Photoshop activation on a new computer.

Question

I own Photoshop CS. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's old. But I bought it. Actually paid for it. During a time when everyone seemed to have a copy of one version or another (in pirated form), I actually went out, and paid for it. My wife and I were at a convention in Las Vegas, and we purchased it directly from Adobe, at their display in a huge  convention building with painted dancing girls, whole football fields set up for the purpose of showing how green Fuji photos could make grass look, and small airplanes were flying around... Really. Anyway, we bought it, from a gal in a giant rotating tower of people working with Photoshop, showing on a myriad of screens all the wonders they were creating with this revolutionary product...
We went home, loaded that bad boy on our computer, and entered the world of the digital darkroom.  Yesterday, I bought a new computer, with the sole purpose being to provide the memory-hungry Photoshop program an amount of memory it might be satisfied with. Quad-core processor, 750 GB hard drive, and 8 gigs of RAM. To some, a pretty powerful computer. Today, anyway.
I loaded the software, and got the usual "Activation within a month or you can't use it" message. I tried, limbering up my fingers to enter the mile-long serial number on the back of my ancient jewel case. It said "Sorry, activation not available, call this number for activation". So, dutifully, I did as instructed. This time, I was required to enter said mile-long number on my phone, always fun, tiny touch screen button... gotta love 'em. Then, it gave me a number to enter back into the computer to complete the process. I did that, and then, it said "Sorry, we no longer do activation by phone. Go to this web site: www.Adobe.com.go.activate" Went there, and was told to chat with a live representative. I did that, and was told "your only option is the $19.99/mo subscription". Um, the what? I paid $550 bucks for this program, and now, years later, if i want to keep using it, you want me to pay you twenty bucks a month, forever? Not for tech support. Not for upgrades. Just because you want some more money. Is that right? Seriously??
Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Is this even LEGAL???? Is there any way to make Photoshop just turn off the activation thing, and leave me alone? All I want to do is use what I bought and paid for. It's like buying a car, and ten years later, the car company says , "Hey if you want to keep driving this car, you'll have to send us monthly payments, or it won't run anymore".
Help...?

Answer 1

Charles stebbins I would recommend contacting our support team directly to verify the serial number was never registered.  You can contact our support team at Contact Customer Care.  An Adobe ID was required to activate the software so it is likely that the serial number was registered under a particular e-mail address.  You can request that your account be searched for by e-mail address and/or phone number.