Expert: LizaL - 5/22/2005

Question
Hi Liza,

I have found several foreign language versions of Photoshop (Dutch and Japanese, I believe) -- older versions like 5.5 and 6.0.  I was wondering if it would be possible to purchase say a PS 7.0 English upgrade (for Windows) and have it be compatible with the serial/registation number from the foreign language full version?

Or would there be some sort of linguistic clash because the full version and the upgrade use different languages?

Thank you so much!
~Crystal

Answer
Hi Crystal,

Well, I did quite a bit of internet searching for this, and can't find a *true* answer to your question. But I will tell you what I think and the logic I base it on.

I would say no, you can't use an English upgrade on a foreign language software because -- and this is the most important fact -- the foreign software was written in an different language. It's not like when we sometimes find, say, a Chinese Web page and we have Google translate it for us. It doesn't just convert like that. The coding in a foreign language software is generated is written by those who are fluent in the different languages.

So yes, I do believe there would be a linguistic clash -- if you even got as far as installing the English upgrade. Remember too, that the serial number for the foreign version is likely to have foreign characters. That wouldn't be too much of a problem with numbers or languages that have English-based alphabet characters, but for something like Chinese or Japanese, I'd be inclined to believe it'd be a whole lot different.

Sorry! It's an interesting question, though. And if I hear anything concerning this, or to the contrary of what I said, I'll post back!


Lisa