So I just bought Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium about a year ago for a hefty fee (about $1800) and now, of course, the new CS3 is coming out.
Should I pounce and buy the upgrade(s) or just hold off for now?
Any word if the new features are worth the expense of buying the upgrade?
Depends. If you want the additional software you’ll get (Dreamweaver, Flash, etc), you may find an upgrade worth the money.
This release seems to be about two things: unifying the product line under one name/versioning system and moving the Mac versions to Intel. The actual changes to any particular product seem pretty minor.
I’m getting it, but mostly for the better icons 
Thanks initech.
Dreamweaver and Flash etc. were already on the package I bought - and a quick glance at the new software also only showed some minor changes in those programs - granted, some nice minor changes, but minor all the same.
I guess I will wait until others jump in first and give their reviews - perhaps I will wait until version 4 comes out which, at this pace, should be about January of 2008.
The $440 upgrade seems a bit steep for prettier icons, but let me know if they titillate you.
It depends on the type of work you do, how much of a power user you are and how much disposable income you have to allocate for software. It also depends on which version of the Creative Suite you are looking for. Some people would shell out the price of an upgrade to get the Macromedia acquisitions added to their application set.
What kind of work do you do?
FYI CS2 Premium had the Macromedia programs on it.
You can still get CS2 as an upgrade from pre-7 versions of Photoshop. CS3? Upgrade from Photoshop 7 or later only. And, it costs quite a bit to upgrade from CS2 to CS3.
Me, I have Photoshop 6 and Illustrator 9. Looks like I’ll be doing a two-step upgrade.
My only question: can I upgrade from Windows to Mac software? I am planning to buy a MacBook Pro.
Yes, that is the one I bought - had Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, PhotoShop, InDesign, Go Live, Bridge, Designer, ImageReady, etc.
And Brad Serum, to answer your question, I use pretty much all of the software, both at work, and in some freelance projects. So yeah, that pretty much answers the question that I probably should just bite the bullet and buy the upgrade…however, in speaking with some of the people I work with, most have told me to hold off and see how others like it.
They rightly claim that the upgrades do not seem to be all that dramatic and until I have a chance to actually try it and see how it looks and works, it would be stupid to spend the money just yet.
The feature I’m most interested in is the fact that you can apply filters much like layer effects. Meaning that they can be turned on and off individually as opposed to having to go backwards in history to undo them. Too cool.
Also, having Flash intergrated with illustrator, photoshop and the rest of the Adobe suite SHOULD allow for seamless cross-use of images and objects into a given flash project.
Personally, I miss Illustrator 6. It was my bitch and I could make it do anything. But that’s just me.
I would be more interested in how these upgrades are handling print vs. web. I do 99% print and there have been tranparency issues in the InDesign suite that have been a royal pain. Any input?
What transparency issues are you having?
I do 90% print vs. web and have had one issue. It was my mistake of using transparencies and spot colors.
That was pretty much our issue. We were placing white versions of logos on a PMS block of color and pdf’ing it for the printer. Most of the time the printer would call back and tell us there was no artwork in the colored area. I finally noticed a setting another artist had made on the one that did work and copied it. But it was a pain to fix one I had figured it out.
I just got a copy of the new CS3 Photoshop and it is SEXY!!! 
You’ve gotta tell us more than that!
My Mom used to tell me when I was a kid… “Don’t tease the dog!”
… and you’re teasing the dog right now.
How’s the revised Flash looking?
How’s the GUI?
Is it substantially different?
Come on! Out with it!
So, does it come in a soft velvet wrap? Does it have curves that crave your fingertips? Are the disks like buttery suede? Did the manual have a ‘come hither’ look? Does the warranty make your heart race? Are the filters aching for your touch? Are you afraid to take it home to meet your mother?
Cuz if it does, I wanna watch!
My boyfriend just brought it home last night, so I have only spent a small amount of time with it… first of all, the GUI just looks really good, really slick. It has lots of tweaks to make the layout of the GUI more customizable and more convenient. As far as I can tell it has all the same functionality as before, with some new features. I can’t tell you more than that, I need to spend more time getting to know it. But I will report back ASAP! I love it!!
p.s. I also just got the brand new Microsoft Office Suite (actually I don’t think it’s even been released to the public yet, it’s a testers version) and it also is extremely SEXY!!
p.s. I can post some screenshots tonight after I get home from work, if anyone is interested…
**nyctea scandiaca, **how are you getting this stuff? I thought Adobe CS3 wasn’t going to be released until later this month.
It was released last week on the 27th.
Um, yeah, what DustyButt said…
I’m confused. I know it was announced the other week, but I didn’t think it was shipping yet.
The Adobe web site has these items listed as preorder. Under “Version Availability” it says "English language version is expected to ship by end of April 2007.
Amazon has it listed as pre-order as well, saying “Availability: This item will be released on July 1, 2007.”
Where are you guys getting your copies? Am I experiencing some kind of weird “Lake House” effect on the Dope?