Adobe CS pricing
Posted on September 29, 2003
Filed Under Macintosh
As expected, Adobe announced upgrades for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive today. Calling the package “CS” (a la Macromedia “MX”) the products can ship separately or in one box. The Standard version is Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and versioning software for workgroups called VersionCue. The Premium version includes GoLive and Acrobat. Adobe has been packing their products together for a while, but this is the first time upgrading licensing applied. Looking at the pricing structure, I’m not sure why they bothered.
When Macromedia first introduced Studio MX, they offered an upgrade path to the full studio if you owned two previous versions of their products for a cost that was only marginally higher than the upgrade of those two products alone. Since I owned Dreamweaver and Fireworks 4, it made sense to spend $399 to upgrade to Studio MX instead of $300 to upgrade just those two products and I got Freehand and Flash. Adobe is offering an “upgrade” to CS Standard for $549 (versus $999 for the entire package, $1,229 including Acrobat 6 Pro and GoLive) and Photoshop is the only qualifying product. I’m disappointed. I own Illustrator 10, InDesign 3 and Photoshop 7. The individual upgrade prices for each of the products I own is $169. That’s about $510 if I upgraded those products. Therefore, the “CS” package is only of value for those that folks that want or need the new Version Cue versioning control across workgroups (which you are in a sense getting for $39 with the full price upgrades). At home freelance studios need not apply.
Even $169 for the individual upgrade is a disappointment. Adobe has never charged that much for upgrades, and they typically offered an “early bird” upgrade price of $99-129. However, the new features in InDesign may make the upgrade worth it and I’ll start from there. I can’t find as much compelling me to upgrade Photoshop. Maybe I’ll change my mind when the demo versions come out. And for as much as I use Illustrator now, (logos here and there) version 10 will continue to work just fine for me.
It’s also interesting to note that the Photoshop upgrade page only offers an upgrade for the Windows version. The software is available for Macintosh in full version only. That better be a typo. And of final note, Adobe is only requiring activation on the Windows version of Photoshop.
Comments
6 Responses to “Adobe CS pricing”
As a user of both Illustrator 10 and Photoshop 7 on Windows, I’m somewhat bemused by the announcement of the new ‘CS’ versions. Not only does Adobe appear to be doing a me-too on the product names, but the pricing as well - I also own Dreamweaver MX, and the UK upgrade price I’ve seen is £175 to step up to MX 2004.
I’m waiting for some reviews of the new software, but at the moment I’m not expecting to be reaching for my wallet…
Thanks for the comment, Alan. I’ve been reading forums and websites since the announcement yesterday, and I still don’t get the point of ‘CS’ other than it being marketing-speak. What’s worse, it seems that if you buy the CS suite, that will be your future upgrade path. You may not be able to upgrade components individually. With the way Adobe has shown they value existing customers at the moment I’d be afraid, very afraid, to commit to the suite.
To go back to a Macromedia comparison, I bought Studio MX but I’ve now decided that I’m only getting Dreamweaver MX 2004. There’s an upgrade path from Studio MX to Dreamweaver MX 2004 without requiring me to buy Studio MX 2004.
There’s nothing wrong with marketing-speak or with getting new customers into the fold. But Adobe shouldn’t be doing it at the expense of those that got them this far, particularly with InDesign. An extra 10% off the CS suite specifically for those customers who already own and support InDesign would have gone a long way to making sure we continue to cheerlead the product in the trenches.
Hi, Judi,
Thanks for your post about the Adobe CS package pricing. I feel like you… incredibly disappointed that there isn’t more price-saving breaks for people with more than one product in the suite.
I don’t use Illustrator much these days, but I use Acrobat almost every day, and I use Photoshop every single day with my web design business. So that’s an odd mix that would require the big package… ugh.
I’m leaning toward just getting the Photoshop upgrade, but I haven’t read anything yet that makes me want to buy it right away.
By the way, I think we’ll be talking on the phone Wednesday about a website project, which is how I found your site. I don’t want to get into that project in a public comment area, though.
Feel free to e-mail me if you wish, though.
Thanks again for your post about Adobe CS, Judi.
Photoshop CS now has PRODUCT ACTIVATION,
allows installation on two machines.
See http://www.adobe.com/activation/main.html
Kevin, Photoshop CS only requires activation on Windows. I’m sure it’ll be coming for Macs, but not in the current version.
hello
I teach at an art college in the design program, instructing in the Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign (I kind of drove that change from XPress).
Over the summer the college upgraded to CS. I haven’t, as I have a studio policy of not upgrading until software has been out a while. I can’t mark student InDesign work, as there is no backwards compatibility. Aargh. They say there is a mechanism, but it doesn’t appear to work.
And don’t even get me started on AI embedding fonts so ID won’t package them.
Re: the pricing. I agree. TOO MUCH, ADOBE!!! I have invested thousands of dollars and initiated many other client purchases of Adobe software. Why penalize me because I use AI, PS, ID and Acrobat together? I bought them all, many times over already.
Oh well, enough venting…