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Adobe does have an academic program for their software as do many software companies for the exact reason that floppy points out. Unfortunately, programs like that are abused, hurting innocent commercial resellers who have to compete using the full and properly licensed software against the full product with an academic license.
Piracy/counterfeiting/unauthorized distribution (gray market) are huge issues for all mainstream high tech manufacturers. Like I pointed out above not only does it hurt their legitimate resellers, it also cheapens their brand, threatens their reputation and costs them money, not just in lost profits but also supporting and, in some cases, fixing the issues created by unauthorized products.
(gee you don't think I deal with this on a regular basis do you?)
In addition to all of that, in the long run it stifles innovation, forces companies to take additional steps to protect their intellectual property (which interferes with usability) and ultimately adds additional costs to the product which are passed on to the consumer.
Unfortunately there are so many people who are blinded by price that they don't stop and think "why is this guy so much cheaper than (insert some of the largest resellers in existence)?". While there is some variation in pricing from reseller to reseller, for the exact same product from the exact same manufacturer, you shouldn't see more than a 10% variation in price. If you do, something is up and a few questions may be in order.
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