The Photoshop CS3 Public Beta has expired. Lots of people are having trouble installing CS3 due to the fact that the Beta Uninstaller does not work correctly and does not remove all necessary files. I ran into this problem myself and it took me a short while to solve it. Adobe has released instructions for a "manual uninstall" on Mac OSX and Windows XP. This fixed my problems successfully. If you are dealing with this problem, see the links below:
IMPORTANT: Be sure to save all brushes, plug-ins, etc. that you want to keep from your last installation of photoshop before sending it to the trash. Also, be sure to only delete CS3 files as you may have other versions installed. I highly recommend a backup prior to performing this prodecure.
For me, the greatest advantage was the fact that CS3 was designed for Universal Binary for Mac. It is much faster. In other words, CS2-Mac wasn't really compatible with Mac's new operating system and intel processors. Beyond that, the RAW editor is much better, smart filters make editing faster and less destructive, and I love how the initial RAW edit opens up in Photoshop with the click of a button. For mac users, it is very much worth it. For windows users, it still has many very nice upgrades. I think that it is worth it if you get the upgrade.
I was very, very impressed with the Public Beta. I haven't purchased the upgrade yet, but plan on doing so as soon as I'm sure of my finances. Thanks for the uninstall link, Scott.
As Scott mentioned, the improved RAW file handling alone is worth it. Bridge is a much better piece of software, too. Smart Filters add non-destructive layer adjustments. Printing workflow is much improved, with full color management embedded into the print dialog.
I gripe a lot about Adobe, but their PhotoShop engineers certainly put in the hours to make this release an excellent upgrade.
Also, I noticed a very convenient improvement from the CS3 Beta in the full version. Instead of having to save the adjusted RAW file and then reopen it in photoshop, the save button has been replaced by the "Open" button, which quickly closes the raw editor and opens the file in photoshop for editing. It may seem like a small change, but it saves me alot of time!
I think that was there in the Beta, too. I got it right the first time, then my eyes skimmed past it the second and I wondered what I had done differently.
Discussion
6 repliesWindows: http://www.adobe.com/go/kb401492
Mac: http://www.adobe.com/go/kb401502
IMPORTANT: Be sure to save all brushes, plug-ins, etc. that you want to keep from your last installation of photoshop before sending it to the trash. Also, be sure to only delete CS3 files as you may have other versions installed. I highly recommend a backup prior to performing this prodecure.
As Scott mentioned, the improved RAW file handling alone is worth it. Bridge is a much better piece of software, too. Smart Filters add non-destructive layer adjustments. Printing workflow is much improved, with full color management embedded into the print dialog.
I gripe a lot about Adobe, but their PhotoShop engineers certainly put in the hours to make this release an excellent upgrade.