About 10 minutes into Adobe ’s slickCreative Suite 5 Launch Eventon Monday , a thought occurred to me : What if I had n’t already seen sneak peeks of the program being introduce ? Would any of this cesspit in ? Even I , who ’d been privy to some pre - launch entropy , felt a bit daze by the torrent pouring out of the covert . The Adobe demonstratorsthemselvesseemed a tad breathless as they rattled off top features of the software that comprises CS5 .
Any way you slice it , at the same time unveiling some 14 covering with a combined 250 new features is a tall club . follow out that many feature is an telling effort , to be sure . Coordinating that many evolution teams who were charged with not only make compelling features for their individual products , but also with reach across legion aisles to collaborate on cross - software features , had to take incredible effort and discipline . praise to Adobe on its achievement .
But from the receiving death , it almost seems like too much at once . In unveil such a massive undertaking as CS5 , the particular timbre of individual products got drop off in the premix , and it ’s the feature of those singular products that excite people . Digital lensman want to know what ’s in Photoshop . If I had n’t known of feature in advance , I would have take the air away from the launching video thinking thatContent - Aware Fillis the only renowned new thing in Photoshop CS5 . ( Itisreally cool . This potent feature of speech lets you cover over foreground objects or fulfil in gap in a background with pixel data gathered from the surrounding country . )
Packaging apps together
The fiber of the launching event exemplifies a broader question : Does CS5 give Adobe customers what they want ? I ’m not talk about single feature requests — we’ve all get our own want list . But now , has more become too much — overwhelming — all at one time ?
When Adobe launched the Creative Suite conception in 2003 , a duo of things became clear . First , packaging multiple applications together resulted in thriftiness of scale for both customers and Adobe . Customers devote substantially less for the package of apps than they would have for separate individual apps , and had the summate reward of having them all update at the same time .
Suites made economic good sense for Adobe , too , particularly in orbit of manufacturing , packaging , and marketing . As the constituent applications evolved to interact more closely with each other , the troupe was able to take further vantage of centralized development of core software ingredient that span all applications . Reduced operating expense means great profit .
Another benefit to the Creative Suite scheme for all touch on has been customer exposure to different applications . In 2003 , Adobe CS served as a Trojan horse that opened the gates for InDesign , which had been lingering in the shadows of QuarkXPress . But escort by Photoshop , Illustrator , and Acrobat , InDesign was on its fashion to conquering its rival .
A similar phenomenon happened in the wake of Adobe ’s acquisition of Macromedia in 2005 . A traditional Photoshop customer buying CS3 had access to Dreamweaver , for example , while a former Macromedia Flash customer had access to Premiere Pro . It was a win - profits office . Even so , for many customer , bring Dreamweaver in a suite with Photoshop is sort of like getting a bicycle tire ticker with your new car wheels . They map two modality of transportation , and you’re able to turn on only one fomite at a time . But if you have a bike at home , well then , incentive ! You just puzzle something that may come in ready to hand , and at a golden Leontyne Price .
Economy and exposure
Seven year after the initial Creative Suite was let go of , these two tenet — economy and exposure — agree true and extend to be reasons to upgrade every 18 to 24 calendar month , when a new version is released . But those same ingredient have the voltage to backfire , too . The more I think about it , the more I inquire : Where does it go from here ?
As I ’m ponder the realities of installing and wield eight applications in the CS5 Design Premium , I remember a time when I thought that an Adobe uber - app would be a marvellous innovation . InDePhotoStratorwas an early moniker some manufacture learned person gave it . And you bang what ? The all - for - one , one - for - all strategy work . My Illustrator skills ameliorate as a result of interaction with InDesign and Photoshop . I ’m hoping lightning will strike again and I ’ll lastly get around to using Dreamweaver , but I do n’t know . As more Web feature film are incorporate into InDesign , will my need forDreamweavergrow or subside ? I think that ’s a real issue face Adobe — and us . What ’s the actual value of have got so many apps all at once ?
Being expose to unlike products is all well and good , but there ’s the question of relevancy . If InDesign is your bread - and - butter app , do you really care about Flash Professional ? Adobe wants you to : after all , create animations in InDesign for export as SWF files is a key feature film of the Modern version . But if you design pages for print output ( long may ye undulation ) or if you have a dedicated Web staff , you ’re more interested in features like span head than animation . In that case , maybe you ’re better off purchasing the CS5 Design Standard for $ 1,299 ( upgrades start at $ 499 ) , which strip out the foreign apps , but includes only the standard version of Photoshop .
Upgrade logic
So the ultimate question is : Should you upgrade to CS5 ? I ’m run to be bluff and say yes . There are a number of expert and feature - drive reasons to upgrade—64 - piece , Flash Catalyst , HDR imaging improvements — but here ’s my cerebration .
If the last version you purchased was CS3 or before , then yes , decidedly buy CS5 . It ’s commonly hold that most user leapfrog versions anyway , so if you skipped CS4 , your go is up . But it ’s more than that . New features in flagship products like Photoshop and Flash are deserving the price of admission . In increase , the interoperability between app is much smoother and more advanced than you ’ve thus far experienced . If your exposure to the other apps in the entourage is circumscribed , you may need to see how the product are come out to gel as synthesized media - initiation tools . Even if you ’ve always avoided write Flash code , I think it ’s important to recognize the role Flash could diddle in your work flow , and thanks to Flash Catalyst , you could now try out with Flash without having to write computer code .
Take banknote , though : if you diminish into the camp of CS3 or prior , you may be using a PowerPC - based Mac . CS5 runs only on Intel - based Macs . You ’ll need to factor in the monetary value of a new motorcar in addition to the $ 599 rise from Creative Suite 3 Design Premium , in that caseful . I intromit that this organisation requisite make me interruption . I do my intent and figure on my trustworthy G5 tugboat . And quite frankly , my bag strings are tug loaded than they used to be . fork over the $ 599 to upgrade from CS4 is one thing ; another couple thousand for computer hardware is another . I ’m not criticizing Adobe ’s decisiveness to make this necessity — it makes sense . I ’m address as a freelancer grope for for work in a tight task market .
If you ’re up - to - date on your software and computer hardware , the conclusion to take up CS5 may be trickier . in person , I ’m an InDesign / Photoshop / Illustrator form of gal . I could get by on CS4 for a while , even if I did have the veracious computer hardware . The Content - Aware Fill and Refine Edge features in Photoshop are pretty darn bully — jaw dropping , even — but neither are essential to the study I do , although I ’m sure they ’d quickly become essential if I had them . The journalism flake in me jazz being capable to cut through textbook changes in InDesign CS5 . But I ’ve been able to work around that thus far in CS4 . I could cite other examples , but you get my train of thought .
Adobe CS5 is more than just a sum of its products , however , and that ’s one of the reasons I desire to upgrade . It ’s an important step toward entering a media landscape painting in which content is delivered across a blanket mixed bag of machine , such as smart phones , tablet computers , relate video , net Scripture , and so on . ( Let ’s set up aside the Apple - Adobe iPhone - Flash commotion for now . ) It ’s a dynamic world out there . Not so long ago , the thought of that quintessential print app InDesign being able to export Flash animation would have pass in the class of , “ what are you smoking ? ” In today ’s media environment it makes unadulterated sense . Just askWiredorThe New York Times , both of which use InDesign and Flash in coordination to prepare mark contentedness for the Web and adjust World Wide Web video and animations for bright earphone and pill computers .
Given the state of the publishing industry , I ’m a truehearted truster in recrudesce as many skills as potential so you may have as many professional options as possible . I see a future in which print , online , and mobile mass medium all live and work together in harmoniousness , each one doing what it does best and reaffirmingMarshall McLuhan ’s statement that the medium is the message .
Online developments
With CS5 , Adobe present once again that it keeps pace with , and even stay a pace ahead , of our changing times . When thinking about upgrading to CS5 , it ’s sane to want to sprint , to take the shortest road to the fastest result at the lowest price . I would n’t fault you for thinking that way . But if you could , prepare for a marathon rather . Consider that the investment you make now will pay off in the future when even more twists look in the road and the route alter its course . Me ? I ’m hocking some old jewellery to move into that race with a new Mac and a novel distich of Adobe run shoes for the foresighted route ahead .
[ Pamela Pfiffner is a free lance writer and editor program in Portland , Oregon , and the former editor in gaffer of many Mac and design publications , include creativepro.com , MacUser , Publish , and InDesign Magazine . She has also written several Good Book on Adobe , most recently Page by Page , a look at the 10 - year phylogeny of Adobe InDesign . Download the PDF here . ]
