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[FullMetalPhotographer]

Adobe will officially announce Creative Suite 4 on September 23, 2008. The company will also host a webcast introducing the products to the public.

http://adobe.istreamplanet.com

[Gavin Seim]

Ya I saw that. Pretty cool stuff, though do we really need CS4 yet. Seems like we just got CS3.

I have to say my excitement is waining a bit. The CS updates are a bit of a cash cow for Adobe, without a lot of revolutionary updates for consumer. Just a thought.

[fortanelli]

I agree with you there Gavin, with 3 versions in less than 3 years. I think something is terribly wrong with Adobe.

Paying those high upgrade fees is just too much. I personally think i will just wait this one out. Maybe the following version after this one. Which i think will be due out next year sometime.

[FullMetalPhotographer]

The one major update from CS2-CS3 was photoshop. AI and ID could use some real improvements. Adobe has been talking about cleaning up photoshop from the ground up. If they did that I could see it. Seeing that I have about three computers on CS3 and two older G4s on CS2, I will have to see what they are offering.
I will most likely end upgrading two or three machines because I have incorporated Design work with my photography so I need to maintain compatibility with ad agencies, pr firms and publications. It is a pain but I find it better to be ahead of the curve than behind.

[genemcc]

Adobe made the decision to bring all there major apps into Suites. That has both good and bad things associated with it. Now they feel compelled to bring new updates to market every 16 to 18 months. Hence the rapid path from CS to the upcoming CS4.

The decision to upgrade is dependent on which of the apps in your particular suite are the most important to you. It may very well be that the changes to PS in CS4 aren't enough to compel you to upgrade until CS5. But if Illustrator makes some ooh-ahh changes and that is one of the apps you use regularly then CS4 may be for you.

I think Adobe is trying to stay on the cutting edge and hold back competitors.  And that's a  good thing. It's not too different from Canon and Nikon. Each pushes the other to break new ground and we all benefit from that.

All that being said, I agree that Adobe needs to get a grip on the upgrade costs if they are going to keep to this schedule. Not all of us are Fortune 500 companies, eh!! 

[Gavin Seim]

The problem is that Adobe has no real competitors. It's because of that that they have begun to overcharge and under deliver.

[FullMetalPhotographer]

The most major competitor they bought out, MacroMedia. Which is where lightroom came from. I do miss MacroMedia, I really like FreeHand. Today the biggest competitors are Apple and Microsoft. Apple sort has a love hate relationship with Adobe. They both needed each other in the beginning, but now they are like a marriage  falling apart. Apple use to own 10% of Adobe. There is talk every now and then of Apple buying Adobe but that would be a major headache for them. Microsoft is off trying reinvent the wheel to compete with adobe products.

[genemcc]

Ah, MacroMedia! Where have you gone?

Yeah, I miss them too. But Apple is competing on several fronts head on with Adobe. Microsoft, while trying to reinvent the wheel, does have a very strong photography program and has recently entered into a joint venture relationship with Nikon. (Another reason I'm glad to be a Canon shooter). Their first outing is in Nikon's new point-n-shoot where the "raw" format is tied into windows protocols. Doesn't bode well but does raise the specter of a competitor for Adobe on the horizon.

[Gavin Seim]

Ya to compete with Adobe on a serious level it has to be cross platform.

[FullMetalPhotographer]

Don't make too much of the Nikon Deal with Microsoft, Canon has had one for years. These agreements are not that new. Apple has similar agreements. If there is an interesting development here is Nikon making a RAW format designed specifically the Microsoft system, but does not mean a lightroom or aperture could not open it, but it might mean an extra step for them to develop a way to do it.

[firetoole]

All I can say is that, it will need to be a big step up for me to upgrade right away I am tired of them just adding a new window and a few new tools.
My full time job is in the prepress department at a larger printing company and when CS3 came out, I figured the number of new features to how much it cost for the suit. It was like $35 per new feature that just seems crazy to me. 

[FullMetalPhotographer]

I did about a year or so exile for photography being in charge of the electronic prepress for a commercial printing division of a newspaper. Oh the memories (nightmares) of Microsofts Publisher and various font issues.

[firetoole]

I did about a year or so exile for photography being in charge of the electronic prepress for a commercial printing division of a newspaper. Oh the memories (nightmares) of Microsofts Publisher and various font issues.

Publisher should be illegal and burned in large bonfires!

also I get allot of people who think I can get art out of a low res jpg.

[AvPhoto]

Gavin, I seem to recall that you mentioned (in one of the Podcasts) that Adobe was planning to release Photoshop in a-la carte bundles.  Has there been any recent word either official or rumored?

back on topic,
I never made the leap to CS3 from CS2 based on the minimal improvements in the features I used most.  And now with LR2 for workflow, Photoshop sees about 1/10th the usage and only for heavy editing or special effects.  Shelling out $$$ for upgrade costs every 1.5 years makes it feel like a subscription.

[belle]

I agree with you there Gavin, with 3 versions in less than 3 years. I think something is terribly wrong with Adobe.

Paying those high upgrade fees is just too much. I personally think i will just wait this one out. Maybe the following version after this one. Which i think will be due out next year sometime.

It is the macromeda style of new version,  you use to no more get use to the new dreamweaver before they had a new one

Belle