Posted by Patrick Nixon on October 19, 2011 at 9:16 PM
Does anyone know when Adobe will release Photoshop CS6?
I am using CS2 now, was going to upgrade to CS5. But
if CS6 will arrive soon, I will wait to upgrade.
It will be interesting to see whether Adobe allows upgrades
to CS6 from CS2 for the same price as from CS2 to CS5.
Or whether Adobe will again be greedy.
But photoshop is miles ahead of anything else on the market.
No idea about cs6...they usually work in 2 to 3 year cycles so cs6 should be just around the corner...
Posted by Buck Ward on October 19, 2011 at 10:05 PM
You may not be able to upgrade. I had PS6.0 and could have upgraded to CS2, but I waited for CS3 and lost the privilege of upgrading. I had to pay full price.
Posted by David Bostedo on October 19, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Adobe has been fairly consistent with releases - about every 18 months.(See this Wikipedia page) That means that CS6 should be out soon if they hold to that schedule. The beta testing apparently started this summer.
If you can't upgrade, the best way to get CSX is to buy Photoshop Elements, and use this link to upgrade from Elements to the full CS for $299. Presumably it will work when CS6 comes out.
For CS5, you could upgrade from CS2, 3, or 4. If they slide both of those up 1, you won't be able to upgrade from CS2 to CS6. I have no idea if this will be the case, but something to keep in mind.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on October 20, 2011 at 5:44 PM
I'm fairly sure that Adobe has changed their upgrade policy to go only three versions back. You need CS2 or later to get CS5 and will need CS3 to get to CS6 along an upgrade path.
Posted by Patrick Nixon on October 20, 2011 at 8:59 PM
Yes, you are dead right. I found the 3 version policy on Adobe's website. Today, muttering under my breath, I ordered the upgrade from CS2 to CS5. Hopefully, the cost to upgrade to CS6 -- IF that upgrade is worth the price -- will not be too high.
I can't help but feel that Adobe has priced Photoshop way too high -- far higher than other computer programs of comparable complexity. For those who are not entitled to an educational discount or who cannot write the program off as a business expense, the price (original + upgrade) is way too high. For the advanced amateur still photographer, I can't help but wonder whether CS5 is as far as one needs to go.
Posted by David Bostedo on October 20, 2011 at 11:20 PM
I can't help but feel that Adobe has priced Photoshop way too high -- far higher than other computer programs of comparable complexity.
Technically, the price has very little to do with complexity, or the cost of development. Those only help set the absolute minimum price that Adobe could possibly charge. In reality, they try to charge the amount that generates the most revenue.
For instance, if they priced it at a billion dollars, and knew they'd get at least one buyer, that would be their best option. There's no consideration of "fair" or "reasonable". I see that kind of complaint quite often, and simply put, it would be a bad way to run a business. It CAN come into play if the good will of lower prices generates even more sales than they would have gotten, but I don't think we have that example here.
You might see that example in the student pricing though. Most companies give student discounts not to be nice, but instead to get young people using their software, generate a good impression with them, and hopefully become full priced buyers later on.
Just buy that latest and then upgrade every two years or so at a reasonable cost. If you use it often, it's a good deal.
Posted by Gary Yeoh on October 23, 2011 at 3:28 AM
Was chatting with a fellow photog at the park today and he mentioned that CS6 beta is available for download since June. If you googled cs6 beta you will find places where you can download.
Be careful where you download beta software. I would only download from Adobe's official beta site.
Additionally, if you decide to try the CS6 beta, you should seriously consider running it in a virtual machine, or better, on a computer that does not have any version of PS installed on it.
On another note: I really love the upgrade mill. It's just so much fun to watch my wallet bleed.
--P
Posted by Patrick Nixon on October 23, 2011 at 2:34 PM
I was able to upgrade from CS2 to CS5 for $159. What the price will be to upgrade from CS5 to CS6 (or whether the difference will be worth the cost) or whether upgrade from PS Elements to CS6 will be allowed (especially at the same cost as from CS5 to CS6), remains to be seen.
I normally decline to use any beta software, or for that matter even newly issued software. I prefer to wait until al the bugs are discovered and worked out.
As to price, the hard fact is that software manufacturers (and auto manufacturers, the industry in which I spent my life) normally price at "whatever the market will bear" -- or at least that is the dominant consideration in determining sale price. Characteristics of the product have little to do with price. I continue to believe that PS, though powerful, is greatly overpriced for what it does. There used to be other programs that did most of what PS does at much lower price. "Market forces" have weeded them out. There is little competition for PS. That allows Adobe to keep the price high (to at least those to whom they do not want to offer discounts). I'm pretty politically conservative and a strong advocate of capitalism. But true capitalism includes robust competition, which is absent here. Sie la vie (that's life)!
Posted by Paul DeCesare on November 1, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Patrick, you did the BEST option, getting onto CS5 for that price. CS5 has so many great improvements it beats the previous 2 versions by a mile. I got an email from Adobe regarding CS6 a few days ago, we won't see it RTP'd until Spring 2012. As far as the Beta version, it is very difficult tp get onto the official Adobe beta testing list, they don't generally make it available for public download, so when you see downloads like that you'd better be careful of what you're downloading! If PS was a public download for Beta, I dare say that tens of thousands of us would be running the latest beta version and dealing with the bugs, lol.
Anyhoo, for $159 you just got best bang for the buck. Enjoy! Here's a good review of the Top 5 CS5 features.
Posted by Patrick Nixon on November 1, 2011 at 5:23 PM
Yes, I am quite happy with CS5. Still exploring it. Clearly MUCH better than CS2!
Earlier, I criticized Adobe strongly -- perhaps too strongly. I still believe that
"what the market will bear" dominates the price. But it is also undeniably
true that PS CS5 is the most powerful product in the market.
Posted by Andy Richards on December 7, 2011 at 10:14 PM
Folks: it is my understanding that Adobe has announced that starting with CS6 you will not be able to upgrade from any version older than CS5 (and, presumably, will only be able to upgrade from previous versions in the future). Comparing Adobe to other major software providers out there, I have a hard time characterizing them as greedy.
Discussion
13 repliesI am using CS2 now, was going to upgrade to CS5. But
if CS6 will arrive soon, I will wait to upgrade.
It will be interesting to see whether Adobe allows upgrades
to CS6 from CS2 for the same price as from CS2 to CS5.
Or whether Adobe will again be greedy.
But photoshop is miles ahead of anything else on the market.
No idea about cs6...they usually work in 2 to 3 year cycles so cs6 should be just around the corner...
If you can't upgrade, the best way to get CSX is to buy Photoshop Elements, and use this link to upgrade from Elements to the full CS for $299. Presumably it will work when CS6 comes out.
For CS5, you could upgrade from CS2, 3, or 4. If they slide both of those up 1, you won't be able to upgrade from CS2 to CS6. I have no idea if this will be the case, but something to keep in mind.
I can't help but feel that Adobe has priced Photoshop way too high -- far higher than other computer programs of comparable complexity. For those who are not entitled to an educational discount or who cannot write the program off as a business expense, the price (original + upgrade) is way too high. For the advanced amateur still photographer, I can't help but wonder whether CS5 is as far as one needs to go.
Technically, the price has very little to do with complexity, or the cost of development. Those only help set the absolute minimum price that Adobe could possibly charge. In reality, they try to charge the amount that generates the most revenue.
For instance, if they priced it at a billion dollars, and knew they'd get at least one buyer, that would be their best option. There's no consideration of "fair" or "reasonable". I see that kind of complaint quite often, and simply put, it would be a bad way to run a business. It CAN come into play if the good will of lower prices generates even more sales than they would have gotten, but I don't think we have that example here.
You might see that example in the student pricing though. Most companies give student discounts not to be nice, but instead to get young people using their software, generate a good impression with them, and hopefully become full priced buyers later on.
Additionally, if you decide to try the CS6 beta, you should seriously consider running it in a virtual machine, or better, on a computer that does not have any version of PS installed on it.
On another note: I really love the upgrade mill. It's just so much fun to watch my wallet bleed.
--P
I normally decline to use any beta software, or for that matter even newly issued software. I prefer to wait until al the bugs are discovered and worked out.
As to price, the hard fact is that software manufacturers (and auto manufacturers, the industry in which I spent my life) normally price at "whatever the market will bear" -- or at least that is the dominant consideration in determining sale price. Characteristics of the product have little to do with price. I continue to believe that PS, though powerful, is greatly overpriced for what it does. There used to be other programs that did most of what PS does at much lower price. "Market forces" have weeded them out. There is little competition for PS. That allows Adobe to keep the price high (to at least those to whom they do not want to offer discounts). I'm pretty politically conservative and a strong advocate of capitalism. But true capitalism includes robust competition, which is absent here. Sie la vie (that's life)!
Anyhoo, for $159 you just got best bang for the buck. Enjoy! Here's a good review of the Top 5 CS5 features.
Earlier, I criticized Adobe strongly -- perhaps too strongly. I still believe that
"what the market will bear" dominates the price. But it is also undeniably
true that PS CS5 is the most powerful product in the market.