The really short summary is that if you plan to upgrade to CS6, Adobe has changed their policy so that you need CS5 or CS5.5. If you have 3 or 4 ypu will need to buy the upgrade now and then buy ANOTHER upgrade when 6 come out.
Posted by Kent Staubus on November 14, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Why doesn't this surprise me? I do have CS5, but wasn't planning to upgrade to CS6. If their policy carries over to subsequent versions, I'll be forced to upgrade to CS6; not something I am happy about in this economy.
Grrr.
--P
Posted by Bill Chambers on November 14, 2011 at 9:22 PM
Boy, that upgrade policy really sucks! I'm still using 4 as I usually upgrade every other time - this seems an awful lot like corporate blackmail.
Posted by Carol Nichols on November 14, 2011 at 9:51 PM
I usually upgrade every other version as well. I guess Adobe has figure out that there are a lot of us doing that. Darn it!
Posted by Ed Cordes on November 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM
The policy is distressing. I am also using CS4 and planned to skip CS5 and get CS6. However after reading the news I decided to take advantage of the deep upgrade discounts and get CS5 as well as LR3 now. This should allow me to maintain upgrade ability until the end of the CS6 run. That should be in 2 1/2 to 3 years from now.
Who knows, maybe I'll just stay with CS5 after that and forget future upgrades. As I am most likely to be retired by then regular upgrading will be harder to do. If I do the math correctly you can skip 3 upgrades and then buy the latest full version and be about equal in $$.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on November 15, 2011 at 2:57 AM
I usually get a good number of eyes rolling when I post a reply, and I guarantee this one won't be any different. I see where Adobe's going with it, the same place Microsoft wants everyone to be: subscription-based software. They can try all they want, only larger businesses employ that (our company pays $550,000 per year to Microsoft to have the licenses we need for Windows & Office on all company desktops, plus server products, and no, that cost wasn't a typo). But getting back to us personal users of software, we really should look at this decision as "well, it was nice while it lasted". What other major software provider actually lets you upgrade using three versions back? We've actually been spoiled. In 2005 I bought a legal copy of PS 6.0 from a graphics house for $100, then bought the CS2 Upgrade for $195. Viola, Photoshop, real and legal, $295. Microsoft will never do that... look at Office 2007, there's not even an upgrade for 2010. You want Office 2010 Pro? $400 more please! We had it good, and now that advantage is over, sadly.
I will say this: I highly, HIGHLY encourage people to get on PS CS5, I'm actually surprised how many are NOT. I'm tellin' ya, after using every version since CS2, the added benefits of CS3 and CS4 were OK to good, but CS5 blows 'em all into the dust. I dare say get CS5 now while you can and maybe forget CS6 unless it has some mind-blowing feature (and it may, you should see the new CS6 feature that corrects camera blur, and I ain't kiddin'!). Anyhoo, CS5 has so many advantages it's worth the move regardless of the version you have. ACR alone is worth it, the Sharpening and Noise Reduction in ACR is truly amazing, they used all new algorithms. CS4's ACR does NOT have that at all. The Local Adjustment Brush and Gradient Filter are vastly improved quality-wise (does CS4 ACR have the Gradient Filter??), and I know there's more, I'm just tired. Then CS5 has so many improvements, I think the Refined Edge feature has to be the best. It has Smart Radius and an adjustment brush that will let you select hair, wheat in a field, you name it. The new Content Aware Fill is another huge winner, although purists might balk, lol. But also the algorithms have been vastly improved in Dodge and Burn, the Sharpening tool (seriously, it works well for local tweaks!). I know there's more, but as far as image quality goes, this version is WELL worth the upgrade. The enhancements to Bridge are superb also, I actually LIKE using it now, but I won't list any of that here, I've already blabbed too much. I will say that the builit-in MiniBridge right in CS5 is another great feature, nothing you can't live without but great to have, like, electricity.
OK, Adobe's tightened the screws to match everyone else, we'll have to adjust. But do consider CS5, you might just stop there and be satisfied. For nature work there's isn't much it doesn't offer, but I can easily say that for earlier versions.
Posted by Kent Staubus on November 15, 2011 at 11:02 AM
I don't know, Photoshop Elements might make more sense to me than paying $200+ every year.
WoW! Thanks so much for posting this. I surely would have missed it otherwise.I, too, am currently using CS4 and was planning to upgrade to CS6 when it became available. I'll probably upgrade to CS5 and postpone the CS6 upgrade for as long as possible. I would not be interested in a subscription to their "Creative Cloud" service.
Posted by Harley Goldman on November 15, 2011 at 6:22 PM
That definitely sucks. I am still on CS3 and under the old rules, I could have upgraded. Damn!
Posted by Ed Cordes on November 16, 2011 at 11:06 AM
Paul D. you are absolutely correct! I have been thiinking about this even more and have also drawn a comparison to the Microsoft Office Suite. Regular upgrades to Office have been intorduced every few years and previously they came pre bundled with new hardware. Now they load "trial versions". I know I am not alone in largely ignoring these upgrades. I have been using office 2003 since 2003 and find it fits my needs well. My latest desk top was ordered from Puget Systems that will not load any software you don't want. This was a huge benefit to me. Of course my travel lap top had the office trial versions which sit there ignored. Of course, more photographers will convert their RAW files to DNG so the "older" CS versions can still be used with newer cameras. So be it!!
So, the point of this is not to digress and change the topic, but to point out that more and more people will ignore PhotoShop upgrades and stay with the older versions. Adobe's emphasis on their "cloud" model may work for high level photo pros and graphic arts pros but fails for most of us nature photographers who are not actually showing black ink on our balance sheets at the end of the year. This of course means that Adobe may have actually hurt their bottom line for the future. This year and next the upgrading will occur. After that I predict a major drop in upgrading and therefore less revenue flow for Adobe.
I really like CS5-64 bit. It works very, very well. I may upgrade to CS6 if, and only if, it has features I will use on a daily basis. Since I shoot film, and a smattering of digital with my ancient D70, I will have no use for updated ACR. If CS6 is not a major upgrade, Adobe won't get any more of my money.
--P
Posted by Anil Rao on November 16, 2011 at 2:25 PM
I am still using Photoshop CS. Perhaps its time to move to CS6 but I have yet to find a compelling reason for the upgrade.
Posted by Andy Richards on December 4, 2011 at 5:55 PM
I don't know how Elements could be "enough" if you want to really take advantage of the things PS really does well, like curves. I agree with Pete that 5 was worth the price of admission (4 wasn't). It is possible that you can get by with LR 3 but Elements seems too limited
Discussion
13 replieshttp://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/
about 1/3 of the way down.
The really short summary is that if you plan to upgrade to CS6, Adobe has changed their policy so that you need CS5 or CS5.5. If you have 3 or 4 ypu will need to buy the upgrade now and then buy ANOTHER upgrade when 6 come out.
Kent in SD
Grrr.
--P
Who knows, maybe I'll just stay with CS5 after that and forget future upgrades. As I am most likely to be retired by then regular upgrading will be harder to do. If I do the math correctly you can skip 3 upgrades and then buy the latest full version and be about equal in $$.
I will say this: I highly, HIGHLY encourage people to get on PS CS5, I'm actually surprised how many are NOT. I'm tellin' ya, after using every version since CS2, the added benefits of CS3 and CS4 were OK to good, but CS5 blows 'em all into the dust. I dare say get CS5 now while you can and maybe forget CS6 unless it has some mind-blowing feature (and it may, you should see the new CS6 feature that corrects camera blur, and I ain't kiddin'!). Anyhoo, CS5 has so many advantages it's worth the move regardless of the version you have. ACR alone is worth it, the Sharpening and Noise Reduction in ACR is truly amazing, they used all new algorithms. CS4's ACR does NOT have that at all. The Local Adjustment Brush and Gradient Filter are vastly improved quality-wise (does CS4 ACR have the Gradient Filter??), and I know there's more, I'm just tired. Then CS5 has so many improvements, I think the Refined Edge feature has to be the best. It has Smart Radius and an adjustment brush that will let you select hair, wheat in a field, you name it. The new Content Aware Fill is another huge winner, although purists might balk, lol. But also the algorithms have been vastly improved in Dodge and Burn, the Sharpening tool (seriously, it works well for local tweaks!). I know there's more, but as far as image quality goes, this version is WELL worth the upgrade. The enhancements to Bridge are superb also, I actually LIKE using it now, but I won't list any of that here, I've already blabbed too much. I will say that the builit-in MiniBridge right in CS5 is another great feature, nothing you can't live without but great to have, like, electricity.
OK, Adobe's tightened the screws to match everyone else, we'll have to adjust. But do consider CS5, you might just stop there and be satisfied. For nature work there's isn't much it doesn't offer, but I can easily say that for earlier versions.
Kent in SD
So, the point of this is not to digress and change the topic, but to point out that more and more people will ignore PhotoShop upgrades and stay with the older versions. Adobe's emphasis on their "cloud" model may work for high level photo pros and graphic arts pros but fails for most of us nature photographers who are not actually showing black ink on our balance sheets at the end of the year. This of course means that Adobe may have actually hurt their bottom line for the future. This year and next the upgrading will occur. After that I predict a major drop in upgrading and therefore less revenue flow for Adobe.
Ok enough rambling!
--P