really?

[Lithonate]

I'm still CS2. Am I getting left behind?:


Tuesday September 2, 2008
Mark your calendar for September 23. That's when Adobe is unveiling Creative Suite 4. You can sign up right now for a special "Something Brilliant" Webcast (http://adobe.istreamplanet.com/) where Adobe will show everyone what CS4 is bringing to the world of desktop publishing.

[WannaBrie]

Jesus, I hate when this happens. I'm still CS2 as well. I can't afford to upgrade any time soon, either.

[cnic]

Youre not going to be left behind yet. I would say you have at least a 4 version grace period... or at least thats what I'm telling myself. I don't think you will find enough change in one version to the next to really get left behind.

In some cases there will be a major change. But you will hear about it when it comes out and IF you absolutely must have the new version for its upgraded features, then buy it.

Just keep up with what the changes are, and what you might be missing. They will have to make it pretty sweet for me to up from CS3 right now.

[Craig B]

At work we tend to "skip upgrades". We're on CS3 right now, so we won't upgrade until CS5 ...

[Typically]

oh wow i just asked my IT person about upgrading to cs3 because i'm on illy cs3, ps cs, and indy cs2. should i just have her wait a bit to see what the verdict is on cs4 or just go ahead and get it? what would you do?

[balou]

If it were me, I'd wait a couple of months after it's released to upgrade. I'll most likely skip the CS4 and wait for CS5. I just upgraded to CS3 in January for cripes sake! :)

[PrintDriver]

Oh, crap.
We haven't even gotten the print bugs out of CS3. I hope all you bleeding edge of technology types are ready for some real fun.
:rolleyes:

[Craig B]

Meh, getting things to print is your problem PD, not mine. :P

;)

[PrintDriver]

The cost of your print work just went up.
;)

[Craig B]

I only send everything through Kinko's ... you don't work at Kinko's do you? :)

[PrintDriver]

No, but then you are used to not getting what you wanted anyway.
:p

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao you two :D

[urstwile]

LOL at CraigB and PD. :D

[D-Frag]

When they finally fix CS3, CS2 and CS then I will think about upgrading. Adobe needs to realize that until their software runs flawless and FAST on most computers then the majority of us designers will not upgrade.

Is it just me, or am I finding out that more and more we "users" are becoming "beta testers" and getting charged for it. BS if you ask me.

I now officially HATE Microsuck, Apple the Asshat and Adobe Wan Kinobi. All three of those companies need to just STOP with the releases and fix their old shit first and foremost.

I think its time for a class action suit :)

[PrintDriver]

DFrag, it won't happen. Do you see those idiots standing in line outside the Apple store for new releases? Or the number of pre-orders for Adobe products?
Too bad design software doesn't work as well as gaming software. I can understand the lines for a new game release.
:D

[The_Black_Knight]

I can remember the days when Adobe would actually fix problems in their software with point releases. Unfortunately, I don't think this has been true since they came out with the original Creative Suite, particularly when it comes to bugs in Illustrator. Now, you have to pay for the bug fixes, and then wait to have new problems in the new release get fixed in the next paid upgrade.

I, too, am starting to hate Adobe as much as Microsoft. And coming from me, that's saying something.

[garricks]

I got some pretty reliable information today that CS4 will be announced before the end of the month.

[urstwile]

I think once Adobe swallowed up Macromedia it was pretty much time for them to start acting the way Quark used to, it was just a matter of time.

[garricks]

Gah! Bite your tongue Urst! No one could be THAT bad!!! (I hope...)

I'm just praying that CS4 will include Adobe's side of the fixes that made CS3 so touchy with Leopard.

[John G]

photoshop 5.0 still has everything that I use in CS2...

[budafist]

Sooo...um, when will my clients be getting CS4? Because that:s when we will have to get it too to keep up. Oh well. Not my money.

[PrintDriver]

^ Ya too true.

Big question though, will CS4 still run on a PowerMac processor or will it be Intel only?
If Intel only, that will bite. Hard. I'd have to replace 4 machines.

[Tea]

I've had that happen to me several times PD with running a lab. Luckily all my computers are either brand new or last year's model. So, thank goodness I'll be good if we upgrade from CS2. We tend to skip a version too.

[a_muse]

How often do new versions usually occur?

[PrintDriver]

Every single frickin year.

The silly thing is they add only a few bells and whistles and maybe, sometimes fix what was wrong in the previous version (while screwing up something else), but almost all of the Adobe software works using a modular framework. In theory they could just offer the modules and the fixes...
The fixes should be free.

[Kool]

Damn you guys are pretty hard on Adobe. Do any of you ever report all these problems? I know for a fact that Adobe does listen to user input but they have to hear about it. What are all these bugs that never get fixed?

I can tell you that CS4 has some stuff that will knock your socks off, not just bells and whistles but things that will really improve your workflow saving you time which is the same as money. I'll give you more details on Sept 23rd :)

[Kool]

How often do new versions usually occur?

They are on an 18 month schedule.

[a_muse]

Thank you Kool :)

[PrintDriver]

Wow, a freebie convert. :p

Yes we report them Kool. Adobe barely even has large format on their radar. InDesign is the worst offender. There is something up with the text editor. We've had many instances of word wrap foul ups from simply moving a built page to a larger artboard (ie making the artboard larger in the same doc setup so it isn't a pasting problem or master object problem). And I love how you can apply crop marks using the supplied script but you gotta remember to do it after you increase the artboard size or they skew off the targeted box area (they don't move onto the enlarged artboard if they weren't on it to begin with. Sometimes only some of them are affected). Another thing is stacking order mishaps. Sure some of it is user or designer error (partially removing some master objects while leaving others attached) but the page should stay the way it looks when all objects are released. There are also some large format rip color issues throughout the suite when using transparency. But I'm sure that's the Rip manufacturer's fault, you know, they should be able to keep up with the little more than yearly releases...:rolleyes: It takes months to get the rip updates and by that time Adobe has gone and changed the software again.

I like Adobe software for what it does but they are becoming bastards when it comes to support for their products while designers are too busy or too know-it-all to read the documentation and use the products correctly.

Wouldn't it be a laugh riot if printers wholesale and earnestly began to support the open-source wares. It's been a topic of discussion here and there the last year amongst my vendor friends.

[garricks]

I know for a fact that Adobe does listen to user input but they have to hear about it.

I can verify that first-hand. When Adobe Digital Editions was first released (before they Flashified it) I had a problem viewing the window full-screen. I posted on Adobe forums and sent a bug report. They contacted me asking for more info, which I provided. It turned out that I was apparently the first person to try full-screen on a 30" Cinema display and there was a bug that prevented the window from displaying at those dimensions. It was fixed almost immediately.

For what I do at work and at home, I have very little to complain about with Adobe.

[The_Black_Knight]

Damn you guys are pretty hard on Adobe. Do any of you ever report all these problems? I know for a fact that Adobe does listen to user input but they have to hear about it. What are all these bugs that never get fixed?

I can tell you that CS4 has some stuff that will knock your socks off, not just bells and whistles but things that will really improve your workflow saving you time which is the same as money. I'll give you more details on Sept 23rd :)Yes, I am hard on Adobe. Both I and the company I work for pay an awful lot for Adobe software, so I don't find it unreasonable to expect a product to work, or for there to be bug fixes to fix problems that are found to exist after release.

Most of the problems I have issues with (particularly in Illustrator, where I spend about 90% of my day) have been documented, but will never be fixed. The only answer is to hope that whatever the problem is gets fixed in the next paid release of the software. Adobe says they just don't have the time or the resources to fix things, since they're so busy adding gee-whiz features to new versions of the software. Either that, or they claim that they can't fix something in the Illustrator code without breaking something else (since they've never really updated the Illustrator code base, but just keep adding to the spaghetti code that already exists). That kind of attitude regarding a product that I have paid for really, seriously pisses me off and makes me long for alternatives.

If you want to find out what longstanding problems exist for Illustrator users (in versions from CS through CS3), just check out the Illustrator User-to-User Forums on the Adobe site.

[Kool]

Wow, a freebie convert. :p

Nice, I'm glad you have such respect for my integrity that you believe my opinion is for sale. I wish I would have just kept my mouth shut like I usually do in these kind of discussions. In all of my almost 11,000 post I have never really spoken up for a software upgrade till now. The fact that I am very impressed with CS4 couldn't be because almost every complaint I've ever had about the programs has been addressed in this new version. It's probably just because I'm now a corporate shill for Adobe.

I'll shut up now, please continue with the Adobe bashing.

[PrintDriver]

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