Adobe CS5 Preview

Hi just spotted this Adobe CS5 Preview Video showing some amazing new features. (Just bear with the Arty bit which is shown first) link

Regards - Pete

Like the warping technique, that looks very useful.

Yes, It looks a big improvement over the Liquefy tool that i use at present. You could certainly have some fun with it or even create Animated movies much more easily. Although i would not upgrade for that alone! I know Adobe is struggling but surely they can`t go on bringing out new versions of Photoshop every year! I bet even the Pro`s are getting fed up!

Regards - Pete.

The upgrades are usually every 18 months. If you take a look around the Adobe forums there are lots of unhappy users around, especially when it comes to the falling levels of support. Adobe are not the quality company they were a few years ago

Some products in the CS4 range still perform like beta software. The catalogue of complaints from pros is huge: bugs which are never patched, extortionate European pricing, poor support, activation headaches.

Adobe are in a bad way because of all of the above. Although there is no cohesive alternative to CS for pros they are quite rightly not keen to upgrade as often as they once did. If there was a credible alternative to CS I'm sure Adobe would be loosing more market share.

I'm not surprised they are trying to drum up interest in CS5 already, CS4 has been a disaster for them. I for one won't be upgrading until 6 or 7. By that time there may be alternatives.

I have heard similar complaints from users of Premiere Pro. The biggest complaint is that there is absolutely no customer support for a product costing several hundred pounds, and the second is that they are selling software that hasn't really got as far as the beta stage.

This company has grown very fat on having a near monopoly in several fields, and on charging extortionate prices. Now that the economic situation isn't quite so good, they're struggling, and rightly so.

Can't wait to see them disappear quite frankly. That will generate some real competition, and we will see better products at lower prices.

Monopolies are always bad, though sometimes inevitable. I certainly don't want three different companies competing to dig up the road in order to supply me with water.

But Adobe is a different case. Their monopoly relies on inertia, but I suspect they have now pushed their luck too far.

G

What really surprises me about Premiere is just how bad it is when you consider how good Photoshop is. It is unstable and crashes continually.

The problem is Adobe’s new upgrade policy which now only allows users to upgrade from the previous two versions. Being interested in web design as well as photography I went for the upgrade to CS Premium from Photoshop7 when CS1 came out. Although it was a very good deal at the time it has the unfortunate result of locking you into buying the suites (now a very expensive option for UK/European users). I did upgrade to CS2 but gave CS3 a miss (there appeared to be even more problems with that release). I now have CS4 Design Premium which I quite happy with (especially Bridge which now appears to actually work).

I upgraded to CS4 when it was released, at the time they were allowing users of CS2 to upgrade for the same price as CS3 – the indications being that in future there will be a price difference in the upgrade paths. Until an alternative comes up I guess we are locked in to upgrading at least every other release. Especially as new hardware, operating systems and now cameras may not be computable with the older software. There were a lot of unhappy users who found the could not use the latter versions of Camera Raw with older versions of Photoshop.

To my mind they would probably generate more income if they released a new version every 5 years. It would make it a more realistic proposition for Advanced amateurs and smaller businesses. (They would still have to release free upgrades for new Camera`s etc.) It would give them more time to perfect the next full version and promote more confidence amongst Photoshop users.
Incidentally, I just noticed Dave Evanson`s Serenity Header Picture, Are you a Browncoat?

Regards - Pete.

Yes – Firefly is my all time favourite, I guess I’m not the only Browncoat with a Pentax

My Daughter is Heavily into "Buffy" (I have 2 Bedrooms full of Merchandise to prove it!) As Summer Glau was in "Angel" She wanted her autograph< She was in Milton Keynes the Day before the UK Premier of Serenity, Summer was really lovely to my daughter and was more than happy to pose for a Photo, (On Colour Neg with my MX unfortunately)So anyhow we Saw the film and I bought a limited Edition DVD from Oz and then the Box Set of Firefly, Shiny!

Regards - Pete.

Summer is well loved by the whole Browncoat community – don’t think I have ever seen a negative comment about her and her performance in Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles was outstanding. If your daughter is old enough to watch Dollhouse then Summer is due to appear in episodes 4 and 5 of the new season (she is probably the only reason to watch it).

Anyway I’d best stop the off topic Browncoat chatter --- we have strayed a long way from Adobe CS5