"CREATIVE SUITE 2, 3, AND 4
You can no longer reinstall Creative Suite 2, 3 or 4 even if you have the original installation disks. The aging activation servers for those apps had to be retired. "
I know, I read that too. And I also have an official boxed copy of CS4 Design Premium that I installed from the DVDs, which loads and works without issue. Weird!
I don't think I tried with anything older than CS5 stuff, but blocking the program in the firewall and putting in any valid CD key (people posted them online) worked flawlessly.
I assume it worked this way so people with airgapped machines could still be sold the software.
An activation-free version of CS3 was available for about a year after the activation shutdown. You had to create an Adobe account, provide your original serial number, and get a new offline installer and new offline serial number to use with it.
Source: have Offline CS3 Master Collection and use PS CS3 daily to clean up my flatbed scans https://i.imgur.com/8tS8ced.png
"CREATIVE SUITE 2, 3, AND 4 You can no longer reinstall Creative Suite 2, 3 or 4 even if you have the original installation disks. The aging activation servers for those apps had to be retired. "
Those poor servers.