Earlier this month, Adobe announced that they would be holding a streaming webcast to officially introduce Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) to the public. Adobe calls CS4 its "biggest software release to date," but then, they claim that with every version (I think CS3 was its "largest release ever" or something to that effect).

Having had the opportunity to play around with some of the CS4 betas, I will say that the jump in magnitude from CS3 to CS4 is much more substantial than what we saw with CS2 to CS3. Performance is snappier and it is easier to complete tasks, but really, what makes CS4 a worthy upgrade is that the product line is much more integrated. The Macromedia acquisition came mid-release cycle, and while product integration wasn't a complete hack job -- they did a really good job with Flash -- Dreamweaver, Fireworks and suite integration with Flash was far from perfect.

Individual applications have all received a bevy of new features and innovations. Searching throughout a project or document for meta-data has been greatly enhanced, for instance. Adobe AIR has also been integrated across applications, meaning plugin developers can potentially take advantage of the AIR platform for easy in-program access to outside data (a la Adobe's Kuler app and its integration with Photoshop and Illustrator).

CS4 will be available in 64-bit builds for Windows users (Mac users have to wait until CS5 to get 64-bit Photoshop love), but both platform take advantage of GPU acceleration.

Like its predecessors, the 13 CS4 point releases can be purchased individually, or in one of six bundled suites: Design Standard CS4, Design Premium CS4, Web Standard CS4, Web Premium CS4, Production Premium CS4 and the Master Collection, which at $2499 US, pretty much gets you everything Adobe offers.

Unfortunately, the insanely complicated upgrade structure is still around too. Pricing starts at $599 for the Premium suite upgrades, but price depends on components owned, time purchased, etc., so check with your Adobe dealer or retailer for exact information.

Adobe stuff doesn't come cheap, but for those of us who rely on its products to do our creative work, the updates and new features in CS4 look to worth the price. CS4 will ship in October for Windows and OS X.

Looking for a conference to polish your year off? If you are a regular user of Adobe products like Photoshop, Flash and Illustrator, the Adobe MAX event could be for you. But you have to empty your pockets first.

Adobe MAX is an event targeted at Adobe users that aims to connect them with other users, discover what can be done with the applications, and inspire others to create. The conference will being an opportunity to meet other users and grab some sneak peaks at what's coming out of Adobe next. There will be training on Adobe's products and solutions, and networking events. Speakers for the North America event include Grant Skinner, Mike Chambers and Erik Natzke.

MAX will be held in North America, Europe and in Japan, and cost a fortune. $1,295 US for general attendance, so make sure your company will spot you. Students, there is an educational discount, but its only $200 off. A one day pass can be purchased for $595, which is still rather pricey.

• Chicago - September 30 to October 3 2007
• Barcelona, Spain - October 15-18 2007
• Tokyo, Japan - November 1-2

CS3 pricing is out, and it looks a bit high! Amazon might have let the cat out of the bag a little early when it comes to the not yet released Adobe CS3 applications. Officially CS3 is due out on March 27th, but Amazon accidentally flipped the switch to show the pricing of the newly designed creative suite a day earlier.

The pricing structure looks like this:

• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Web Premium - $1599
• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Master Collection - $2499
• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Production Premium - $1199
• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium - $1599

We know we weren't the only users grinding our teeth hoping that Adobe might bring the pricing down slightly, but that looks like that's out of the question for now.

DLS wants to know - If you are dishing out and buying into the new CS3, which version do you have your sights set on?

Check out a chart that displays what applications are bundled with which version in the new CS3 here.

[via Gizmodo]

The springtime is full of growth, and that's no exception for the creative software market. Adobe has just dropped the news that it will be announcing Adobe Creative Suite 3 March 27th, 2007 in New York City, with the full product shipping later in spring 2007.

If you can't be there on site, you can also tune into Adobe's live webcast where they will reveal all of the new features and configurations. Adobe says that this will be the largest software release in their 25 year history. Could this new CS3 include all of the recently acquired Macromedia products like Flash? It currently does carry Dreamweaver in the 2.3 Premium CS package. Now that would make for a slamming package! I don't want to see the price tag for that one.

During last week's Adobe Live event, Adobe announced that it would halt development of Freehand and GoLive, according to Macsimum News. The programs are the first to be axed since Adobe's acquisition of the company late last year. Their elimination is not unexpected, though, since the products overlapped Adobe's Illustrator and Macromedia's Dreamweaver, respectively. Though the programs' development will cease, Adobe intends to continue to support the products, and back in April the company released a Freehand to Illustrator migration guide (PDF).

[Image from Flash Insider]