I also don't get it... If they would lower the prices more people will buy the program. And some people wouldn't even download the program, but just buy it if it's a normal price, because it's not very easy to download a good program.
I got all the programs for free (photoshop, illustrator, indesign, premiere, flash, director, freehand, dreamweaver)
I got them from school, so they are all student license, meaning I can't earn money with them.
But there is one good thing to say about adobe and macromedia... they actually don't mind if you make a copy or download it. They really don't! If you just use it for private use, they don't care at all. They actually only care about the companies. So as soon you begin as a real freelance designer, make sure you buy the legal things! And once you bought the legal program, you only have to pay a little to update it to the next version.
When I start as a real freelancer (still 2 years to go) , I will only buy the programs I really need. So if I buy Illustrator, I don't need indesign and freehand. And for dreamweaver I will just use notepad.