Oh, it’s on (shortly). Lots and lots of good stuff to show. I’ve already got a couple of dozen blog posts in the works. Stay tuned.
Note that CS5 isn’t shipping on April 12; rather, it’s being announced on that date. I know, the whole “announcing an announcement” thing is kind of funky/meta, so I thought it was worth trying to clarify.
Also, before someone says, “You just shipped CS4 a year ago,” I’ll point out that CS4 shipped on October 15, 2008. Creative Suite releases have been on an 18-month cycle for several years, with CS3 shipping on April 15, 2007. Just thought I’d save somebody some typing.
So doesn’t that mean CS5 should come out around like 18th April or atleast sometime in April..?
Thanks for the announce of the forthcoming announce 😛
I’d like to hear an announcement regarding upgrade costs and paths, as I just had to upgrade to CS4 in December.
[I’m afraid we can’t disclose more details until the 12th. –J.]
interesting… i’ll follow it from australia (in between blue sky, beach and a good drink)… let’s see what cs5 has to offer beside the technologies we already know about! can’t wait.
My computer can barely run CS4 in the trials, I imagine Cs5 will be more demanding.
If I buy CS4 today can I get a complementary (free-of-charge) copy of CS5? if so, can I install CS5 later when I change computers?
Congratulations on shipping CS5!
[Just FYI, CS5 hasn’t shipped, or even been announced –J.]
Too bad my only request since CS2 has not been considered: Interface overhaul. I guess I’ll have to wait untill CS6 then, sigh…
[What do you have in mind? We’ve been making some pretty significant changes over the last few revs. –J.]
It was more telling than I first imagined that LightRoom was renamed Photoshop LightRoom.
(You know why some are so vocal about this? It is because we care and want Adobe to make good software.)
So – if we buy CS4 between now and the 12th, are people out of luck for getting an upgrade to CS5? Because us CS1 folk (and we do still exist) don’t want to pay those kind of prices twice…
I also looking forward for the new things we will see. I hope to see a lot of detail enhancement (like the add-“copy” thing,…)
Please let us know some “insider” informations – some small ones. I work as trainer and love to give some insides… 😉
Best regards from Austria
Martin
as always, for me -every announcement of new version is extremely exciting. Can’t understand when people say… oh you’ve just released one a year ago…
sweet lord… give me a new one faster – yes it’s more money to spend, but no one is forcing you to buy it.
I would like to have it here and now…
I don’t care about my needs in some sense… surprise me… I’ve never been disappointed before.
Can’t wait…
It is my favorite time of year, as I love to see the new stuff another CS release brings! A new PC with a fresh install of CS5 should keep me busy all summer. Photoshop CS5 is looking REALLY good, too John.
The thing I don’t get is that if people are professionals and are busy and are using Adobe’s tools in their work, why wait for or complain about the upgrade? Isn’t this an opportunity to do really cool new things? If you have the work to justify it, isn’t skipping or delaying the upgrade penny-wise and pound-foolish?
What is the resistance? If the answer is cost, then you aren’t charging enough. If it is hardware limits, do you seriously want to invest in software only to try to run it on a tired old computer? What holds you back from upgrading hardware and software every 18 months?
Sorry, I just don’t get the people who complain about progress and upgrades. I think they are slightly out of touch? I picture the person installing CS4 today as being in the same boat as someone who has just watched Seinfeld for the first time in reruns!
John,
Please suggest to Adobe’s PR staff this date is not the best time line, with tax deadlines approaching on April 15.
I know Ken will not have a refund
Ken in KY
Please please do announce some mighty hardware acceleration in InDesign and Illustrator’s viewports 🙂
So do those who buy CS4 after the announce the announcement get a free jump to CS5 or do you have to wait until the real announcement? Or are you not doing the same deal as last time?
I suppose this pre-announcement is actually the announcement (as if there was any doubt Adobe would release a new version of CS eventually), April 12th is just the day when all the details will be unveiled, rather than the few selective leaks.
If it has 64-bit support for Snow Leopard, as reported, I might well upgrade from CS3.
CS is an extremely complex product, what with all the bundles and editions, please make sure there are sufficient documents on “what’s new in this release compared to CS4 and CS3” (not just CS4) and “which version should I get”.
It would also be great if the intro documents gave some insight on the CS5 to Lightroom integration and what extensions to XMP have been implemented, if any.
I am also not sure what Adobe’s marketing logic is, since by the Osborne effect sales of CS4 will collapse as people would rather wait a few weeks more and get CS5. Wouldn’t it make more sense from a business standpoint to wait until the product ships to make the announcement?
I suppose you have to deal with the long lead time for print publications like Photoshop magazine, but an embargo is probably easier to keep for Photoshop than for Apple since there is less of a rabid fanboy base.
What I meant was that it is so close to actual shipping…
There are multiple single issues that ought to have been fixed a long, long time ago. The point is that the interfaces in CS are convoluted and old and does not belong in complex applications such as yours.
My wish has not been to fix these issues as stand-alone issues. They are mostly symptoms of a much larger and deeper problem where new functionality is bolted on top of old for the sake of legacy and compromise with the result that no one is completely happy and everyone afraid to step on someone else’s toe.
Every time I encounter a UI problem it takes my mind off my work for a second and stops my workflow, I want to work, not fight against the interface. Whoever designed LightRooms did an awesome job, why not learn from that?
Here are some issues at top of my head
The Integer and float text boxes where some accept arrow up/down for modification while some don’t. Also, some of these textfields does not respect the system settings while some do.
All circa twenty different sliders that behave the same way but look different, what is up with that?
Zooming and the zoom widget in the different apps work slightly different for no apparent reason.
How that title bar in OS X is used, it is just odd and a waste of space, it works pretty well in WIndows apps but not on Mac OS X.
How you can click just two pixels to the side of a tab and it folds and you have to spend multiple clicks to get it back.
No Edit -> Input special character… on Mac OS X and where the apps have its replacement it is not nearly as powerful.
Overridden system commands on Mac OS X and the overridden commands even are not the same across the apps. Command-M works in InDesign to minimize the window but opens the paragraph palette in Photoshop as one example.
Fireworks still can’t do proper typography. And why do the apps have slightly different typography engines to begin with, I have never understood why especially since CS installs many shared libraries anyway. No two apps (this is a big issue) have the same type and paragraph apps. Not only would solving this issue be a boon to all users it would also make your code base easier to maintain as fixing a bug once would mean fixing it everywhere.
I can tear off the pen tool in Illustrator but not in InDesign. What’s up with that? Also, the active areas for anchors et al are slightly different.
Why can’t gaussian blur and such filters be a layer style? Why even make a distinction to begin with?
So I haven’t seen this question answered yet. I just bought CS4 (production premium) and (Web premium) about a month ago. Is there going to be a special upgrade offer is those were just bought this year.
So I haven’t seen this question answered yet. I just bought CS4 (production premium) and (Web premium) about a month ago. Is there going to be a special upgrade offer is those were just bought this year.
I say this in all seriousness but Instead of an 18 month release cycle, why not release products when they are ready?
[I’d argue that we do release them when they’re ready. We simply need to adjust what can be done in a cycle to the length of that cycle (i.e. cut to fit). That’s not always a delightful proposition (for example, it would have been nice to have more time to complete the Mac Cocoa transition, though we’ll pull that off just fine), but it’s the only way to make an enterprise like the Suite work. Having ~15 products each set their own schedules is unworkable. –J.]
(other than it is a way to make money which given recent results, the current strategy may be failing already). This saves us from the whole we release when we ready except for flash issue (and avoid issues like we had with printing on the Mac) Now I know that there are interface differences and installer issues but these could be phased in over time. I don’t know exactly how it would work but I would rather have products released when ready than when quarterly results are due.
Let’s hope InDesign has much improved ePub capabilities. That’s virtually the only area where I see a need for major improvement.
One welcome change for CS5 would be to cross license windows and mac (finally). This would save me running windows 7 on my mac just so I can run photoshop. This is especially aggravating since lightroom is cross licensed. Maybe adobe could learn from a company that can cross license lightroom – no wait – that’s adobe…
A meta, meta anouncement!
Maybe because of the significant amount of interoperability between the programs that make up the collection? It is a S-u-i-t-e after all…
That is my point JMan – name it a suite and now suddenly it has to be an all or nothing process driven by time (and quarterly profit reports) rather than features or completeness. As I mentioned already, it has come to light that flash was released with security flaws because of the release schedule. And the Mac printing issue would have been caught and fixed but had to go out because te s-u-i-t-e had to go out on schedule rather than because it was fully tested and ready. That said, good points John.
I do like the closed beta concept proceeding each release of Photoshop. In a way this just adds to the fun as we try and figure out what’s going to be in the finished product and how close the guesses match the final results.
Jack, I realise that you’re in a difficult position here, but our not being allowed – as genuine customers who actually put down real money for Adobe products – to get this upgrade information makes us look like chumps for not just pirating the software.
The thing I don’t get is that if people are professionals and are busy and are using Adobe’s tools in their work, why wait for or complain about the upgrade? Isn’t this an opportunity to do really cool new things? If you have the work to justify it, isn’t skipping or delaying the upgrade penny-wise and pound-foolish?
What is the resistance? If the answer is cost, then you aren’t charging enough. If it is hardware limits, do you seriously want to invest in software only to try to run it on a tired old computer? What holds you back from upgrading hardware and software every 18 months?
I love JMan’s attitude although it is not based in reality. Most equipment and software upgrades are based on budgets and profits. The creative professionals in most large companies usually don’t get a say into how frequently they can upgrade. Usually, it is when profits allow.
Cool, I’m really looking forward to it 🙂
Ooh I heard it comes with some kind of Adobe-designed hardward dongle which speeds up CS5 by like 10x!! Actually I just made that up but it would be nice. (Magical technology… I know… but bundling software that costs thousands of dollars with a devoted chip/memory-drive of some kind isn’t out of the question, is it????
a moron… who cares about the USA?
your not alone on the planet.
“Shipping” 12th of April or “Beta Releases”?
I think Ken was cracking a joke about the announcement – chillax 😉 But for those who do get a refund, I’ll bet it’s a great time to have something in mind to spend it on. Plus… CS5 will be a great thing to show off at NAB — which is why I figured they timed the announcement so.
Adobe-designed hardward dongle
Hardware Dongle = Death to Software
I can´t wait 2 get some real informations!
but maybe you could tease just one tiny detail!
I´m currently working with CS4 on snowleopard,
as I am in the lenticular-imaging-business, I would like to know if the CS5-photoshop will be able to manage/use more ram than the previous one. as I´m facing constant problems with that issue!
another problem, this time with InDesign CS4, is writing large pdf-files
with resolutions of 2400 dpi or higher.
any chance there will be improvements in this area?!
I´m looking forward to your reply.
First, most of us do not have an endless supply of money as you seem to and second most of us do not wish to rape our customers for their money just so we can do endless upgrades.
That being said, if the new version has enough significant upgrades to be more useful and more productive, then it will be worth finding the money somehow to upgrade, but if (like many “upgrades” of software (not necessarily Adobe)) the changes from one version to the next are just a few tricks and/or small UI changes, then a lot of small business owners and/or individuals cannot afford a full upgrade every 18 months.
Sorry that we are not all rich like you and sorry if that seems to bother you.
[That doesn’t bother me. You calling me a rapist does. Thanks very much. –J.]
Another thing along the lines of “You just shipped a year ago.” Just because Adobe is shipping a new version doesn’t mean you have to upgrade now, or at all for that matter. They’re not holding a gun to your head.
Breathe in, breathe out, repeat.
Per Eric, the next version of Photoshop for Macintosh will be 64-bit. You will be able to address as much RAM as your Mac will hold. I posted this a while back after we first got the 64bit up and running: http://bit.ly/zlunm
What a ridiculous statement.
No one is forcing you to ugprade or to spend money. If the price is too high, you won’t pay it. End of story.
No one is raping anyone, no force is involved. It’s pathetic abusing a word like that, weakening it’s real meaning by using it to describe things not even remotely as horrible. To create an inference that John or Adobe are doing such things is about as low as it gets.
thanks for the fast reply!
seems like you got yourself one
sure purchase!
I am using CS4 and in CS5 I want Premier, PhotoShop, After Effects and Illustrator to make full use of a 64 bit operating system like Win 7. My machines are multi-processors, and more than 16 gigs of Ram. Currently renders take way too much time under 32 bit OS. Time is money and that is where improvements really need to be made. More bells and whistles are nice, but CS4 is pretty darned good. I need SPEED!
And if it’s speed you want, then it’s you’ll get!!!!
http://blogs.adobe.com/keyframes/2010/04/faster.html
But really, is Illustrator slow?
well,
sometimes it can be!
I have one illustrator-project for use
as a pattern-print on a fly-eye-lense,
which i can´t work on any more.
if i copy/paste one more element, my mac dies a slow death…
I just got CS4 and am overhwelmed, and overjoyed all the same. Adobe PhotoShop rocks!
Oh gosh I hope it ships soon afterwards. I graduate on May 14th, and I really want to get CS5 student edition from Adobe. I think I read it is releasing April 21, but I don’t know how accurate that could be.
Yeah we’re all happy and excited about Adobe’s new toys. But what about the prices?
It’s the same sh*t with every release: IT’S HALF THE PRICE IN THE USA… WHY?!@#$%^&*
Europe:
Creative Suite 5 Master Collection – 3,706.40 euro
USA:
Creative Suite 5 Master Collection – $2,599.00
And Adobe wonders why people are using cracked versions. Who the heck is gonna pay ~ $5,200 every 18 months to benefit from the new features added…?
Could someone tell me when the actual shipping date is going to be? We are in line for an auto upgrade (purchased with seat license) and are having trouble finding the actual date. Thanks.
Hi Steve, Adobe has not officially announced CS5 shipping dates yet, so there is no formal answer. But we’ve looked at this six ways to Sunday on our blog over the months, and our current best estimate is end of April or beginning of May for English in North America. Most recently we’ve also looked at Adobe’s “grace period” free upgrade policy for those who buy CS4 now before CS5 is released, which is another popular question right now.
Thanks for the info. After posting this I continued to search and this confirms the best “guess” of most other site’s posters.