Last week Adobe quietly revealed a first look at Photoshop CS6, which was received with hundreds of thousands of views…  And now we have a second look, a sneak peek which focuses on performance gains.

As images grow larger and larger in resolution and file size, even simple issues such as saving your files can slow down productivity – which has been a point of interest in Photoshop CS5. In this preview, a smooth and oft-requested Background Save capability is introduced allowing you to fully continue working while all file saving takes place in the background, regardless of size or compression.

Large images also slow down functions like Liquify… In the video, a 100MB photograph lags when loading and editing in Photoshop CS5. Now this new Photoshop (CS6 we presume) uses the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to greater effect to bring real-time loading and editing responsiveness. See how much faster and crisper the Liquify filter works, enabling effectively unlimited brush sizes:

If you missed the first Photoshop CS6 sneak peek, it’s definitely worth two minutes of your full-screen time if you haven’t seen it yet – introducing the new user interface, rich cursor support, plus advancements in the Camera Raw processing engine that will power Photoshop CS6:

Check out what it does to this simple cellphone shot of the Eiffel Tower using just a few (new) sliders, restoring it more accurately to how it looked to the photographer’s eye at the time of capture…

Roll over the image with your mouse (or tap) for the before and after results:

What else do we know about Photoshop CS6? Well, there’s the chance we’ll see the much-discussed Photoshop Image Deblur tool that Adobe showcased at the annual MAX show last fall – and then later published more before-and-after images for demonstration. But from the sounds of what Photoshop Senior Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes said afterwards, it could be too “early stage” to make the CS6 release.

So all in all, some cool and welcome enhancements to the Photoshop product but nothing too earth-shattering quite yet – we think Adobe could be saving the “big gun” new features (a la CS5′s Content-Aware Fill and Puppet Warp) for closer to the actual CS6 launch date.

Related Posts

• When is Adobe CS6 Being Released, including Photoshop CS6?
• Adobe Confirms Release Cycle for Creative Suite; CS6 Out Mid-2012
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• Acrobat & Lightroom: Impact of Creative Cloud and Upgrade Changes

Late last week we received these two inquiries via our Contact page:

“Could you please provide a proposed release date for CS6 Design Premium software? I can’t see anywhere on your site where this is mentioned except for the U-turn regarding upgrade policy from earlier versions.”

“I have a budget meeting tomorrow and need to know the approximate release date and projected cost of the CS5 to CS6 Master Collection Suite upgrade.”

So, this is something people really want to know now.  And we have written about it before, giving clues in posts here as far back as March and July of last year…

But it’s clearly time for an update.

Even today, we wish we could give you exact dates and numbers for those questions, but Adobe hasn’t publicly disclosed that information – and likely won’t until CS6 is launched… However, we can make a best estimate of the possible timing for the Creative Suite 6 release window.

On Adobe’s site now there is a document referencing the new CS Release Schedule.  Here are a few of the key elements contained within this Message Summary:

New CS Release Schedule

To enable customers to successfully capitalize on these industry trends, Adobe is innovating quickly and we are introducing a new release schedule for Creative Suite:

• In order to keep customers ahead of these industry trends, we will issue midcycle releases in between our traditional milestone releases.
• We are extending the time between milestone releases to two years.
• There will be one midcycle release during each cycle. So, once every 12 months there will definitely be a substantial release for CS.
• Since features in the midcycle release are primarily focused on keeping users ahead of the industry trends at that time, not all point products will be revised in a given midcycle release.
• This new Release Schedule debuts … with CS5.5 as the first of these midcycle releases.

So reading between the lines here – if milestone (new major number) releases will be every two years, and if every 12 months there will be a new version of Creative Suite coming out, then taking the CS5.5 launch date of May 2011 and adding twelve months would give an expected CS6 shipping date in the May 2012 timeframe.

Of course, software development schedules are never exact, and your mileage may vary – but this is about the best estimate right now from public information.

What else do we know about CS6?

First and foremost, Creative Suite 6 will continue to be available in all the forms you’re used to today with CS5 – download or boxed, full or upgrade, individual or suite, perpetual (perma­nent) or subscription. And based on the Message Summary document, all major products are likely to receive substantial revisions and new features.

What about pricing? There have been no announcements in this regard – but since Adobe just postponed their change in upgrade policy, your best price estimate for modeling purposes has to be to use what’s in place now for CS5, for a similar product or upgrade.

Current CS3, CS4, and CS5 customers will be able to upgrade to their choice of CS6 products. CS2 customers can still upgrade to CS5.5 now, but will be too far back to receive discounted upgrade pricing to CS6. However, there may be a brief grace period where anybody (including CS2 users) could upgrade to CS5/CS5.5 and then receive a free further upgrade to CS6, if Adobe continues what they’ve done after past Creative Suite announcements. Stay tuned here as we’ll have quick news of that if it’s offered.

Adobe will also be offering a Creative Cloud alternative (where access to the software is rented monthly by paid membership) but — and there’s a lot of misunderstanding here — the cloud will be completely optional and not required by any customer (either existing or new) to buy or use it… In other words, it is an addition – not a replacement.

We also now know that Adobe’s two new products Edge and Muse will not be part of CS6, and will be available via separate subscription or cloud only. At the same time, we know that Adobe Acrobat, Lightroom, and Photoshop/Premiere Elements will not be affected by any cloud or upgrade changes.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 – a Sneak Peek?

Did you catch the little “sneak peek” video that Adobe slipped out on YouTube last week, presumably a first look at what’s to come in Photoshop CS6?

[UPDATE (February 1st) – A 2nd sneak peek of Photoshop CS6 has also just been released.]

There were some interesting details revealed – confirming longtime rumors, Photoshop is getting a darker and redesigned user interface that allows for a more immersive experience and consistency between other Adobe applications, plus rich cursor support that gives a floating heads-up of significant brush metrics right near the action. And as is customary, Photoshop CS6 will continue to use the same new Adobe Camera Raw 7 processing engine that’s also available now in the free Lightroom 4 beta release.  ACR 7 has been rewritten and can do some pretty amazing things very quickly, as shown in the video.

Check out what it does to this iPhone camera shot of Paris – how easily it brings up the foreground without blowing out the background, recovering highlights and boosting clarity for a more compelling image using just a few sliders…

Just roll over with your mouse (or tap) for the before and after results:

So the video is definitely worth two minutes of your full-screen time if you haven’t seen it yet – and we’re likely to get more previews in the coming months because it’s titled “#1″ in a new YouTube playlist Adobe created called “Sneak Peeks”:

What other features coming in CS6?

Well, of course we also have the possibility of the stunning Photoshop Image Deblurring feature that Adobe demoed at MAX last fall – but from what PS Senior Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes said earlier, it sounds like a long shot for deblurring to make the CS6 release.

It seems more likely we could see some of the other MAX feature sneak peeks finding their way into CS6 products, including Liquid Layout for InDesign, plus 3D Video Meshes, Auto-Align New Dialogue Track, and Auto-Sync Crowd-Sourced Video for Premiere Pro & After Effects, as well as all the rest of the sneak peek demos.

Related Posts

• Adobe Confirms Release Cycle for Creative Suite; CS6 Out Mid-2012
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 – Another Look? More Sneak Peeks [VIDEO]
• Acrobat & Lightroom: Impact of Creative Cloud and Upgrade Changes
• The New Adobe Creative Cloud: What It Is and Why You Should Care
• CS5.5 or CS6? New Adobe “Sneak Peek” Preview Videos Out

= BREAKING NEWS =

Two months ago Adobe made a major change in the Creative Suite upgrade policy that had been in place since CS3 came out in April 2007…

Had you heard about it? If not, here’s what they said on the new upgrade policy for CS6…
In a nutshell, Adobe said only customers running Creative Suite 5 products would be eligible for discounted upgrade pricing to the new CS6 when it comes out.

Customers spoke up and reaction to the change was pretty unfavorable across the web… Results from our own poll here showed a striking 91% against the move including the company’s related business model changes to the Creative Cloud.

And now, in a stunning turnabout, Adobe says they have been listening and are backing off the new policy, in response to customer feedback…

Yes, it’s true – and just as we were one of the first to break the original story, we’re back now with the good news that the older Creative Suite versions like CS3 and CS4 will indeed be able to get upgrade discounts to CS6 in the future.

Here it is from our Adobe Partner Update:

CS6 Upgrade Offer for CS3 and CS4 Customers

With these great new releases coming in 2012, we want to make sure our customers have plenty of time to discover which offering is best for them. Therefore, we’re pleased to announce that we will offer special introductory upgrade pricing on Creative Suite 6 to our customers who own CS3 or CS4.

This offer will be available from the time CS6 is released until December 31, 2012. More details on this offer, as well as any introductory offers for existing customers to move to Creative Cloud membership, will be announced when CS6 and Creative Cloud are released later this year.

In other words, Adobe will effectively be restoring their longstanding “three versions back” upgrade policy through the launch of CS6, until the end of this year…

You can read more details about the new policy here, under the section, “What is Adobe’s upgrade pricing policy?”  Note you will be able to purchase future CS products just like today, as perpetual (permanent) desktop licenses.

So, all you folks with CS3 or CS4 can now rest easy if your plans have been to upgrade to CS6 all along, as this will give you the chance to do it with lower prices as you had been expecting. For those customers now on CS5 or CS5.5, it should cost even less for you to upgrade to CS6 under Adobe’s Tiered Upgrade Pricing Policy, because you own a more recent version.

Note the company has not announced CS6 pricing for anybody yet, so at this point we don’t know these exact numbers and how different they’ll be from those for CS5, if at all.

But if you do get on board with CS6 later this year, then looking forward under the new policy starting in 2013, you’d have nearly four years to think about later upgrading from CS6 to CS7 down the line.

So it’s good to see that after all the discussion, Adobe listened – and rethought this policy in a way that gave enough notice and made more sense for customers.

Please spread the word and share this news with anyone who you think should know!

See also:  Acrobat, Lightroom, and Elements – How Are They Affected By Creative Cloud?

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• What are the Differences between CS5.5 vs. CS5 vs. CS4 vs. CS3?
• Get Your Upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 for 20% Less – Limited Promotion

NEWS FLASH – Adobe has just announced a free public beta release of the eagerly-anticipated Photoshop Lightroom 4, with new tools and advancements to enhance and share your digital photograph library:

“Available as a free public download from Adobe Labs for Windows and Mac, the Lightroom 4 beta is a preview of new features and capabilities that will be offered in the final release of LR4, expected in early 2012.

The beta features refined technology for superior shadow and highlight processing, expanded management capabilities including enhanced DSLR video support and the ability to create beautiful photo books from within Lightroom. Adobe encourages photographers to try the beta release and provide feedback to the product team.”

The news comes six years to the day from the very first beta release of Lightroom 1 on January 9, 2006, where it all started…  Lightroom is Adobe’s digital photography workflow solution helping amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance and showcase their images.

And great news – some long-requested new features are here now in LR4…

New Features in Lightroom 4 Beta

• Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights.
• Photo book creation with easy-to-use elegant templates.
• Location-based organization lets you find and group images by location, assign locations to images, and display data from GPS-enabled cameras.
• White balance brush to refine and adjust white balance in specific areas of your images.
• Additional local editing controls let you adjust noise reduction and remove moiré in targeted areas of your images.
• Extended video support for organizing, viewing, and making adjustments and edits to video clips.
• Easy video publishing lets you edit and share video clips on Facebook and Flickr.
• Soft proofing to preview how an image will look when printed with color-managed printers.
• Email directly from Lightroom using the email account of your choice.

LR4 Beta Download Availability

The free Lightroom 4 beta program is open and available to the public. Anyone with an Internet connection can download and test it out in full. You do not need to own (or have tried) a previous version of Lightroom, and there is no serial number required. The Lightroom 4 beta will not overwrite or interfere with any existing installation of Lightroom 1, Lightroom 2, or Lightroom 3.

You can download the beta immediately and use it freely until the product expires at the end of March. Please see this detailed post for the minimum system requirements and installation instructions, as well as more information on the new features and known issues. One possible hiccup for some users is that Lightroom 4 is not supported on Windows XP systems.

Also be sure to give your feedback to the Adobe developers…

Introduction to Lightroom 4

And here’s a great video series on what’s new and to get you started…  Afterwards, explore more on the differences between Lightroom 4 vs. Lightroom 3.

For Lightroom 3, the Current Release

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Adobe has just extended their popular current offer for all customers to save an additional 20% off the regularly-discounted upgrade price when you move up to CS5.5 (to either a suite or an individual product) from any earlier qualifying Adobe tool listed below.

This special was set to expire at year-end but has now been extended into March 2012 and continues to be available worldwide, with no coupon or promotion code required.  It’s valid for upgrading to all the latest CS5.5 versions, and also includes Photoshop CS5.1 and Illustrator CS5 as well.

The additional time comes following Adobe’s recent news of a major change in upgrade policy whereby only users with CS5.5 or CS5.0 would qualify for upgrade pricing to CS6 when it is released.

The new expiration dates for the additional 20% off upgrade savings are:

   North American Store:  Extended through March 15, 2012.
   European Stores:  Extended through 15 March 2012.
   Australia/NZ + Asia:  Extended through 15 March 2012.

So if you currently have one of these Adobe products with a valid license (either commercial or for education/student), then you qualify for this promotion:

• Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, or Master Collection
• Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, or Master Collection
• Creative Suite 2 Premium or Standard
• Adobe Production Studio Premium or Standard
• Adobe Design Bundle (Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Flash Pro 8)
• Adobe Web Bundle (Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Studio 8)
• Adobe Video Bundle (Adobe Production Studio Premium and Macromedia Flash Pro 8)
• Macromedia Studio 8
• After Effects CS4, CS3, or 7.0 (Professional or Standard)
• Flash CS4 Pro or Flash CS3 Pro, Macromedia Flash Pro 8, or Flash Basic 8
• Illustrator CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Audition CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Dreamweaver CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Fireworks CS4, CS3, or CS2
• InDesign CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Photoshop CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Photoshop CS4 Extended or CS3 Extended
• Premiere Pro CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Any version of Adobe Premiere

If you want to try out the product upgrade first, you can download the free trial for any software you choose, and then later convert the trial to a permanent version using this offer if you like. This works even for upgrades, which will run side-by-side with your other installed Adobe tools without difficulty.

This discount offer is available in the following Country Stores: USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand), China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Hope this news helps save you some money…

Read more about CS5.5

To receive future notification of special promotions and coupon codes like these, get on our free occasional Adobe Special Offers mailing list in the sidebar just up and to the right.

Related Posts

• Adobe Says No CS6 Upgrade Discounts from Older CS2, CS3, or CS4
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It’s the season for holiday deals – and so it also can be a season for order changes and returns… Although naturally, this can happen at any time of year.

Sometimes even despite using Adobe’s free trial downloads to try out the software before buying, customers may want to exchange an Adobe product and get something else – say swapping Photoshop for Lightroom, or returning Photoshop CS5 Extended and getting the full CS5.5 Design Premium suite instead (which includes eight applications instead of one).

So did you know that Adobe offers a full money-back guarantee policy on almost all current products? This includes CS5, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Acrobat, and so on. This offer applies even after you’ve already opened the box and/or installed the software – and what’s more, it applies even if you happened to buy the software from somewhere else besides Adobe direct (like an from authorized reseller or store in North America – though not eBay).

Yes, it’s true – if you aren’t able to return or exchange your product via any other means, you can simply contact Adobe within 30 days and provided you follow the procedure, they will take it back (after being uninstalled and deactivated from your computers, if applicable) and then issue you a refund.

So this means your purchases are protected right out of the gate – and effectively you’ve got 60 total days (30 trial + 30 “warranty”) to make sure the product is right and definitely the one you want!  If not for some reason, you can effectively cancel your purchase for a refund.

Returns can be processed whether you originally paid via credit card, PayPal, or purchase order. Any original shipping & handling charges are not rebated. If you didn’t buy through Adobe, you must have a valid proof of purchase.

This is one reason why we recommend buying direct from Adobe whenever possible – it’s simpler, faster and easier – and you can always be 100% certain your software is genuine, safe and authentic – plus you can download it instantly.

“Grace Period for Free Upgrades”

What’s especially interesting is that you can use this policy to create your own “grace period” when buying a product, so that if a new release comes out within a month of your purchase, you can simply send back what you have and get the next release instead. So say for example you buy CS5.5 in May 2012, and then CS6 is launched in June – well then you’ve got some “insurance” for a free upgrade, which is a nice side benefit.

There are some conditions and fine print, so you may want to read the full policy in detail, though this captures the gist of it. And be sure to simply contact Adobe Customer Support if you have any questions about it.

Read more great tips for managing your software investment:

• How Many Systems Can You Install and Run Your Adobe Products On?
• How to Move Adobe Software Between Computers or from Windows to Mac
• How Can You Run Adobe Products on Both the Windows to Mac OS Platforms?
• How to Legally Transfer Adobe Products Between Two Parties or People
• Why You Shouldn’t Buy Adobe Software through eBay or Amazon Marketplace
• See the Complete Online Documentation (PDF) for All Major Adobe Products

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• Why Not to Buy Adobe Software on eBay, Craigslist, or Amazon Mkt
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Some folks think it might be a good idea to try to save a few bucks and buy Adobe software from eBay, Craigslist, or Amazon Marketplace.  It could be CS5.5, Photoshop, Lightroom, Acrobat, or any other.

But it’s actually not a very good idea at all.  Why?

The first problem is that Adobe does not recognize these venues as valid resellers. So as a result, it’s like Adobe will not officially recognize any of those buyers as actually owning their software. Yes, you read that right.

Meaning, you think you own the genuine article but effectively you don’t. You can’t provide an accepted proof of purchase – so you can’t formally prove you own the products, can’t ever legally transfer the software to someone else, may not be able to get technical support or ever upgrade to the next version, and so on.

Why doesn’t Adobe recognize the people that go through those places? Doesn’t that seem unfair?

The simple reason is – and the real problem is – that 90% of the software sold on places like eBay is counterfeit! Yes, it’s true. And it’s not a new problem.

So you can be pretty sure that what someone’s getting on those auction and vendor sites is not legitimate, not able to be legally transferred, and possibly even quite unsafe.

That last part is the real kicker. A great deal of the hacked and pirated Adobe software out there now is embedded with malware. These infections include viruses, worms, and trojans that can do significant harm to your computer, data, and privacy (like quietly stealing your sensitive information such as logins, passwords, and credit card numbers).

Or put another way, you dramatically increase your “risk of exposure to viruses, spyware, or adware that can destroy (or, worse, publish to criminals) valuable data.” But unfortunately, many people don’t learn about this until it’s too late. Often they do this unknowingly.

How prevalent is malware in illegal software? Well, just one example: China reportedly has a piracy rate of 79% – and a corresponding computer infection rate of nearly 70% – both are the highest in the world.

Yes, there can occasionally be exceptions – but there are many more headlines over the years: “Adobe Creative Suite Crack Harvests Zombie Computers” … “Malware Writers Target Would-Be Pirated Software Users” … “Bootlegged Mac Photoshop Delivers New Trojan Horses” …

The second Trojan was discovered Sunday, hidden inside torrented copies of Adobe Systems’ Photoshop program. Once installed, the software lets someone else take remote control of the computer and sensitive data upon it.

Even advertised “new in box” (NIB) items in seemingly original packaging can easily be fake. And as Adobe says, “You’ll only discover software is pirated when you try to register it and can’t, often rendering the software unusable.” Or worse.

But even if the software within is authentic, it’s still breaking the law. Per the SIIA, “As this prosecution demonstrates, it is both a crime to create counterfeit software and a crime to sell authentic software without authorization.”  So in any event, these buyers still face all the other issues above.

And if anyone ever offers a download that’s from anywhere else other than Adobe – it’s definitely not genuine, or legal.

The old advice applies here: anything that sounds too good to be true probably is… (note that Adobe’s true student editions at 80% off are an exception to this)

So what’s your best bet?

The only safe and legal place to instantly download any of these products (either trial or permanent versions) is directly from Adobe’s servers.

And the only safe and legal place to buy boxed retail software is directly from Adobe itself, or through their authorized resellers/retailers.

They put all this in place to protect customers – not only from harmful or counterfeit software, but also protecting your rights as a legitimate buyer and true recognized owner of the products – fully able to receive technical support, important updates, and future upgrades.

See all the recommended tips on how to avoid Adobe piracy. And if the regular product prices are too high for you, see if you qualify for Adobe’s deeply-discounted education versions.

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Judging by the amount of attention that Adobe’s recent upgrade policy changes have been receiving, as well as our subsequent visitor poll on the company’s model shift to the new “Creative Cloud,” this is a big and important issue…

And while this cloud model is optional, two of the persistent questions so far have been: How are the Acrobat and Lightroom products affected by all of this?

Both of these tools have historically different release schedules from Creative Suite – and while Acrobat is included in the suites, Lightroom is not.  Looking back, CS5.5 launched in May 2011, Acrobat X in November 2010, and Lightroom 3 in June 2010.

[See:  When will Adobe CS6 be released?  When is Lightroom 4 coming out?]

So first off, we can clarify: both Acrobat and Light­room are currently slated to be included in Adobe’s Creative Cloud, at least according to this slide from a recent analyst presentation – although there is a disclaimer at the bottom which states, “list of included products [is] not yet final.”

[UPDATE (January 25th) — Adobe now says that Lightroom will not be included initially, but is "planned for a future release."]

The next question then is, will either of these two popular standalone products be affected by Adobe’s new upgrade policy?

Adobe tells us: No, these two applications will continue with their current policies of discounted upgrade pricing for up to three versions back, instead of the planned “one version back” for all of the CS6 products.

In other words, based upon what we are hearing now, both Acrobat and Lightroom will remain on their independent release cycles and existing upgrade plans.

Here is the exact statement they sent us (and we subsequently confirmed the same applies for Lightroom):

With the announcement of Adobe Creative Cloud, there have been many questions about how Acrobat will be treated.  Please note, the Acrobat upgrade policy has not changed, Acrobat customers may continue to upgrade to the current version from three versions prior (currently 7, 8, and 9 for upgrading to X). Details about this policy are outlined in the Acrobat Customer FAQ.

As an extra, we can also confirm for you that Adobe’s Elements line – Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements – will also remain “as is,” with the separate version and upgrade system that exists today.

However, there is no word yet on the status or impact to Adobe’s Student & Teacher Editions (if anything)…  Hopefully they will continue with the current setup, whereby educational users can receive discounts of up to 80% off the regular prices (although with the limitations that these products cannot be upgraded to other academic versions).

So we hope that helps put these questions to rest!  Any others?  Please ask away below and we’ll do our best to answer…

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• When is Adobe CS6 Being Released, including Photoshop CS6?
• The New Adobe Creative Cloud: What It Is and Why You Should Care
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[UPDATE (January 11th, 2012) – Adobe has listened to customers and just reversed this change! CS3, CS4, & CS5 are all good for upgrade to CS6 now.]

Earlier this month Adobe made a major change in the Creative Suite upgrade policy that has been in place since CS3 came out in April 2007…

Have you heard about it yet? If not, you might want to read the new upgrade policy for CS6.

Also helpful: see Adobe’s planned new business model, a membership-based Creative Cloud.

OK, all caught up? Good. So, how will these changes affect you?

First off, for anybody currently running the latest major release, Creative Suite 5 (either 5.0, 5.1, or 5.5), you’re fine. You will not be affected by this revision, and will be eligible for the discounted pricing on upgrades when CS6 comes out.

For everyone else, if you’re still running older versions – like CS2, CS3, or CS4 – when CS6 releases, you wouldn’t qualify for that upgrade price break. And customer reaction on this point has been understandibly unfavorable.

Adobe is trying to mitigate the impact of this change by offering an extra 20% off all CS5.5 upgrades worldwide until the end of the year the extended date of March 15, 2012 (see banner).

But in trying to figure out what this means for everybody, it might be helpful to first take a step back with the Creative Suite release history and expected future schedule… Here’s how the big picture looks:

So if Adobe continues as they anticipate, anybody who is running CS5 (or CS5.5) right now will be able to get low upgrade pricing to CS6 (or CS6.5) until that cycle completes in mid-2014. That’s over two years from now.

In other words, it’s likely that part of Adobe’s reasoning for moving from “three versions back” to a “one version back” upgrade policy is that the major releases are now spaced out to once every two years – so that someone who bought CS5.0 the moment it came out in 2010 could still qualify for discounted upgrade pricing to CS6.5 nearly four years later in 2014.

But for “version skippers” and other folks still running prior releases, what are your options?

Here are what the choices look to be:

1. Upgrade to CS5.5 now so you’re current, taking advantage of the additional 20% discount – and then revisit the question again before CS7 comes out in 2014.
2. Wait now, and then pay full price for a new copy of CS6, CS7, or a subsequent release.
3. Keep using the older software that you own now.
4. Convert to the optional “Creative Cloud” rental model, with access included to more applications and services so long as you’re paying the per-month subscription fee.

So, which will it be, what will you do?

And regarding Adobe’s business focus here, with the cloud model – what do you think, will it work? Is it the right move, at the right time? Or do you feel otherwise?

Take our instant poll:

Adobe’s Changes in the Model

Yes, I like what’s happening

No, it doesn’t appeal to me

Indifferent, I’ll buy either way

View resultsVote Now

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Yes, I like what’s happening0%

No, it doesn’t appeal to me0%

Indifferent, I’ll buy either way0%

Create an online survey quiz or web poll

Tell us more below – here’s your chance to express your thoughts and feedback… We will be sharing the results with Adobe directly.

See also:  Acrobat, Lightroom, and Elements – How Will They Be Affected?

[UPDATE (January 11th, 2012) – After feedback, Adobe has now deferred this policy change.]

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• What are the Differences between CS5.5 vs. CS5 vs. CS4 vs. CS3?
• Get Your Upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 for 20% Less – Limited Promotion

[UPDATE (January 11th, 2012) – Adobe has listened to customers and just reversed this change! CS3, CS4, & CS5 are all good for upgrade to CS6 now.]

HUGE breaking news out from Adobe, regarding substantial changes in upgrade pricing and policies for their very popular Creative Suite software…

For several years, the company has offered a “three-versions-back” upgrade policy – meaning anyone who owned a prior CS product up to three major versions back would be eligible for discounted upgrade pricing when moving up to the latest release.

Meaning, if you’ve got CS2, CS3, or CS4 – either a full suite or an individual point product like Photoshop – you can receive price reductions of up to 80% when upgrading to CS5.5.

Adobe now says that will be ending – the policy is going to shift dramatically, worldwide.

Starting in 2012 when CS6 comes out, this will be changing to a “one-version-back” plan – meaning to receive a price break when upgrading to CS6, you need to already be on some flavor of Creative Suite 5 – either CS5 or CS5.5.

So, what does this mean for anybody still running CS2, CS3, or CS4 at that time?  Basically, if you want to upgrade later or have been waiting for CS6 to do so, it would cost you full price… To receive a discount from older versions, you’d need to upgrade to CS5 before CS6 ships.

Here it is straight from Adobe’s “Conversations” Blog:

With regards to upgrades, we are changing our policy for perpetual [permanent] license customers.

In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions).

In other words, soon Adobe will only be offering the traditional upgrade savings for one major version behind…  This will apply for both suites as well as the standalone applications.

There is a saving grace however – the company wants to help folks using these older versions to get current now with an extra 20% off the currently-discounted upgrade price:

If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 the extended date of March 15, 2012, which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6.  [see banner below]

Why is Adobe doing this?  It’s part of extending their CS subscription offerings to encompass the recently-announced Creative Cloud initiative, which is also a subscription-based program.

Basically, they want to make more frequent innovation updates to the software to reflect our increasingly-dynamic environment with the web, smartphones, tablets, and mobile applications – and are adjusting the model to try to encourage customers towards cloud membership and keep them as current as possible with the products.

However, you can stick with traditionally-owned software if you desire, just like now:

For customers who prefer to remain on the current licensing model, we will continue to offer our individual point products and Adobe Creative Suite editions as perpetual licenses.

So if you’re one of them – and are happy and comfortable with your current permanent product instead of renting – then you might want to take a closer look at this fleeting window of upgrade opportunity, particularly with the extra 20% off worldwide – while it lasts.

Please spread the word and share this news with anyone who you think should know!

[UPDATE (Dec. 1st) – Share your thoughts and take our new poll on Adobe's model change, or see the impact on Acrobat, Lightroom, and Elements.]

[UPDATE (Jan. 11th, 2012) – After feedback, Adobe has now deferred this policy change.]

Related Posts

• Adobe Extends 20%-Off CS5.5 Upgrades Discount Offer to March
• Adobe CS6 Upgrade Policy Changes Postponed! CS3 & CS4 on Track
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• Get Your Upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 for 20% Less – Limited Promotion
• What are the Differences between CS5.5 vs. CS5 vs. CS4 vs. CS3?

Arguably the biggest announcement to come out of the annual Adobe MAX Conference last month was the unveiling of the Adobe Creative Cloud…

It was the major focus of the first day’s keynote address, and then different components of it were covered in greater detail in a number of the later educational sessions.

What Is the Creative Cloud?

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch describes it as an optional membership-based program formed of three pillars: Creative Services, Creative Community, and Creative Applications.

The first is Creative Services, which are hosted services that you can use in your production work, in the delivery of your content. This includes a font service like Typekit, which Adobe recently acquired, which enables the use and delivery of a broad foundry of cloud fonts across all of your work. A second area is Digital Publishing, which enables publishing rich media to tablets via the cloud. And the third category is Business Catalyst, which supports designing and operating websites for small businesses, with pre-built services for things like handling e-commerce, doing customer relationship management, and integrating with social networks. More services will be added over time.

The second pillar is Creative Community, which is all of you creatives around the world and enabling you to connect more easily with other creatives – it’s a place to share, to communi­cate, and to inspire each other with your work and really collaborate as you’re working. The community is a critical part of our whole ecosystem, and it’s a critical part of the cloud. At the center of this is the web presence of the Creative Cloud, which is creative.adobe.com. And one of the great things there is it will understand all the formats you’re using in your creative work – so PSD files, InDesign files, Illustrator files. Where other cloud services might show you an icon describing the file type, this will show you the actual content, and you can interact with it in a context-sensitive way. It’s a much deeper understanding of creative content.

And lastly the third pillar is Creative Applications – and these are enabling you to create not only on personal computers, but also wherever you are with mobile devices, all connected through the Creative Cloud. This includes a whole new collection of Adobe touch apps to run on tablets and other mobile devices, including Proto, Kuler, Debut, Collage, Carousel, Ideas, and Photoshop Touch. In addition, membership also includes access to all Adobe creative desktop products you know and love, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver and Premiere and InDesign, possibly Lightroom, more. You can download and install any of these applica­tions you choose as part of your membership, and these are all connected to Creative Cloud via desktop sync. They also interact with the touch apps, and you can move files between desktop and touch as you’re working.

[UPDATE (January 25th) — Adobe now says that Lightroom, Edge, DPS Single Edition, and Social capabilities will not be included initially, but are "planned for a future release."]

Why Is It Important?

So why should you care, if you’re quite happy with your current set of permanent desktop Adobe products, and less interested in services or tablet apps?

Well, because this looks to be a key direction Adobe is going in, a new (additional) model for offering their software and how it is used. The company started off with a toe in the water with CS5.5 software subscriptions, but is expanding that option substantially here. Creative Cloud membership is essentially a broader subscription-based program – in other words, renting the software that’s used, which works so long as the monthly payments are made. To quote a press release yesterday, “Adobe’s Digital Media growth strategy revolves around its recently announced Creative Cloud and will enable the company to rapidly deliver new product capabilities and services, penetrate untapped market segments, and increase overall engagement with customers.”

As implied, this model of software is going to be a significant change because it means Adobe’s engineering teams can improve the applica­tions more frequently, and as they come up with new ideas, they can put them in the app and you can get them, not just once a year.

Overall with Creative Cloud, they’re changing how they provide software from the traditional desktop model now to devices and also to the cloud. Twenty-one years ago they started with point products like Photoshop or Dreamweaver you could get individually, and then they did the Creative Suite bundling, and that was a great breakthrough for creative software and how you can acquire it, and this now is the most popular creative software in the world. Now their next step is moving to Creative Cloud, and it’s going to be a whole new way people can interact with the software.

And fortunately, this will be additive to what they already offer – in other words, you’re going to continue to be able to buy standalone the permanent point products and the suites as you’re used to with perpetual licensing, as well – however the current Creative Suite Upgrade Policy will be changing significantly.

So as Adobe says, “this is a great new adventure for us, and there’s a ton of innovation ahead for us, so it’s going to be a very exciting time.”

Availability and Pricing

The touch applications are going to be available on the Android market in November, along with a beta of Creative Cloud so testers can immediately start using the storage and the synchronization with those applications. Then full Creative Cloud membership is going to be available next year – perhaps in conjunction with the release of CS6. Adobe says the Creative Cloud is going to be attractively priced, and they’ll be announcing pricing in November as well, so we’ll learn more about that soon. In the meantime, you can read more in the Creative Cloud FAQ – or express your view: what do you think about this optional new model?

See the best from Adobe MAX 2011 – including both keynote presentations plus over 160 hours of on-demand free tutorials & training sessions from the experts, on a wide range of topics covering all major Adobe applications, plus more on the Creative Cloud.

Related Posts

• When is Adobe CS6 Being Released, including Photoshop CS6?
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• Adobe Photoshop CS6 – Another Look? More Sneak Peeks [VIDEO]
• Adobe CS6 Upgrade Policy Changes Postponed! CS3 & CS4 on Track
• Adobe Edge & Muse to be Subscription/Cloud-Only, Not Part of CS6

It’s been about a year since Acrobat X (10) was released, and given Adobe’s typical two-year cycle with this product line, it will probably be another year before we see Acrobat 11 coming out…  So in the meantime, we’ve put together a list of helpful questions and answers that have accumulated here and during sessions with Adobe.

Hopefully sharing this information below can help answer frequently-asked questions that you may also have about the product:

What other questions do you have about Acrobat X? Just ask in the comments below and we’ll see if we can get them answered for you.

Or download a 30-day trial to run it free today and for the next month.

Related Posts

• How to Exchange, Return, or Refund Adobe Software Products
• Acrobat & Lightroom: Impact of Creative Cloud and Upgrade Changes
• How to Move Adobe CS5.5 Between Computers, or from PC to Mac
• What’s in Adobe CS5.5 for Me? Ask a CS Evangelist
• Adobe CS5.5 FAQ – Customers’ Top Questions Answered

[UPDATE (Jan. 2012) – This offer is extended!]

Are you thinking about moving up to to Creative Suite 5?  Well then here’s a special new offer – a nice bonus – that will help…

Right now you can save a further 20% off the normally-discounted upgrade price when you upgrade to CS5.5 (to either a suite or an individual product) from any earlier qualifying Adobe tool listed below.

This new offer is now available worldwide, with no coupon or promotion code necessary.  It’s valid for upgrading to all the latest CS5.5 versions, but also includes Photoshop CS5.1 and Illustrator CS5 as well.

North American Store:  Offer period is October 3, 2011 – December 31, 2011  March 15, 2012.
European Stores:  Offer period is 3 October, 2011 – 31 December, 2011  15 March 2012.
Australia/NZ + Asia:  Offer period is 9 November, 2011 – 31 December, 2011  15 March 2012.

So if you currently have one of these Adobe products with a valid license (either commercial or for education/student), then you qualify:

• Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, or Master Collection
• Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, or Master Collection
• Creative Suite 2 Premium or Standard
• Adobe Production Studio Premium or Standard
• Adobe Design Bundle (Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Flash Pro 8)
• Adobe Web Bundle (Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Studio 8)
• Adobe Video Bundle (Adobe Production Studio Premium and Macromedia Flash Pro 8)
• Macromedia Studio 8
• After Effects CS4, CS3, or 7.0 (Professional or Standard)
• Flash CS4 Pro or Flash CS3 Pro, Macromedia Flash Pro 8, or Flash Basic 8
• Illustrator CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Audition CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Dreamweaver CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Fireworks CS4, CS3, or CS2
• InDesign CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Photoshop CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Photoshop CS4 Extended or CS3 Extended
• Premiere Pro CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Any version of Adobe Premiere

If you want to try out the product upgrade first, you can download the free trial for any software you choose, and then later convert the trial to a permanent version using this offer if you like. This works even for upgrades, which will run side-by-side with your other installed Adobe tools without interference.

But take advantage of it while you can because pretty soon, CS2, CS3, and CS4 will not be upgradeable and you’ll only be able to upgrade from CS5 or later!

This offer is available in the following Country Stores: USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand), China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Hope this helps save you some money!

Read more about CS5.5

To receive future notification of special promotions and coupon codes like these, get on our free occasional Adobe Special Offers mailing list in the sidebar just up and to the right.

Related Posts

• Adobe Extends 20%-Off CS5.5 Upgrades Discount Offer to March
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• Adobe CS6 Upgrade Policy Changes Postponed! CS3 & CS4 on Track
• Adobe’s New Upgrade Policy for CS6: What It Means for You [Poll]
• Adobe Deal: Save 50%(!) on Premiere Pro CS5.5 or Production Suite

Adobe Lightroom 3.5 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 users…

These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (20 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 27 new lens profiles and 24 new cameras, including the Nikon Coolpix P7100, Olympus E-PL3, and Sony SLT-A77 – and could be some of the last revisions before Lightroom 4 and CS6 come out.

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.5 for Mac OS  (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.5 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 for Mac  (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 for Windows

Read more details about the update including the 29 fixes that were made as well as the new cameras supported, or take a look at the complete list of all Lightroom-supported cameras.

Lightroom 3.5 is a recommended update and is available in 12 languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).   If you don’t yet own Lightroom 3, Adobe’s free trial download has also now been moved up to version 3.5.

To confirm that the updater has run successfully, launch Lightroom and verify that the version number on the splash screen shows current as 3.5.

Camera Raw 6.5 also works with Photoshop Elements 9 plus the new Photoshop Elements 10 just released – see the full compatibility chart. Note that Camera Raw 6 is not compatible with Photoshop CS4 or earlier. The last release of Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop CS4 was ACR 5.7 on 4/20/2010.

Save 30% when you buy Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 together, no coupon code needed.

Related Posts

• Adobe Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 – Final and Free Updates
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• Adobe Lightroom 4 Beta Release is Here! Now Available Free to Public
• Free Update to Adobe Lightroom 2.7

One of the most common upgrade questions you’re likely to see is what’s new, what’s different, what’s improved between the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and version 9? Or more fundamentally, what are the key new features in PSE 10, versus PSE 9, 8, 7, or even version 6? We put together a quick list here of what’s changed since 9, but how about a version-by-version, feature-by-feature table? You’ll find this down below (or shortcut here), but first let’s take a close look at some of the biggest additions.

The before-and-after images pictured above are a demonstration of the new “depth of field” effect, where in just seconds you can produce the feeling of shallow focus (low f-stop) for the subject in any existing photograph you have.

From Adobe’s official press release:

Making Photos Pop with Innovative Tools

Powered by the same engine as Adobe Photoshop, the industry standard for digital imaging, Photoshop Elements 10 utilizes intelligent technology that makes it easy to give everyday photos a boost. Photoshop technology is brought to life through easy to follow steps for achieving stunning photo effects in an approachable way with new Guided Edits, which are very popular and successful. These include innovations such as creating a shallow depth of field or designing a fun layout of snapshots with Picture Stack, or even adding a dream-like diffused glow with the Orton Effect.

What’s the Orton Effect? It gives images a dreamy quality, and works well for candid portraits, landscapes, and photos of children or animals. Besides creating a fairytale feel, it can be useful for salvaging photos that you didn’t quite get in focus to begin with. This enhanced result was created in ten seconds with PSE 10:

More New Features

Also new are the text-on-a-path feature, a Crop Overlay tool, and some significant Organizer improvements:

New text functionality, which scrapbookers will especially love, allows users to add curving, flowing text to a photo that automatically follows the outline of a subject, custom path or shape. In addition, special crop guides [Rule of Thirds and Golden Ratio] now help users at any level easily achieve interesting, visually appealing compositions.

Object Search automatically finds objects within photos, such as a landmark, flower or pet. The Elements Organizer can even automatically detect duplicate or near-duplicate photos so users can clean up and delete the photos they don’t need and quickly group similar collections of photos

Probably one of the most-requested features, Photoshop Elements 10 sports three new Text tools for making lines of text follow paths you create… These new capabilities mean you can now place curvy, flowing text on a shape, on an object, or on a customized path – and then resize and reshape or add effects as desired.

The new “Smart Object Search” function saves time by making it easy to find almost anything in your catalog via searching by shape or color – and quickly detect and match together similar photos.

Here’s a one-minute video demo on how to create some of these new stylistic effects with just a few mouse clicks:

Comprehensive Version Comparison

What’s new in Photoshop Elements 10 isn’t perhaps quite as earth-shaking as what was introduced in version 9, which included the long-awaited Layer Masks, Style Matching, and the invaluable content-aware Healing Brush…  But there are still plenty of nice additions in PSE 10, including more we haven’t mentioned yet – like integration with your Facebook Friends list, saving creations to PDF format, 30 new Smart Brush patterns, a new Smart Pan & Zoom feature, automatic syncing between multiple devices, and more…

And thus far, the reviews for Photoshop Elements 10 have been pretty positive.

You can see a comprehensive feature comparison between the last five versions of Photoshop Elements below, for both Windows and Mac OS:

Importantly, Photoshop Elements continues to be multi-platform software, available with largely the same features on both PC and Mac (containing both discs in the box) – and installable on up to two machines. The fully-functional free trials are also now available and can install and run alongside any previous versions you may own, without interference. Adobe has also restored the discounted upgrade pricing that was unavailable for PSE 9.

For more details and information, including on Premiere, see our Elements 10 Release Guide. Or start learning right away with four hours of free tutorials for Photoshop Elements 10 & 9.

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• Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 are Out!

Yes – Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 are just out and now shipping!  Pretty much on the timeframe we forecast, both products are available on both Windows and Mac with the same features…  You can instantly download the free trials now as well (yes, they are available!), and the new software will work side-by-side with any previous release(s) of Elements you may own. If do you have an earlier version installed, you can automatically import and convert your work.*

And thus far the reviews for Photoshop Elements 10 have been pretty positive.

The prices remain US$99 for the full version of either PSE 10 or PRE 10, and $149 for the bundle package containing both complete products. To add Adobe’s Plus Benefits runs $30 more. Education customers can grab the Student and Teacher Edition for $119 for both applications (note that academic pricing is no longer offered for each one individually). The languages available today include English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, and Japanese.

Adobe has also brought back the upgrade discount for owners of any previous version of Elements… This briefly disappeared in Elements 9, but popular demand has restored the lower pricing worldwide. This means if you are an existing user of any previous version of Elements (Photoshop or Premiere, back to version 1), you get a lower price from Adobe when upgrading to this new release.

Photoshop & Premiere Elements 10 will run well on 32-bit or 64-bit systems, and are designed for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS (see the full system requirements for PSE 10 on Windows or Mac; and PRE 10 on Windows or Mac).  Premiere Elements 10 now comes with a native 64-bit version for higher performance – in other words, the PRE Editor now runs native on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Photoshop Elements 10 continues as before, running native in 32-bit and compatibly on 64-bit systems.

For customers with both PCs and Macs, the Elements line is now sold as multiplatform software, meaning your single purchase can be installed on either operating system… If you buy a boxed copy of Elements 10, you will get both the Windows and Mac OS versions of the application(s) and a cross-platform serial number. And similar to other Adobe products, you may be able to put the software on up to two computers, subject to the terms of the license agreement.

Download the product overview sheet or free trials, or see the new online documentation that just went up, including the Photoshop Elements 10 keyboard shortcuts. Start learning right away with four hours of free video tutorials.

What’s new in Elements 10 – what are some key new features?

This is covered in detail in our companion “what’s new” article, but here are some quick highlights:

Elements is already the #1 selling consumer photo- and video-editing software.†  Powered by the same engine as Adobe Photoshop, the industry standard for digital imaging, and with these new features on top of the Spot Healing Brush (Content-Aware Fill) and Layer Masks added in PSE 9, this latest 10th-generation version of Elements is looking like a smooth and polished release.

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• When is Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Coming Out?
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• Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 are Out!

With Photoshop Elements 10 having just arrived, and Creative Suite 6 on the distant horizon, one question remains: when will Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 be released?

Adobe hasn’t said, and has not given advance notice in the past. But as shown in the chart below, Lightroom has run an average of 20 months between releases. So if history is any measure, then moving forward twenty months from when version 3.0 came out would put Lightroom 4 shipping in April 2012…

But there’s more to the story. Every previous release of Lightroom has had at least one public beta period – and a beta release is generally expected for Lightroom 4 as well. These beta periods have lasted 3-4 months each. Adobe has not yet announced a Lightroom 4 beta, so it’s reasonable to assume that we should be seeing one on Adobe Labs well before the official release of the product. In other words, don’t expect (the final) Lightroom 4 for at least three months from now – or from the time the beta comes out.

[UPDATE (January 10th) – The Lightroom 4 beta is here! So we maintain our outlook below...]

There’s also the connection with Photoshop and the Creative Suite… Lightroom is so closely related to Adobe Camera Raw (they use the same processing engine and share the same file caches) that arguably they all would have to be released on about the same timeline. And indeed, whenever Adobe updates Camera Raw for Photoshop, they also update it for Lightroom as well. In fact, every major release of Lightroom over its history has been within two months of a major release of Creative Suite as well (CS3, CS4, CS5). So with Photoshop CS6 forecast to arrive in the spring of 2012, Lightroom 4 is unlikely to be far from that window, especially since these two products are often sold/bundled together with a discount.

Another data point: Aperture is one of Lightroom’s main competitors, although it runs only on Apple computers – and the two tools have historically kept close together on their release cycles, with about a four month difference. So if Aperture 4 arrives in February once again, then going by that measure we could see a Lightroom 4 ship date in the springtime.

So, what does it all add up to? Putting together the anecdotal evidence and dates from the different analyses above, with luck we expect to see the release date for general availability of Adobe Lightroom 4.0 coming in March or April 2012, with the LR4 beta arriving several months prior to that.

And hopefully, upgrades from all previous LR versions will stay at $99 or less.

Give your input – what would you like to see in Lightroom 4 for new features, functions, or improvements?  Leave your feedback below and/or at Adobe’s “wish list” suggestion box…

For Lightroom 3

Related Posts

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[UPDATE (Sept. 20th) — Right on time, Elements 10 is out!  Check out the new features.]

With our recent posts for free e-books for Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9, it begged the question – when will Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 be available?

Adobe historically ships a new version of Elements every year, in the fall – but when exactly? Let’s do some digging and find the release schedules for recent versions:

Funny things happened in 2008 with the launch of CS4 happening near the same time of year (September 23) – but if you exclude that occasion then the trend is definitely for the Elements release date happening in late September, just after back-to-school. Also, Adobe has shipped both Mac and Windows versions for seven out of the nine Photoshop Elements releases, and they have been increasing Mac support in other products, so we think we’ll be seeing both platforms supported again for Photoshop Elements 10.0.

So put it all together and we forecast that Photoshop and Premiere Elements 10 will ship on or about September 22, 2011, with PSE10 available on both the Windows and Mac OS operating systems. And reinforcing this prediction is Adobe’s new summer sale on Photoshop Elements 9, which runs until September 21, 2011.

[UPDATE (Sept. 20th) — Photoshop Elements 10 is now shipping!  Find out what's new.]

One question remains: what is likely to be in the upgraded products? Nobody can say for sure, and certainly Adobe hasn’t revealed any of the new features.  The current Elements 9 was largely inherited from CS4 and CS5 – and since that time there have been only minor updates to Photoshop (not CS5.5, but CS5.1)…  Meanwhile, Photoshop CS6 isn’t expected to be out until the middle of next year.

So this means we could see more Creative Suite 5 features moving down into Elements, like bigger and better capabilities from the “knock-your-socks-off” additions like Content-Aware Fill or Puppet Warp… Or maybe something brand new that we haven’t even seen in any version of Photoshop yet, although Adobe is most likely to save the biggest surprises for CS6.

What would you like to see in PSE 10 and PRE 10…?  Leave your feedback below and/or at Adobe’s “wish list” suggestion box.

To see the features added to each of the last four releases of Elements, you can compare the different versions of Photoshop Elements or of Premiere Elements. Or check out a couple of free ebooks you can download for Elements 9 – or four hours of free video tutorials online for PSE 9, and the same for PSE 7/8.

Check our track record for forecasting other major Adobe product releases like Creative Suite 5.5, Lightroom 3, and Acrobat X.

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• Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 are Out!

OK, so your old computer is running out of gas, you’re upgrading or changing systems, adding a new machine, or switching from a PC to a Mac, or vice versa — and you want to move over your purchased CS5.5 (or CS5 or CS4 or CS3 or any other) Adobe software — what do you do, and how do you do it?

As we’ve covered previously here, you are generally allowed to install and activate most Adobe software on up to two computers, with the restriction that the software can not used on both systems at the same time. So right off the bat, you might be good to go with installing the software on a second computer, although you may wish to double-check the licensing agreement for your product to be sure.

Adobe uses software activation to control how many simultaneous computers can install or run CS5 at once. So if you’re already at your limit of two computers and want to transfer your license over to a new or different system, then you first need to deactivate the software from the old computer. In the program, click Help > Deactivate, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to deactivate the software. If you have installed a suite product, you will be deact­ivating the entire suite by deactivating any one of the point products included in that suite.

Note: There are two choices on the Deactivation screen – so what’s the difference between Suspend Activation vs. Deactivate Permanently? The answer is that both will properly deactivate your product on that computer. But the first (“suspend”) will keep your serial number stored in the Windows registry just in case you ever want to quickly reactivate the same software on the same computer later, without having to reenter it. However there is no harm in choosing the second (“permanently”) option, because you can always later reactivate the same product on the same machine by just retyping the license key. In other words, it’s basically a conven­ience factor to store your SN.

If you’re uninstalling Adobe software from a computer, then deactivate it first to ensure its license is freed up. If you deactivate but don’t uninstall, the next time you run Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Acrobat, or any of the other CS5 applications on that computer, you’ll be asked for a serial number or to start a 30-day free tryout period.

After uninstalling any version of CS, you can run the Creative Suite Cleaner Tool if you like to make sure it’s completely removed from your system.

If you purchased the software but lost the serial number or no longer have it readily available, you can retrieve it from the computer itself using a free utility like Belarc Advisor – which will recover and tell you the activation keys for all programs on your system.  And if you’ve lost or can’t find the original installation file or discs, you can download and install a free trial of your application from Adobe servers onto your new computer, and that will convert to a full and permanent version when you enter your valid SN.

Once deactivation is complete, you are free to go ahead and enter your serial number key to activate a copy of the software installed elsewhere, or use it to reactivate the same applica­tion on that PC after reinstalling (for example, if you are changing disk drives, or upgrading operating systems from XP or Vista to Windows 7, etc.).  And you should be all set.

If you run into any problems with the deactivation/reactivation process, you’ll have a 30-day window during which the software will work in trial mode to give you enough time to contact Adobe Support and get things resolved.

How to Switch Platforms from PC to Mac

Now how about if you’re also changing platforms, like from Windows to Mac, or vice versa – and want to take your Creative Suite 5 license with you, and/or upgrade from CS2, CS3, CS4, or CS5 to CS5.5 while making the switch? After completing the deactivation process above it gets a little more complicated, because most Adobe software is licensed for a single platform only. But you can do what’s called a “crossgrade” from one to the other, which is no charge (except for shipping costs) and can be submitted online through Adobe Customer Service.

All product configurations (including Student and Teacher Editions) are eligible for exchange.

There are a few provisos. One is you need to have a registered serial number to qualify (but that just takes a few minutes if you haven’t already). You must also be prepared to sign and return a Letter of Software Destruction for the programs on the old platform. But perhaps the most important is you can’t cross-grade from an older version to the same prior version — you can only move to the current version (now CS5.5), paying any applicable upgrade costs…  (If you’re already running the latest release, then there should be no additional cost.)

So if you need to do both an upgrade and a platform swap, the fastest and easiest way is to first buy the upgrade online and then submit the crossgrade online. Then if you chose to get the new product shipped to you rather than via instant download, you can simply download and run the 30-day free trial while you’re waiting for the package to arrive – and then later just convert the trial into a permanent full version with the serial key from the product box.

Note: Aside from crossgrades, there is one other option if you own computers with both types of operating systems and need to run on both Mac and Windows.

How to Change from One Language to Another

Note that this same procedure will also work for requesting a change from one language set to another for a given Adobe/CS5 application… Just follow the crossgrade procedure described above – but choose a new and different language on the form, instead of a different platform.

Two notable exceptions are Adobe Lightroom 3 and Photoshop & Premiere Elements 9, which are now sold as multiplatform and multilanguage software so would not require a crossgrade.

Hopefully that should do it!  Please let us know if this article helped you out, or any questions you may have in the comments below.

If you’d like to move away from shuffling serial numbers altogether, check out an easy Adobe CS5.5 volume license to simplify management instead of single-user copies… For a lower cost, you can get a flexible site license with a single serial key for your entire team.

Related Posts

• What’s in Adobe CS5.5 for Me? Ask a CS Evangelist
• Adobe CS5.5 FAQ – Customers’ Top Questions Answered
• Adobe CS6 Upgrade Policy Changes Postponed! CS3 & CS4 on Track
• Adobe Extends 20%-Off CS5.5 Upgrades Discount Offer to March
• Adobe’s New Upgrade Policy for CS6: What It Means for You [Poll]

[UPDATE (Jan. 2012) – Adobe extends another great offer:  Save 20% on CS5.5 upgrades!]

Adobe has launched a true barnburner of a deal, a “first” for owners of competitive software and also for owners of many versions of Adobe products who can now buy the latest CS5.5 release of Premiere Pro or the full Production Premium suite (Windows or Mac) for half-off their normal prices with coupon code, and the offer is available all over the world…

It’s officially targeted at video users and producers, but because the suite contains products like Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash Professional, Audition, and Flash Catalyst in addition to Premiere Pro* and After Effects* (see the full list of applications included), many could take advantage at these prices. For example, the normal price of Photoshop CS5 Extended is US$999, but with this special you get that plus an entire suite of 10 other products for US$849 total!

Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer customers can receive the 50% savings off the full versions of Premiere Pro CS5.5 or CS5.5 Production Premium – but you must use the promotion code linked here: SWITCH. If you need more convincing, see the Top 10 Reasons to Switch to Premiere Pro CS5.5 (now just $399), or learn why Adobe is offering this sale.

Owners of the any of the Adobe tools listed below are also eligible to receive the same price (50% off the full version) on the Production Premium suite, under a parallel offer…

• Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, or Master Collection
• Creative Suite 2 Premium or Standard
• Adobe Production Studio Premium or Standard
• Adobe Design Bundle (Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Flash Professional 8)
• Adobe Web Bundle (Creative Suite 2 Premium and Macromedia Studio 8)
• Adobe Video Bundle (Production Studio Premium and Macromedia Flash Professional 8)
• Macromedia Studio 8
• Adobe After Effects CS5.x, CS4, CS3, or 7.0 (Professional or Standard)
• Adobe Flash Professional CS5.x, Flash CS4 Professional or CS3 Professional, Macromedia Flash Professional 8, or Flash Basic 8
• Adobe Illustrator CS5.x, CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Adobe Photoshop CS5.x, CS4, or CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS5.x Extended, CS4 Extended, or CS3 Extended
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.x, CS4, CS3, or CS2
• Adobe Premiere

So if you have any of those, you qualify for the half-off deal.  If you own other Adobe versions (like the more recent CS5 or CS4 suites), you would pay even less than that with Adobe’s tiered upgrade pricing.

It’s pretty amazing – each customer is allowed to buy up to 9(!) full CS5.5 Production Premium suites at half price at the Adobe Online Store: just add what you want to your shopping cart together with the special coupon code SWITCH – and then you’ll see your price instantly cut in half.

Or, if you prefer, you can take advantage of the same deal at the Adobe Volume Store instead where you’ll get additional advantages – like multi-platform software, a single serial number for all computers, and more.

The discount offer is valid worldwide (US, UK, Europe, Australia, etc) but applies to English, French and German language versions of the software only, and is not valid for education versions of the products. This Video Switcher Program will end October 31, 2011.

See the complete terms and conditions of this remarkable limited-time promotion – which by the way is not due to the next release coming soon, as CS6 won’t be out until mid-2012.

* Note that the CS5.5 Production Premium suite contains both the CS5.5 and CS4 versions of After Effects and Premiere Pro for support of 32-bit systems including Microsoft Windows XP.

Related Posts

• Adobe Extends 20%-Off CS5.5 Upgrades Discount Offer to March
• Adobe Says No CS6 Upgrade Discounts from Older CS2, CS3, or CS4
• Get Your Upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 for 20% Less – Limited Promotion
• Adobe Coupon Code: Save 10% Sitewide in US, Canada, UK & Europe
• Adobe Plans CS5 “Mid-Cycle Release” (CS5.5?), Mulls Subscriptions