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*** Please Note: I'm unable to reply to any comments. Amazon has taken this privilege from me. I'm very sorry. Over the past several months, I've purchased the Student and Teacher Editions (academic versions) of Adobe CS5 Premium, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended and Acrobat X Professional. Because of my recent Amazon purchase of Adobe CS5 Premium, Adobe graciously sent me via FedEx a free upgrade to Adobe CS5.5. This free upgrade was approved by Adobe after I submitted my Amazon proof-of-purchase and my CS5 serial number. For anyone intending on purchasing academic software from Adobe, I suggest they first try out the 30-day trial versions, and then if still interested, sign up for an Adobe account. It makes things much easier during the verification stage by having your account already set up. The entire verification process is very easy and it helps to have your scanned ID or any additional paperwork ready ahead of time. I received all of the serial numbers, which were four separate submissions, in less than 24 hours. Adobe says that it could take up to two business days for verification. The following might be some helpful information: Adobe allows you to install and activate your purchased software onto two computers. I have CS5.5 installed and activated on two computers that are connected to a home network. I am able to 'run' duplicate programs (ex. Photoshop & Photoshop, Dreamweaver & Dreamweaver, etc.) within CS5.5 on both computers at the same time without any indication of licensing issues. Activation is completed in the background during installation. To install and activate your Adobe software on a third computer, you must first 'de-activate' the software on one of the other two computers. Make sure if you ever throw out or give away an old computer, that you first de-activate the Adobe software. Otherwise, you will lose one of your two activations. De-activation can be accomplished from any program within CS5.5 by clicking on the help menu. This de-activates the entire CS5.5. After installing and activating, you can then register your software and receive a free gift from Adobe. The gifts vary for each software title. Some of the gifts are AdobeTextPro Font, Photoshop plugins, discounts on Adobe software and 30-day access to training videos on either Lynda.com or CreativeEdge.com. Lynda.com has an amazing amount of training videos. You may want to check out these two websites before registering so you have time to evaluate them. Concerning future upgrades of Adobe academic software, here is a quote from Adobe's website: "Upgrades don't have special education pricing. However, you can purchase upgrades for educational products at the regular upgrade prices from any Authorized Education Reseller." So according to Adobe, you can upgrade your academic software for their standard (non-academic) software if or when you no longer have student or teacher status. That is a really good deal! Many software companies won't allow you to upgrade academic software. If you are not a student or teacher and you want to purchase academic software, you may want to consider signing up for an interesting class at your local community college. You could then get your student ID and your student status. You don't need to be a full-time student and you don't need to be seeking a degree. Maybe you can find a convenient on-line class. You can then go to a website like JourneyEd and be eligible to purchase all kinds of academic software and hardware. Also, Microsoft has a program called DreamSpark that allows students to download full-versions of their software for free. You need to first sign up for a Windows Live ID and then sign in and get verified on the Microsoft DreamSpark website. Microsoft uses your college-issued '.edu' email address for verification. During the verification process Microsoft sends an activation email to your .edu email address. You must log in to your .edu email account and click on an activation link within the activation email. My verification didn't go very smoothly as my college had blacklisted Microsoft's mail servers and wouldn't allow me to receive the activation email from DreamSpark. I was eventually verified 'manually' by Microsoft tech support. I had to email them a copy of my scanned school ID and a copy of my class schedule. After you are verified, Microsoft will verify your student status once a year. You can download all of the software that they have available on their DreamSpark.com website. There are no time limits on the software. You can continue to use their software after your student status expires. After being recently verified, I downloaded the full version of MS Visual Studio 2010 Professional, another very expensive program that was completely free. With that valuable student ID, you really can save many hundreds of dollars on academic software, hardware and training!