To CS or not to CS?

Several of you in the stationery world are using Adobe’s Creative Suite, typically either CS2 or CS3. Much to our collective consternation, Adobe has sped up the development cycle, already announcing CS4-—a scant 18 months after its predecessor. At several hundred dollars a pop, that’s a bit quick for stores on a budget.

To upgrade or not to upgrade…that is the question. In the past, my experience has been that to successfully jump from an older generation of software to the next, one has to ”step up” through each incremental stage (ie, moving from version A to version C required also buying version B, which can be pretty darn pricey). This time, thankfully, you can leapfrog over CS3 and jump straight from 2 to 4, which is what I’m opting to do. In fact, Adobe’s feeling particularly Santa-like these days, also allowing the original CS crowd to catapult all the way from chapter one to chapter four without paying the piper. Sweet.

Thankfully, they’re offering a pre-release discount for upgrades, whacking $200 off the price. Just visit their site then scroll down and click on the “Upgrade Eligibility” link to verify your dusty copy of software can be whipped into shape for $599 instead of the $799 full price tag. The “pre-release” moniker has me a bit stumped, though, since all the press I’ve found says the release is coming any day; this preemie offer runs through February 2009.

Also…do some trolling online and you just might find additional savings. I managed to locate a promo link that ran me through the Adobe store, but sliced yet another $89.85 off. If you’re interested in the same, drop me an email (on the right). I’ll shoot you the link.

At the end of the day, is it worth it? Can $600 be justified so soon? You bet. The changes made to InDesign alone get my vote. For the skinny on those, visit JimD’s rundown on CreativeBits.org. He’s been playing with a beta copy for a while, and has a pretty good nuts and bolts review of that part of the CS4 package.

Now, if only I could find a way to explain to the FedEx guy why I’m bobbing up and down like an over-excited puppy every time I hear his truck rumble up the street….

Gimme my CS4. I’m ready to roll.