Adobe CS3 due in April

Adobe today announced the much-anticipated release of its Creative Suite 3 product line. As the largest release in Adobe’s history, the rollout features six all-new configurations of Adobe Creative Suite 3– Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Design Standard editions; Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Web Standard editions; and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium. Finally, the company also announced Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, which combines all of Adobe’s new design and development applications in a single box. Adobe Creative Suite 3 offers design and development tools for virtually every creative workflow and combines the Adobe and Macromedia product lines to offer tools for print, web, mobile, interactive, film, and video production. Photoshop CS3, InDesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, and Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 will all be all Universal Binary applications for native performance on PowerPC and Intel-based Macs; they are scheduled to ship in April.

"Creative Suite 3 is the biggest launch in Adobe's 25 year history and a milestone for the creative industry," said Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer at Adobe. "This release reflects the powerful integration between Adobe and Macromedia and how our products bridge the gap between designers and developers. With new workflows that streamline collaboration and impact the development of rich content, designers and developers now have the creative license to engage audiences across virtually every medium."

Customers can choose from six all-new suites or full version upgrades of 13 stand-alone applications, including Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, InDesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, and After Effects CS3.

Each edition of Adobe Creative Suite 3 integrates different configurations of Adobe's creative products to serve a breadth of design needs:

• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium offers tools for print, web, interactive and mobile design; it includes InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Illustrator CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, and Acrobat 8 Professional.


• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard focuses on professional print design and production; it includes InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, and Acrobat 8 Professional.


• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium combines the leading web design and development tools. It includes Dreamweaver CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Fireworks CS3, Illustrator CS3, Acrobat 8 Professional.


• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Standard serves the professional web developer; it includes Dreamweaver CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Fireworks CS3, and Contribute CS3.


• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium is a complete post-production solution for video professionals; it includes After Effects CS3 Professional, Premiere Pro CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Flash CS3 Professional, Illustrator CS3, Soundbooth CS3, and Encore CS3 (some are Windows only).


• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection combines 12 new creative applications in one box, enabling customers to design across all media—print, web, interactive, mobile, video and film.

In addition, a new common suite component, Adobe Device Central is designed to boost productivity while developing content for mobile handsets. Other shared features across the product line included an updated version of Adobe Bridge CS3, the hub of Adobe Creative Suite, providing instant access to Version Cue CS3, Acrobat Connect, and an expanded Adobe Stock Photos service.

To celebrate the unveiling of Adobe Creative Suite 3, Adobe will host a launch event in New York City that will be webcast live on March 27 at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium ($1,799) and Standard ($1,199), and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium ($1,599) and Standard ($999) will begin shipping in April 2007, while Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium ($1,699) and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection ($2,499) for Mac OS X (Intel-only) will begin shipping worldwide in the third quarter of 2007.

by MacNN Staff