Adobe Hires Vista Marketing Rejects and announces CS3.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 03:11am

Oh. Wow.

Adobe's Web Site

Adobe's apparently gone nuts here. There's apparently SIX versions of Adobe Creative Suite 3, using Windows Vista-style naming schemes and very complex upgrade schemes.

There are now three versions of Photoshop: Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, and Photoshop Extended. You guys already know the first two; well, Extended apparently now lets you use video layers and RENDER 3D MODELS within Photoshop. Sweet.

All Adobe CS3 products are Universal Binary for Mac users.

from here...

Product Retail Pricing
CS3 Design Premium (up) $1799.95
CS3 Design Standard $1199.95
CS3 Web Premium $1599.95
CS3 Web Standard $999.95
CS3 Production Premium (up) $1699
CS3 Master Collection $2499
InDesign CS3 $699.95
Photoshop CS3 Extended $999.95
Photoshop CS3 $649.95
Illustrator CS3 $599.95
Flash CS Professional $699.95
Dreamweaver CS3 $399.95
Fireworks CS3 $299.95
Contribute CS3 $149.95
After Effects CS3 Professional $999
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 $799
Soundbooth $199

Link

Link

All the details are going to be announced Tuesday at 3:30 PM.

http://www.macrumors.com/2007/03/27/ado ... announced/

Geez, these prices are high, and the versions are confusing.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 03:24am

I'd actually like to buy something. I'd never pay those prices (that's extortion to hobbyists like me!), but Academic discounts...

My copy of Photoshop 7 runs so slow on my Intel Mac, I'd love to get me some Universal Binary love with CS3. $299 is apparently the education price for Photoshop CS3 Extended...

EDIT: I watched the videos. Photoshop CS3 Extended. WOW.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-03-27 06:30am

damn, the suite is doubled price in Europe

Post by **Edi** » 2007-03-27 06:57am

Mobius wrote:damn, the suite is doubled price in Europe

The US companies have to find some way of subsidizing American adoption of their programs. Or they are just price-gouging, which is the more likely explanation.

Fuck that.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-03-27 08:15am

i did this little stuff on excel out of curiosity, well they could put a sticker on their box telling RapePrice!
Edit:
so in the pic: up is the US retail price to logical Euro price
EU retail price to US equivalent one

i could accept the 1€=1$ thingie, but this no way

Elessar · Post by **Elessar** » 2007-03-27 11:01am

What exactly is preventing Europeans from say, ordering off of Amazon.com and getting the package shipped overseas?

Either way, these prices are seriously 'Enterprise'. That is, no individuals will ever pay them. Even the educational discounts are out of reach for most.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-03-27 11:15am

Elessar wrote:What exactly is preventing Europeans from say, ordering off of Amazon.com and getting the package shipped overseas?

Either way, these prices are seriously 'Enterprise'. That is, no individuals will ever pay them. Even the educational discounts are out of reach for most.

Expect piracy of Adobe products to skyrocket.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-03-27 11:38am

[img]What%20exactly%20is%20preventing%20Europeans%20from%20say,%20ordering%20off%20of%20Amazon.com%20and%20getting%20the%20package%20shipped%20overseas?[/img]
Restriction on exportation; same with windows Vista

RThurmont · Post by **RThurmont** » 2007-03-27 01:06pm

dobe's apparently gone nuts here. There's apparently SIX versions of Adobe Creative Suite 3, using Windows Vista-style naming schemes and very complex upgrade schemes.

If you actually took the time to study the graphics design industry and how designers actually operate their practices, you'd realize this makes perfect sense. Design is a profession with a number of specialities, such as motion graphics, print design, web design, photo editing, typography, and so forth, and Adobe's previous strategy with CS2 of creating a very general set of tools for everyone IMO was much weaker than their current approach of specialization.

I, as a branding designer, have no need for video production tools at this point (though maybe a huge branding firm like Interbrand might have a copy of it or two to handle any video production they might want to do). However, web tools are useful, and whereas in the past I'd have to buy Macromedia Studio+CS2 to get good tools for both areas, now I can just get a single bundled package.

This is vastly different from the case of Vista, where Microsoft created a pointless hierarchy of versions with various tiers of features and licensing restrictions, at different price points.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-03-27 01:30pm

General Zod wrote:
Elessar wrote:What exactly is preventing Europeans from say, ordering off of Amazon.com and getting the package shipped overseas?

Either way, these prices are seriously 'Enterprise'. That is, no individuals will ever pay them. Even the educational discounts are out of reach for most.
Expect piracy of Adobe products to skyrocket.

Why should adobe care? They gain anyway, as there is a massive lock-in for the market. Same strategy MS used in the 90s, it dosn't matter if you pirate, you end up using their apps, which gives marketshare. And later on, when these artists join the workforce, suprise, they know how to use Photoshop, so thats what they'll use.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 01:47pm

General Zod wrote:
Elessar wrote:What exactly is preventing Europeans from say, ordering off of Amazon.com and getting the package shipped overseas?

Either way, these prices are seriously 'Enterprise'. That is, no individuals will ever pay them. Even the educational discounts are out of reach for most.
Expect piracy of Adobe products to skyrocket.

They're making ME want to pirate it, and I'm extreme anti-piracy

I think the pricing is fair for professionals. It's the hobbyists that take the hit; I'm a student who is NOT studying design; I'd like to try a few of Adobe's applications so I can learn to use them for fun, not so I can make profit. As a student, though, I can't really afford more than Photoshop; so it looks like I'm going to have to go without the rest.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-03-27 01:53pm

Praxis wrote:
General Zod wrote:
Elessar wrote:What exactly is preventing Europeans from say, ordering off of Amazon.com and getting the package shipped overseas?

Either way, these prices are seriously 'Enterprise'. That is, no individuals will ever pay them. Even the educational discounts are out of reach for most.
Expect piracy of Adobe products to skyrocket.
They're making ME want to pirate it, and I'm extreme anti-piracy

I think the pricing is fair for professionals. It's the hobbyists that take the hit; I'm a student who is NOT studying design; I'd like to try a few of Adobe's applications so I can learn to use them for fun, not so I can make profit. As a student, though, I can't really afford more than Photoshop; so it looks like I'm going to have to go without the rest.

You're a mac fanboy, else I'd offer Paint .Net

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-03-27 02:04pm

You're a mac fanboy, else I'd offer Paint .Net

Maybe Seashore once it's more mature, or Gimp.app?

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 02:11pm

I'm used to Photoshop. I learned in Photoshop, and have Photoshop 7.0. And I can afford to get the new Photoshop (student pricing); Extended is only $299, I wonder what Standard is. I wonder if they have student upgrade pricing? lol

I was hoping to grab one of the creative suites though. Maybe learn After Effects or Flash.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-03-27 02:14pm

Praxis wrote:I'm used to Photoshop. I learned in Photoshop, and have Photoshop 7.0. And I can afford to get the new Photoshop (student pricing); Extended is only $299, I wonder what Standard is. I wonder if they have student upgrade pricing? lol

I was hoping to grab one of the creative suites though. Maybe learn After Effects or Flash.

Adobe, you have a customer for life. Exactly what I pointed out above. Adobe locks you in the system, either through piracy, or through honest purchesing, so that in the offchance you end up in the digital arts world, you will use their product.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-03-27 02:16pm

How much of Creative Suite does the average hobbyist need, anyways? There are cheaper alternatives to virtually everything in it (most people don't need the full power of these applications!)

RThurmont wrote:If you actually took the time to study the graphics design industry and how designers actually operate their practices, you'd realize this makes perfect sense. Design is a profession with a number of specialities, such as motion graphics, print design, web design, photo editing, typography, and so forth, and Adobe's previous strategy with CS2 of creating a very general set of tools for everyone IMO was much weaker than their current approach of specialization.

Bah, you beat me to it - but yes, these packages are actually fairly well thought out. I'm a bit surprised that Adobe has kept Fireworks, though - I thought they would've killed it since it's a competitor to the Photoshop/ImageReady duo.

Pezzoni · Post by **Pezzoni** » 2007-03-27 03:10pm

I was going to buy a copy of CS3.... Was...

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 03:21pm

phongn wrote:How much of Creative Suite does the average hobbyist need, anyways? There are cheaper alternatives to virtually everything in it (most people don't need the full power of these applications!)

I honestly don't know. I want to learn the applications.

Adobe Flash is pretty much the best and only way of making good flash content, is it not?

I would also like to learn After Effects. I've always wanted to rotoscope a home video and make a homemade lightsaber duel.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-03-27 03:28pm

Praxis wrote:I honestly don't know. I want to learn the applications.

Well, figure out a way to get an academic discount then, if you must be legal. Or work with the lower-end versions

Adobe Flash is pretty much the best and only way of making good flash content, is it not?

The best way, but IIRC the are alternatives.

I would also like to learn After Effects. I've always wanted to rotoscope a home video and make a homemade lightsaber duel.

AE is not the only compositing tool, but it might be one of the cheapest full-powered ones.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 03:36pm

http://www.adobe.com/products/creatives ... t/webcast/

There's a live webcast going on RIGHT NOW if anyone wants to watch, just started. Adobe's announcing it.

AE is not the only compositing tool, but it might be one of the cheapest full-powered ones.

Exactly.

Oh well, I'll try to see if I can afford the student packages (which are still very expensive, for me. If I had a full time job it would be easier, but it's a month's paycheck as it is now, and I need RAM upgrades too).

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-03-27 03:58pm

Are the prices for Photoshop really that much more expensive than prior versions? I thought these products always commanded a heavy price.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2007-03-27 04:47pm

Photoshop CS 3 is a milestone. The smart filters alone (a thing that 3d apps have had for ever) are worth buying it. I also like the new interface with the large dock (never been a fan of the small floats) and the extended version appears to offer some great stuff for 3D guys like myself. Apparently i´ll be able to import .obj and .3ds and paint my textures directly onto the model. I´m very interested in that.

Master of Cards · Post by **Master of Cards** » 2007-03-27 05:15pm

salm wrote:Photoshop CS 3 is a milestone. The smart filters alone (a thing that 3d apps have had for ever) are worth buying it. I also like the new interface with the large dock (never been a fan of the small floats) and the extended version appears to offer some great stuff for 3D guys like myself. Apparently i´ll be able to import .obj and .3ds and paint my textures directly onto the model. I´m very interested in that.

Shit, I'm going to acqure this for that alone, what verison is that?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-03-27 05:21pm

Master of Cards wrote:
salm wrote:Photoshop CS 3 is a milestone. The smart filters alone (a thing that 3d apps have had for ever) are worth buying it. I also like the new interface with the large dock (never been a fan of the small floats) and the extended version appears to offer some great stuff for 3D guys like myself. Apparently i´ll be able to import .obj and .3ds and paint my textures directly onto the model. I´m very interested in that.
Shit, I'm going to acqure this for that alone, what verison is that?

Photoshop CS3 is the version, numbnuts.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-03-27 08:55pm

salm wrote:Photoshop CS 3 is a milestone. The smart filters alone (a thing that 3d apps have had for ever) are worth buying it. I also like the new interface with the large dock (never been a fan of the small floats) and the extended version appears to offer some great stuff for 3D guys like myself. Apparently i´ll be able to import .obj and .3ds and paint my textures directly onto the model. I´m very interested in that.

Agreed, after I watched the videos, I'm dying for it.

It imports .3ds?

I WANT NOW.