Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium Upgrade Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a long-time fan of Adobe, and eagerly anticipated CS3. I hoped they would work out the many Macromedia bugs, but they managed to add a few of their own! And the promised product integration simply isn't there:
The Dreamweaver inteface is unchanged, except for renaming the Layers panel, and adding a new Objects tab. It won't correctly display interactivity in a SWF preview (the first click works; subsequent click are treated as a right-click, showing the FlashPlayer drop-down menu rather than the functionality in the SWF!)
Photoshop may be the reason most people upgrade, but its most touted new feature--non-destructive filters--is implemented very poorly. Rather than working like adjustment layers currently work, SmartFilters, as they are known, convert the underlying Photoshop layer into a SmartObject and places the SmartFilter on top. You CS2 users know that you can't edit a SmartObject in Photoshop--you have to go to the object's native application. So to edit the image under a SmartFilter, Photoshop opens it in a new document window (meaning you can't see its interaction with layers underneath as you edit it, and can't see how the various SmartFilters make the changed composition look until you save and return to the original document.
Flash was the reason I purchased this upgade: I was elated about importing layered PSDs and AI files. PSDs work great; AI files cause Flash to crash! (and Adobe tech support will not even respond)
Flash added a couple of new tools: shape primitives, which came from Macromedia Freehand: they allow you to easily edit the corner radius of a rectangle long after it's drawn--even editing each corner independently!
But do they offer a Primitive Star or Polygon tool like Freehand had (which allows you to edit the number of sides on stars and polygons)?
No.
Are the new Primitive Shape tools in Illustrator or Photoshop?
No.
Are the tear-off tool sets from Illustrator and ImageReady CS2 in Photoshop or InDesign CS3?
No.
Speaking of ImageReady, does it exist anymore?
No.
Can Photoshop CS3 open and edit multiple frames of an animated GIF?
No!(Don't delete ImageReady from your hard drive yet!)
Can you move the new collapsable tool panels onto your second monitor?
No.
Does Flash correctly auto-format ActionScript?
No.
Can you open an InDesign CS3 document in CS2 if no CS3 features were used (would be useful for all the non-early-adopters, such as printers receiving the jobs files)?
No.
Can you open a Flash CS3 .FLA with Flash 8, even if no CS3 features were used?
No.
Should you buy CS3?
No.
Not even at the academic price. It's a beta-version at best; wait for CS4.
UPDATE: A week later I'm STILL waiting for Adobe's reply, even after opening a second support case! It's like they outsourced their software development and support to Microsoft.

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Adobe CS3 Design Premium Mac Upgrade.Upgrade from Creative Suites Premium or Standard or Studio 8.

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