Re: OT: Photoshop CS4 upgrade overpriced
Dan,
You don't really address my question. Is the upgrade from CS3 Premium
to CS4 worth $600? I use Photoshop more as a utility - as you are aware
I prefer a negative, lens and sensitized paper to digital gagag. That
said I do use Photoshop from time to time. Has CS4 (hard to believe
Adobe can really jump to a new ver. # as fast as they have) really added
enough new functionality to justify me plunking down that much cash; or
can I plug along with what I've got? Most pay as you go software that
I've had to buy of late I would label "buggy" "bloatware;" I only buy
the new versions so I don't get cut off from support or get nailed with
having to buy it all over again if I fall 2 "versions" behind. But given
the price Adobe is asking if I miss one upgrade, it will be cheaper for
me to buy the software new. My original question, again, is do you
think the benifits of owning the new version are worth the price - and
what are those benefits (from the mouth of somebody who is using the
software to do real work? BTW, if you are getting any perks from Adobe,
and I assume you are not - please mention that too.
--g
Dan Burkholder wrote:
Hey Greg,
If you can get just the Photoshop CS4 upgrade for the price mentioned by
Richard, then yes, you should go for it. The $600 you quote sounds like
an upgrade for the entire suite of products. Adobe must figure if you're
using that full batch of applications that you're making money with all
of them. That isn't always the case of course.
CS4 is another of those upgrades that hook you like crack; it's really
hard to go back to CS3 (I'm speaking just Photoshop here) after getting
a taste of the "4". I'd also add that, with CS4, Adobe has finally moved
to define Photoshop as the domain for serious image editors and not the
stuff for casual users. The transition to CS4 forces us to make some
pretty major changes to the way we make selections and masks and modify
them. Don't get me wrong; the changes are almost all for the good. It's
just that the learning curve has been steepened somewhat for those who
haven't had a good workflow to begin with. Make sense?
To throw a bit of a wrench into your decision process, the Extended
version of Photoshop offers some neat capabilities that are missing from
the Standard version of CS4. I don't think Adobe has an upgrade path
from Standard to Extended so you best decide before purchasing. If
memory serves, you can upgrade an older Standard version of CS2 or CS3
to the Extended version of CS4 at a fair price. Just don't expect to
upgrade CS4 Standard to CS4 Extended for any price approaching
reasonable. ;^)
Hope this helps!
Dan
info@DanBurkholder.com
www.DanBurkholder.com
On Mar 8, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Greg Schmitz wrote:
I have Adobe Photoshop CS3 Creative Design Premium and can't decide if
I should upgrade to CS4. It seems to me that Adobe's asking price of
$600 for an upgrade is "over the top." Will I get $600 worth of
improvement if I upgrade to CS4? I'd be interested in hearing from
those of you that have upgraded to CS4 if you think the upgrade was
worth the money. $600 is 2-weeks of work for me and I am loath to
give it to some Silicon Valley wonk so that he/she can continue to
drive their Porsche or BMW whenever they want to.
--greg
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