Oooh I couldn’t be more excited. Adobe had a big announcement today to tell the world that the new version of their Creative Suite is ready to hit the street. It is kind of bittersweet because it costs so much to get in on the suite and even though it isn’t quite as expensive, it costs a ton to upgrade.

Adobe does a great job of making their updates just good enough to really get you licking your lips for the new version.

CS3 is the first full version from Adobe since they acquired Macromedia, the software company behind Flash.

As a creative director of a web start up and Organizational Development company, I make videos, layout books, design web graphics (Note the GenoNow Graphic in the top left corner..) I need just about every tool that Adobe makes. I am a jack of all trades because my job necessitates that. That means that I am going to have to go to bat for an upgrade in the near future.

Right now I have CS2, and I love it. I can’t wait to play with the newest version. I am going to have to do some more exploration to see what aspects of the new version drive me to open the old wallet.

One thing that I know is that they now have no less than 4 CS3 packages to choose from. Here are the four versions:

1. Design Premium - Which contains:
   InDesign
   Photoshop
   Illustrator
   Flash
   Dreamweaver
   Acrobat
2. Web Premium - Which contains:
   Dreamweaver
   Flash
   Photoshop
   Illustrator
   Fireworks
   Contribute
   Acrobat
3. Production Premium - Which contains
   After Effects
   Premiere
   Photoshop
   Flash
   Illustrator
   and Adobe’s replacement for Audition, Soundbooth
4. Master Collection - Which contains
   …EVERYTHING

Of course, there is a part of me that longs for the CS3’s Master Collection that has it all. But upon further inspection, there are a lot of things in the Production Premium collection that I won’t use. I use Sony’s Vegas, and I am very loyal to that platform. It is just down and dirty fast…I likes it. So, that eliminates Premiere. Well, then again, I would use everything else in that package. I don’t know what to do.
In the past there used to be two worlds of Adobe. The print/design world and the video world. Now, with the release of CS3, those lines are getting blurred. And for good reason. We are in an era of fast computers that allow designers and creative types to branch out and explore new mediums.

I feel just as comfortable in the video world as in the print world as in the web world. I am not a deep dive expert in any of those worlds, but I’ve got the chops to hang in all of them.

This all happened because computing power has risen to the point that we can now do all those things relatively inexpensively. There is going to be some hard thinking and selling in the future when it comes to this upgrade. I’ve got to start working on my pitch right now.

The good news is that no one is getting their hands on the new version until the end of April. I am sure it is going to be a little longer before I get my dirty little hands on an upgrade.