When did CS3 come out, and what's new?

[eclipse]

I'm wondering when Cs3 came out, and if CS4 or a major upgrade to 3 is in the works? Are there any bugs they are working on? When should I upgrade?

Also, does the licence allow for my wife to take most of CS3 on her G5, and me to load up JUST Dreamweaver on my old G4... using CS2 myself... but as I'm just a "design assistant" we can't justify my getting a full CS3 upgrade just yet. Any ideas on that? As long as just one set of software is on one computer, can this one component of CS3 — Dreamweaver — go on my computer? (She's the talented designer, I'm just the slowpoke web maintainer. We concentrate on print: maybe if I fall in love with Dreamweaver I might get back into web design a bit more myself. Golive burned me bad).

 

[Blue Velvet]

There will not be a CS4 in 2008... if that's what you mean. I expect that to be released in the first half of 2009.

You can install and activate the full CS3 suite on two machines, but not use the software at the same time... as if anyone can tell.

 

[CMD is me]

Wondering the same thing -- any bugs going from CS2 to CS3? Friend of mine just upgraded and her system is wacked now. I need to get more details from her.

 

[kitki83]

CS4 in 09 better not thats too soon.

 

[mbrellisford]

CS4 in 09 better not thats too soon.

Creative Suite was first released in 2003
Creative Suite 2 was released (I beleive) 2005.
Creative Suite 3 was released 2007.
Creative Suite 4 will be released ????.

Chances are it will be released in 2009 since there has been 2 years in between the releases.

 

[eclipse]

So it works out about $400 a year, on average, to have a whole suite of cutting edge design software. Not bad.

 

[Genghis Khan]

CS3 was released in the second quarter (i think) of this year

differences are only slight...i know in photoshop there is a new clone tool and it can manipulate 3-D objects

 

[Marilyn]

Official release date of CS2: 04/05/05

Official release date of CS3: 03/27/07

Photoshop now has 2 different versions available...the extended version and the eh...not extended version. The extended version is the one with the 3D capabilities. As far as features there are actually quite a few things which have changed, including the user interface.

Spot healing, quick selection tool (the new partner in crime of the "tragic" wand tool)...those are new. The Curves menu...totally different with a lot more control over what you are doing. Also the Black and White conversion has been much improved (IMHO). Smart Filter...also new and kinda cool. There's more that I probably missed.

As far as the rest of the suite goes, the user interface has changed there too. (You immediately note that the tool bars which have remained basically the same for a few versions now have been revamped)

Off the top of my head I can think of at least 2 keyboard shortcuts in InDesign CS3 that are different than they were in CS2. In Illustrator there is now some improved functionality for grouping objects and editing.

In general: on older systems, it runs a bit sluggish. I have it running only on my MacPro...the other computers in the house still have CS2.

 

[eclipse]

Thanks Marylin

 

[chaosbunny]

Apart from the fact that CS3 runs natively on intel macs, there are 2 things that made this upgrade worth it for me:

1) I love the new interface, imo it provides you with more work space. This isn't an issue on my 24" iMac, but I also often work with my 15" powerbook and its 1280x854 screen on the road.

2) Bridge CS3 is a huge improvement. I never liked the CS2 version, it was just too slow. Now the new Bridge has more features and is way faster, even on the G4. I hardly use finder anymore.

Apart from that there are some improvements here and there, but mostly stuff that I need maybe once every 2 months, or that reduce some processes from 2 steps to 1 step.

This is, of course, just my personal experience after having it for about 1 month.

 

[eclipse]

Thanks Chaos... please keep us updated if you think of any other comments after a few more months. (In this thread please... I don't visit MacRumours all the time).