Posted by Florian Wardell | 0 comments
Adobe Creative Suite 5 is here!
Yesterday, Adobe launched a brand new version of their flagship product, Adobe Creative Suite. Less than a week ago, Apple, once Adobe’s main ally, made the controversial move of prohibiting apps that were built using a comparability layer in the new version of their mobile operating system, iPhone OS 4. This was a huge blow to CS5 ability to export flash to iPhone apps, triggering heated discussion and even a response by Steve Jobs himself.
But thankfully for Adobe, CS5 has more than one trick up its sleeve, and Adobe’s launch video is a beautfiul showcase of the suite’s incredible creative power. We’ll also discuss whether we think CS5 is worth upgrading to or not, but be prepared to be amazed… there are tons of new features to get excited about in this release.
Launch video
We could write a long boring list of new features, but Adobe’s launch video is an hour-long series of demos of all the new key functions. Enjoy!
Price, avaibility
There are five different editions of Creative Suite 5: Web Premium, Production Premium, Design Standard, Design Premium and the Master Collection.
CS5 is now fully 64 bit with Premiere and After Effects being 64 bit only, which should hugely improve performance. CS5 introduces over 250 new features over fourteen new versions of point products (all products except Acrobat Pro), and there’s a brand new product called Flash Catalyst, which is included in all of the editions except Design Standard. Flash Builder 4 (previously Flex Builder) is now also bundled with the Design Premium and Master Collection editions.
Adobe is also launching CS Live, a collection of online services designed to help you speed up your productivity and make it easy to collaborate with others on your projects that work in line with the CS5 applications. All these different bundles can be a little confusing, here is a recap to make things clearer (click to enlarge):
The list price for the software, which will be released within 30 days, will be US$2,599 for Master Collection CS5, $1,899 for CS5 Design Premium edition, $1,799 for CS5 Web Premium edition, $1,699 for CS5 Production Premium edition and $1,299 for CS5 Design standard edition.
Worth the upgrade?
It depends. If you’re a professional and if your income relies on such software, you’ll judge by yourself if you need the new tools, but chances are that you’ll want to simplify the workflow. The most incredible innovations this year seem to be bundled in Photoshop, which makes CS5 very attractive for photographers or graphic designers. If you’re using CS3, combining the advancements of CS4 and CS5 should definitely be worth the price though. Also, if you’re a student or if you’re upgrading from a previous version, don’t forget that you get a huge discount! I suggest you use the free, one month try period and see for yourself if the new tools are worth upgrading.
