http://www.macworld.com/article/1166487 ... rvice.html

The bugger for me is that, unlike CS3 where I was able to get Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign along with Acrobat Professional in a bundle, I can’t do that now. If I want those three applications, I also have to be lumbered with Flash Pro, Fireworks, Flash Builder and Dreamweaver. Those for apps I have no need for. It seems that I can’t just pick the apps I want to upgrade from CS3 and pay for those - effectively making my own “bundle”.

You make it sound like a Sky TV package Paul.

I wonder if many people will turn to the dark side because of this.

Well, I'm not turning to the Dark Side as such, merely dropping Adobe software when it becomes impossible to run it.

Currently, CS3 continues to work in the ham-fisted way it always did. It seems very unlikely I will need to upgrade at any point in the next year. If, by some miracle, fortunes turn and I find I need to upgrade I'll consider it then.

Meanwhile, I have suitable software from other makers which does almost everything I need at a fraction of the cost. For Photoshop I have Pixelmator (which has its flaws, but does all I need), for InDesign I have Apple Pages (which is surprisingly good, I have to say, and that's coming from a seasoned/wizened DTP pro who started working with QuarkXPress in the late 1980s), and for FreeHand/Illustrator I have MapDiva Artboard (again, surprisingly good for what I paid for it).

As I say, unless my career path takes a dramatic upturn, Adobe will have to do without my cash. Not that they'll miss it.

Heather, you might also want to consider Belight Swift Publisher. More of a traditional DTP package than Pages but it seems quite capable form what I've done with it and very reasonably priced. I've used a couple of their other products quite extensively and found the support to be very good.

Blinking flip! How do they do it at those sorts of prices? That's a quite impressive package.

Well, for a Flash alternative, I'd recommend Hype. It's an HTML5/CSS/JavaScript animator, with a nice GUI.

Correction:

I posted this morning in response to a PCPro list of what was available in each package. They got it wrong, pulled the article and republished.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/software ... ve-suite-6

The good news is that Design Standard has just the applications I need or want, so when I decide it’s time top upgrade, this is likely to be the one I get.

Ha, ha. I warned my boss last month that we should get the CS 5.5 Upgrade while there was still an upgrade path to CS 6 - we're currently still using CS 2! Now that CS 6 is announced, you can only upgrade from CS 3 - meaning he'll have to pay the full package price (of £1,810 each for Design & Web Premium edition which we'll need).

That'll make him laugh - not!!

Renting may be cheaper.

In the short term, maybe, but long term I reckon it will work out pretty expensive - personally, I can't see the rental model taking off myself. Time will tell though. I suppose it's better for cash flow.

It's looking about £50 a month per unit, we'd need 5 or 6 computers running CS 6 so that's around £300 a month. Or £3,600 a year. And I suppose here's nothing to stop Adobe putting prices up at any time without notice. I wonder if you automatically get updates to CS 7, CS 8, etc?

Why not look at the Creative Cloud version? You can rent it for a couple of months, to get used to it, then stop paying, then when you get a project, you can rent it again for the duration of the project, then stop again. You'll still have CS3 to drop back to, to keep your hand in. Certainly a cheap way to stay current. It would take a couple of years of renting (using the annual scheme, not the rolling month to month), before you reach the upgrade price and if you don't qualify for an update, nearly 5 years of renting are needed to match the Master Collection price - obviously, if you don't need all the tools, it is overkill and the amount of time renting will be lower for matching the cost of the lesser collections.

But month to month renting for the duration of a project is certainly more cost effective than having to fork out a grand for a new version for a specific project, if you don't get a follow on project. It is also a cost, so not taxed and you don't have to write it off over a few years in your accounts.

Not ideal for everybody, but certainly an option for freelancers.


If you don't have to have Adobe CS for your work, then there are certainly some cheaper or free alternatives.

I had CS3 when I was at the advertising agency, and apart from Fireworks, I didn't really use it. I had Dreamweaver, but I ended up using Eclipse, which is free, for web development work as it was easier to use and more flexible...

Funnily enough, Dave, the sense of the renting option struck me overnight. If a client needs the features of CS6 then I can build the rental into the price. That seems a sensible way to go, so I modify my earlier anti-Adobe rant a little.

From my perspective, I rarely have to deal with client supplied files. I'm someone who generates something from what I'm given, so the tool I use to do it shouldn't make a difference. As long as the cheaper alternative can provide a press-ready (or near enough) PDF for a printer to use I should be okay.

From memory if you upgrade to CS5.5 before some time in early may you will qualify for a free upgrade to CS6 and you can upgrade from CS2 to 5.5 - Jigsaw24 clickey