Today Adobe Announces Version CS5.5. One year after opening sales on CS5, Adobe has announced a new paid version of their Adobe Creative Suite products. Version 5.5 includes upgrades to Acrobat (an upgrade which was announced earlier in the year, and for which many people have already paid separately), InDesign, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Premiere, After Effects, Audition, Device Central and Media Encoder.
This paid upgrade offers many enhancements in it’s upgraded programs, and is focused on creation and delivery of media for the variety of devices (iPad, iPhone, etc) that are currently on the market.
As part of the Adobe Certified Community, Adobe has asked that I promote this upgrade, enthusiastically. And, for what it is, I do feel that it’s a very fine set of products, and for those of you who haven’t yet upgraded to CS5, this is an excellent upgrade. However, it is my opinion that those of us who have already forked out the cash for the CS5 upgrade, with no prior warning of Adobe changing their upgrade schedule or upgrade path, this is a hardship for private clients, small business clients, and corporate clients, and I can not give this the hearty endorsement Adobe requests. Please watch this space for additional editorial comments on this subject in the upcoming weeks and months.
For those of us who purchased Version CS5, there are no actual price breaks – this is being treated as a completely new version of the Creative Suite products, with pricing as listed for any new release, although a great many of the applications included are no further upgrade than the original CS5 versions (untouched versions include Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Contribute, Encore, and Bridge).
Adobe still offers regular purchase pricing, and upgrade pricing, but they’ve also instituted a “CS Subscriptions Pay As You Go” monthly subscription update plan. Prices for these plans range from $65/month to $195/month, depending on your CS package, and whether you commit on a per month, or annual basis.
For more information, please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html