Upgrading
I am a photographer working in Australia. I currently have Photoshop CS and will have to upgrade to CS2 even though I don't actually want to do so at the present time.

The reason is that I am buying a new Nikon D2X 12MP camera. If I want to open my raw files in Adobe Photoshop Raw, I have to download the new plug-in. The new plug-in is not compatible with CS1. As far as I am concerned this is the usual upgrade-or-die approach that software developers seem to particularly aim at photographers.

-- Stephen Hardacre, Stephen Hardacre Photography

I'll be upgrading to CS2. Initially I was not. I read Dan Margulis' review of the program and thought it not worthwhile, especially with the elimination of file browser and the reported slowness of its replacement, Bridge(?). File Browser is of use only for its automation feature to create Web pages of images. As a an image browser or contact sheet creator, Photoshop is so far behind ACDSee, that it is an embarrassment.

After reading Ben Long's review, I will upgrade because of the Photoshop ability to merge three bracketed RAW files into one image.

I will likely check out other user upgrades before installation and will plan on installing CS2 as a separate unit, and keep CS if Bridge is as bad as anticipated.

Acrobat 7 is the second reason to upgrade to CS2.

-- Raymond St. Arnaud, AV Services Interurban

After several long discussions on Adobe Forums and five phone calls to the Adobe Store, I finally gave in and ordered the CS2 Premium Upgrade for Mac OS X a couple weeks ago (which is still on backorder at Mac Zone).

The problem I was having was that I owned a retail version of CS1 Standard and separate retail versions of GoLive CS and Acrobat 6.0 Professional (which all put together represented ownership of all the CS1 Premium products at a slightly larger cash outlay than if I had originally purchased them as a package).

Last January I purchased a retail copy of Acrobat Pro 7.0 standalone when it was introduced. Since Adobe apparently likes to release Acrobat on a separate timetable and then try to reintroduce it a few months later as part of the Premium Suite, this creates a situation for people like myself who adopt new Adobe software the day it is released. My problem was that I was forced to pay the full price for the CS2 Premium upgrade ($549) which includes a copy of Acrobat Pro 7.0 (which I already own), and they give me no credit for the fact that I already have purchased that product. My complaint was not with Adobe's pricing, but with their policy of being forced to buy the same product twice if you are upgrading to Creative Suite Premium.

The Adobe Store representatives all suggested the same thing: "Your best course would be to find a buyer for your Acrobat 7.0 Pro Upgrade CD." That means first of all I now have to learn to sell Adobe software in order to buy it (at the same price as everyone else) and second, locate someone who already owns Acrobat Pro 6.0 on CD and wants to upgrade to 7.0, but never plans to purchase an Adobe Suite product in the future.

The only real solution I see to these problems in the future is for them to make Acrobat a "full" piece of the Creative Suite Package - giving it a CS designation and releasing it on the same date as all the other CS product upgrades.

As far as plans for installation, the plan is to install CS2 on my G5 Tower running OS 10.3.9 and on my 17" PowerBook G4 running Tiger the day it comes in. I currently have nearly 40 applications that have now been identified as Tiger incompatible on my main workstation (G5), so it looks like it will be about 2 or 3 more months before most or all of those 3rd party patches and workarounds are in place which would allow me to move to Tiger on that machine - some such as Nikon Scanner drivers have not even announced any plans for support which would mean several hundred dollars in another 3dr party solution to regain my scanner access. In my case I am estimating than the move to Tiger on my G5 will only be about $1000, which is really cheap compared to the over $12,000 it initially cost me to adopt Jaguar initially on my main machine.

-- John Dikmen, CEO/Choreographics, Inc.

We will upgrade to Photoshop CS2 as soon as we have enough time to learn and perfect the new tools. At the moment we are right in the middle of our wedding season in Australia. All of our time is in production and we can not spend enough time on learning the new upgrade. Even though we have been to a demonstration set up by Adobe through our local Apple store and we love the new tools and improved old tools. I would estimate July or August to be the month we will upgrade. We are currently using Photoshop CS.

-- John King, John King Photography

There are certain programs I just must be the first on the block to have, and Adobe's are included.

Got money? I'm there!

-- Carey Handley, Page by Page Graphic Design

As with everything, in due time. I started with Photoshop 5 some years ago and decided, because I am a retired advanced amateur photographer, to upgrade every other upgrade. At the moment, I run Photoshop 7.1, I downloaded the free CS2 trial. When the trial period is over, I will buy the store copy upgrade because I want the hard copy of the manual. In the mean time, I get acquainted with CS2.

When you download and buy an upgrade version, Adobe should send the paper manual of that version. Printing out manuals is too much of a job and having the manual next to you while conquering a problem is much better then switching help screens.

-- Herman J

I upgraded to CS2 the minute I could. I got my boss to buy it so I could be the guinea pig. Everyone else just got CS on their Macs in the past month or two. (I've been using CS for 16 months or so). CS2 makes me more efficient. I love the new Bridge, and some of the features in various applications in CS are going to be very useful. Glad I did it!

-- Eric Welch, Photo Editor, Gemological Institute of America

I am the media coordinator for a large high school. Besides being a librarian, I have extensive responsibilities for networks, software, and computer problems. I have always used Macs (I had a 128K), and am currently using an iMac G5 20-inch with 1.5GB of memory. I have the 17-inch version at home with 1.25 GB memory.

I ordered CS2 Premium, Educational version, soon after it came out. I have been using CS since it came out, and InDesign 2 before that. It took me two days to successfully install CS2 on my work computer, with over three hours on the phone with Adobe going over just about every item on Adobe Tech Doc 329590. I was beyond frustrated, but I think it is finally, mostly, working. InDesign is the main program I use. I had already upgraded to Acrobat 7. I hardly ever use Illustrator, but I need it to open and sometimes edit files sent to me for desktop publishing work. I don't install Version Cue; I am a one-man show and haven't figured out a use for it. I use Photoshop more, but mostly for scanning/cropping/editing. I am not a Photoshop power user.

I still don't entirely trust InDesign CS2 (it froze my computer today while I was typing a line of text; no warning, no errors; had to shut down and restart the whole thing). I tend to find out new things as I go along getting all the emergencies done, until summer comes and I can think more clearly. I stumbled on the new font menu, with examples, and liked it. I hope they have fixed the tab window problem I had several times in CS. I have ordered Total Training's package on InDesign CS2, which I will look at when school gets out.

I don't like the fact that every new version of InDesign requires updating the file formats. I have a lot of files!

I can see the need for the activation concept, but I don't like it. I tend to have more than two computers I work off of at various times. I did try the install on my home computer and did not have one glitch. Either I have something of a lemon at school or all the programs I have on it for helping teachers is getting in the way of a clean install.

-- Scott Hinckley, Media Coordinator, Alta High School

I purchased the CS2 Standard upgrade last week. Why? To get it over with. If you miss an upgrade you end up repurchasing the whole program.

Why Standard? I have Dreamweaver MX and Acrobat standalone already.

I have a whole other litany of issues with Adobe over the Acrobat 6.0 upgrade. Purchased Distiller at version 3. Upgraded to 4. Got version 5.0 with InDesign 1.0. Purchased 6.0 upgrade but can't use it because that version 5.0 was not an upgradeable version. Adobe offered to let me purchase the whole new 6.0 for the difference between the upgrade version and the full version. Bogus deal.

I am in fear of what Adobe will do to Macromedia's best products and what Adobe will do to us users once they've got the monopoly.

-- K

We will upgrade to InDesign CS2, but I'm waiting a little longer until we make a few hardware upgrades. I've been a PageMaker user since version 1.0 on a Mac 512K, and I know the program inside out. I'm still learning InDesign, though I see clearly its advantages and the reasons for upgrading. But we haven't converted completely and will be slow to upgrade because InDesign is quite slow on our G3 and G4 Macs. Also, we need larger monitors or dual monitors to work effectively with all the palettes and windows the program requires.

-- Randall Williams, Editor, NewSouth Books

I will upgrade in about three months. I prefer to see an update to the initial version before I do an upgrade.

-- Fred

I have already upgraded to the CS2 applications. Not the Creative Suite 2 as a whole, but rather some of the individual CS2 applications: Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, and InDesign CS2. Basically, when I decide that an upgrade is feasible and really worth it (in the sense that there are excellent new features that I need, tools that will really benefit me as an artist and designer), I usually jump on the bandwagon straightaway and order the upgrade as soon as it's released.

I like to do this because it is usually the case that a boatload of tutorials for the new applications are published at the same time as the programs are released and I like to participate in these so that I can keep up with the pack and even stay ahead if I can.

I also like to go through all the troubleshooting at the same time as everyone else, so that I can thoroughly get to know the new programs, inside and out. Knowing how to work the applications so well that I don't have to think about what I am doing and being able to explore the programs' full potential allows me to reserve my concentration for my creative projects and easily make my concepts a reality.

-- Christine Holzmann, Design editor and IT manager at The Citizen News

I have ordered the CS2 premium package without evaluation because I am also ordering a new 2GHz iMac with OS X Tiger at the same time. My current versions are InDesign 2.0, Illustrator 10, Photoshop 7, GoLive 6.0, and Acrobat 6.0. If I am going through with the pain of re-installing software and transferring documents, I might as well add any new software versions at the same time.

-- Jim Bratek, Web Manager and Graphic Designer, Communications Department, The Pingry School

The Third Reason to Upgrade
In my newsletter, I mentioned two reasons to upgrade: improved efficiency, and expanded creativity. Two readers added another:

There is a third reason to upgrade. If your customer upgrades to the new versions, as a client, you have to be prepared.

-- Eddie Wooten, Manager of Production and Technology,
The Ad Kitchen

The third reason to upgrade is because major clients and vendors have and you must in order to keep pace and share files with them. This is usually what gets the upgrade ball rolling and what the software developers plan on and hope for.

-- Rick Prentice