Photoshop upgrade (PS7 to CS4)

I currently (rather inexpertly) use PS7

A friend is upgrading from CS4 to CS5 and has asked me if I would like to purchase CS4 from him, at a reasonable cost.

From what I can see this comes complete with :-
Bridge; Device Central; Drive; Illustrator; InDesign; and LiveCycleDesign.

In simple terms, what do each of these do (that is relevant to what I already do with PS7).
In other words is an upgrade which includes these facilities necessary.
Is CS4 a good upgrade to PS7? what is made easier by the upgrade?


Regards
Bernard

I'm not sure that you can upgrade Photoshop 7 to CS4. Or indeed if your friend is going to pay the upgrade price from CS4 to CS5 that he'll be able to sell you the CS4. An upgrade is a reduced cost that takes into account that you've alreadfy paid for Photoshop.

For general use, there's little wrong with PS7, although CS gradually improves and expands many features, also adding useful new ones.

You could always phone Adobe and ask them.

A friend of mine did a similar thing when he bought CS5. (not an upgrade).
I had CS2 from him, which was an upgrade, and upgraded from PS7 to CS2. But I think PS7 to CS4 is too big a jump

The CS4 is on a stand alone CD/DVD? complete with box.

I was wondering if it was worth deleting PS7 and loading CS4, but not sure what advantage I get as the features I listed in post#1 seem rather alien to me.

Bernard

edit, perhaps I shouldn't have used the word upgrade when I really meant replace

When you upgrade as I did from PS7 to CS2, one of the stipulations is that I had to have PS7, or similar, on my PC, (purely because it is an upgrade), and I have to keep it there in order to use CS2, regardless of whether I use PS7 or not. If I deleted PS7 then I would imagine that my use of CS2 would end as well??
If it is a replacement then you should be free of that sort of obligation.

As far as I know the copy of CS4 is a stand alone product, but does include a number of other "programmes" which I'm not sure whether I would use them or indeed what they do.


Bernard

You are being offered the CS extended bundle I believe. Unless you are a professional illustrator or designer the extra programs probably aren't much use to you since each one is as complex as Photoshop itself.

If your friend is upgrading, his license doesn't not entitle him to sell the CS4 I believe and it is likely that Adobe will block it from security patches and updates when the serial number crops up on their servers.

Personally, I'd check with Adobe. After all, if your friend has upgraded from this serial number, you will not be allowed to if or when you want to upgrade, so you'd have to buy the full product anyway.

I agree with John. Why not have a look at your friend's CS4 in use and see if it adds anything you need to PS7? I started off on the earliest versions on the Mac and great program the CS versions are, I don't think there's much more that I need nowadays than even that PS1 or whatever it was would do.

Thanks Lemmy,
I'm afraid the offer has now gone. It has been sold on to someone else.

His new version is a stand alone version (I was using Upgrade incorrectly).
The company he works for doesn't do upgrades, they buy a product, use it, sell it on, replace with new version. This was a genuine product offer.

Never mind there's always next year when they "upgrade" again

Bernard