master Collection (Suite)". Basically, you can use pretty much any Adobe CS media to install the software and you can mix and match serial numbers. So, you can install something like Adobe CS5 Production Premium, but use the Master Collection serial number. By Adobe's terms, you've installed software on that device that requires a Master Collection license (even though you don't have the full set of software on that device). The SWID tag will tell you that the software is installed with the Master Collection serial number so at least you can manage the issue.

Please note, the more customers are telling Adobe that they have to help their customers manage their software better, the more likely Adobe will be to add SWID tags to more software and to make the SWID tags work in the manner that companies like Microsoft, Symantec and IBM are designing their tags to work. They need to hear from you!