Adobe and Apple wars...NOT!

Today, Adobe announced the release of their Creative Suite package in both a standard and professional version. These are definitely business level packages. The Standard package will cost $999 and the Professional level package will cost $1299. The standard package includes “CS” versions of the Adobe mainstays in the graphics and desktop publishing world, i.e., Photoshop, Illustrator, and In Design along with a new application called “Version Cue” which is essentially a file manager that can be used inside any of the other applications. The professional package also includes Go Live and Acrobat 6.0 Professional. An Upgrade from Photoshop to the Creative Suite will run $549 for the standard version and $749 for the professional version.

Frankly, after giving laid out a bunch of cash for Apple’s Final Cut Pro 4.0 and DVD Studio Pro 2.0, the piggybank is kind of busted for any kind of a large upgrade, even if I wanted one. Photoshop 7.0 is powerful enough for me; but if I do decide to upgrade my Adobe applications, I would more than likely do it one application at a time. $169 a pop is a less bitter pill to swallow than either $550 or $750 all at once.

When the announcement was first made, I traveled over to the Adobe website to see what upgrades would cost. The only posted upgrades were for Windows! Was Adobe lying when it had said that Apple was still a viable part of its market even though they had released Final Cut Pro, undercutting part of the market for Premiere? Well, it appears not. Later in the day, the online Adobe Store, the only place where you could actually see the upgrade availability for individual applications, went down; and when it came up again, it did show I could pre-order either a Windows or Mac version.

I saw a note on a forum stating that the Windows versions were going to have product activation technology and the Mac versions would not. Personally, I hope that’s true. If not, I’ve bough my last Adobe product for either platform.