Photoshop CS Upgrades

JJ
Posted By
Josh Johnston
Sep 29, 2003
Views
2029
Replies
39
Status
Closed
Hey all,

I just ordered upgrades to Photoshop 7 on Thursday, Sept. 25th, and now the announcement for Photoshop CS has dropped, so I was wondering if any one knows if Adobe will be ofering free or reduced prices for upgrading to CS for those who made a purchase so close the release of the new version. I have scoured the web-site but haven’t found any mention of it. I’d hate to have to return my Photoshop 7 upgrades just to re-order CS.

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RO
Robert Oliver
Sep 29, 2003
Adobe will offer a free upgrade to Photoshop CS to anyone who purchases Photoshop 7 on or after September 29th (the official announcement of Photoshop CS), but not earlier. This has been standard policy for years.
BC
bart.cross
Sep 29, 2003
You were warned!!!!!!!!!!!
DM
dave milbut
Sep 29, 2003
cancel your order or return it unopened.
B
bliss66
Sep 29, 2003
"Josh Johnston" wrote in message
Hey all,

I’d hate to have to return my Photoshop 7 upgrades just to re-order CS.

Why would you want to go through the pain of installing and configuring Photoshop twice in two months? Return it.

sb
MS
McRoberts, Shane
Sep 30, 2003
I’m in the same boat, except I’ve already installed and registered my recently purchased 7.0. I had planned to purchase Camera Raw, but held off and it was a good thing because contrary to what the Adobe rep told me on the phone it didn’t support my camera.

"This has been standard policy for years."

Then they should make that clear on their site. I’m a new customer so I’m not familiar with their historical policies.
RH
r_harvey
Sep 30, 2003
If you have an earlier version, you can upgrade to 7 now, then you have until December 28 to get Photoshop CS for the price of shipping (about $15). I called about going from Illustrator 9 to 10, to CS, so the story should be the same.

They confirmed that if you have CS for Windows, and you decide to jump ship to Macintosh, you can do it for shipping cost–as long as you promise to destroy the Windows disc (a simple private ceremony will do).
SL
Sondra_Lowell
Oct 1, 2003
It hasn’t been Adobe’s policy for years to give free upgrades only from the date of the announcement in my experience. Two years ago I got the Illustrator upgrade free because I bought the earlier version within 30 days before the announcement. In fact, I think the first person I spoke to at Adobe said I didn’t qualify, and when I called back for more information, the next person said I did. It cost $6 for postage at that time. It’s worth a free call to Adobe to find out.
RH
r_harvey
Oct 1, 2003
800-833-6687 General questions about Adobe products
888-724-4508 Adobe Store
800-492-3623 Photoshop/Elements Support
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 1, 2003
Just curious. Is there an upgrade path from Photoshop Elements to Photoshop CS?
W
wes
Oct 1, 2003
From what I read on the Adobe site, no.
RL
Robert_Levine
Oct 1, 2003
I think there is but you’d have to call Adobe. It’s probably somewhere between the full price and the upgrade price.

Bob
JJ
Josh_Johnston
Oct 2, 2003
Could you point me to a link on the web-site to verify this?

Thanks,
Josh
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 2, 2003
call adobe. it’s toll free. there is no link afaik.
BM
Bran_MacEachaidh
Oct 2, 2003
Just curious. Is there an upgrade path from Photoshop Elements to Photoshop CS?

There certainly *isn’t* here in Australia (I was told by an Adobe customer service person that they are considered to be separate products !), but I reckon it’d be worth the phonecall to Adobe to see what you can do.

I can echo Sondra’s experience of being told one thing definitively by one Adobe person, only to then hear someone else from the company say something completely contrary. Keep asking, I say.

Bran
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 2, 2003
Thanks Bran. Good info. Bad decision, but good info.
JJ
Josh_Johnston
Oct 6, 2003
Ok, I called Adobe customer services and was told that there would be no problem upgrading to CS even though I purchased PS7 before the announcement of CS. I’m not certain of the cutoff dates, but for my purposes they said "No problem"
RL
Robert_Levine
Oct 6, 2003
No problem upgrading or no problem upgrading for free?

Bob
JJ
Josh_Johnston
Oct 6, 2003
No problem upgrading for free. I’ll only pay the costs of shipping.
DM
Don_McCahill
Oct 6, 2003
Way to go Josh. And way to go Adobe.
AM
Anthony_M
Oct 6, 2003
Yep! Me too! Can’t go wrong for shipping and handling! Thanks Adobe!
TS
Tim_Spragens
Oct 6, 2003
So their "warm fuzzy" account increases a bit, while it seemed like they were blowing the lot!
JM
John_M_Dean
Oct 6, 2003
I pre-ordered Adobes Digital Video Collection Professional in July, it shipped to me on 8/26/03. Now, just a month later they release Photoshop CS. I contacted Adobe and was told I ordered to early, and was out of the grace period for the upgrade. Did no one at Adobe know that a new version of Photoshop was going to be available a month after their new Digital Video Collection shipped??? Or just a way of getting an extra $170.00 for the upgrade???
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 6, 2003
John, same thing happened to me when I bought the Dynamic Media collection. Within about 6 weeks Premire (and I think Ill.) were updated. Nothing you can do. I was pretty pissed at the time, but you got to make the cutoff stick somewhere.
DM
Don_McCahill
Oct 6, 2003
John

There is always going to be someone who ordered "the day before" any time limit given on an update. If Adobe didn’t set a firm date, they would be giving free updates to everyone.

As for why no one told you about an upcoming update, Adobe tends to fire employees who do that (probably … I know they don’t like it). During the summer all the employees here refused to comment on any updates, even though we all knew one was coming soon.

It is a pity you didn’t visit this forum before you ordered. There was a lot of talk about upgrades, and much wagering on when an announcement would be made (who one the forum pool, by the way). Had you seen all that, you might have held off your upgrade, as I did. I ordered Design Collection the day after the announcement was made.
BO
Burton_Ogden
Nov 1, 2003
Don,

There is always going to be someone who ordered "the day before" any time limit given on an update. If Adobe didn’t set a firm date, they would be giving free updates to everyone.

Actually there is a simple way to avoid this "one day catastrophe" with free/not-free upgrades, and that is to have a transition period with a graduated upgrade price throughout that period. To keep the math simple, let’s say the upgrade price is $160 and the transition period is 40 days. $160 spread over 40 days is $4 per day. If you happened to buy PS7 the day before the transition period begins, you pay the full $160 to upgrade to PS8. If you buy PS7 on the first day of the period, you upgrade to PS8 for $160 – $4 or $154. The price goes down by $4 per day throughout the transition period until the 40th day at which time the upgrade price from PS7 to PS8 is free.

Such a transition period prevents the situation in which one person gets a free upgrade while another person who purchased only one day before pays the full upgrade price. The math of the transition period is not rocket science, and software companies could avoid a lot of hard feelings by implementing such a transition upgrade policy. My opinion.

— Burton —
DM
Don_McCahill
Nov 1, 2003
Burton

I suspect that the managers at Adobe would shudder at the ide of having 40 additional prices, and 40 additional SKUs, database entries, etc., on every product.

In theory it is a great idea, but one that I suspect few corporate cultures could embrace. Smaller companies should definitely take it up, though.
JR
Jon_Robinson
Nov 3, 2003
Will Photoshop CS work with Pentium II’s? — I currently have a dual Pentium II system but will upgrade the computer in the next year.

On their system requirements section they only mention Pentium III’s and Pentium 4’s.

Will Photoshop CS work with the 32 bit AMD processors or the new 64 bit AMD processors?
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 3, 2003
Will Photoshop CS work with Pentium II’s?

Someone’s gotta be the first to try. go for it! 🙂 Someone here (regular) runs ps 7 on a dual pent. ii setup, even though not officially supported.

Will Photoshop CS work with the 32 bit AMD processors or the new 64 bit AMD processors?

I’ve heard the adobe engineers say yes to this.

The one requirement you can’t get around is that it will only run on xp or 2k. No win 9x or me systems. by forced programming design.
BO
Burton_Ogden
Nov 3, 2003
Don,

I suspect that the managers at Adobe would shudder at the idea of having 40 additional prices, and 40 additional SKUs, database entries, etc., on every product.

I am sure they wouldn’t want to have 40 additional SKUs but I don’t think that would be necessary. The product packaging and barcodes could remain the same. No additional database entries would be required because the date of purchase is already entered. That date of purchase would simply be used to calculate the price. It would be no more a challenge than calculating different shipping charges for different speeds of delivery.

Or, if having different prices is a problem, a graduated rebate could be calculated to have the same net effect. As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Adobe has some smart people and, if they wanted to, they could figure out how to implement a graduated upgrade in a practical way. The managers might "shudder" at first, but when they realize how easily this could be implemented and how much good will it would buy for Adobe they could see this as a win/win marketing policy.

In theory it is a great idea, but one that I suspect few corporate cultures could embrace. Smaller companies should definitely take it up, though.

Your point about corporate cultures is well taken. In a perfect world that would not be the case, but we know this is not a perfect world. But hopefully the benefits of graduated upgrade prices can become apparent even within corporate cultures. Anyone who has missed an upgrade cutoff date by just a little knows how that bad taste in the mouth can linger. Unnecessary ill will toward a company is just bad business. Even corporate cultures should appreciate that. And I don’t think Dilbert works for Adobe.

— Burton —
RL
Robert_Larsen
Nov 3, 2003
Burton/Don,

Both your points are very valid and well put, but I would like to point out another "method" that I tend to use when dealing with upgrades: simply upgrade to a new major version as soon as (or shortly after) it is available rather than towards the end of that version’s lifetime.

This is what I’ve done with Photoshop from v5.5 (now CS), Premiere from v5.1 (now Pro), After Effects PB from v5.0 (now 6.0 Pro), Illustrator from v10 (now CS) and GoLive from v6 (now CS), and I’ve never had the pain of buying an upgrade just before the free upgrade cut-off for a new version.

I know that this can be an expensive way of doing things, especially when you have quite a number of Adobe products like I’ve got, but you could also skip upgrading every time and just go for every second upgrade that comes along (i.e. in my case I would have gone from Photoshop v5.5 to v7 and I would now skip CS and wait for CS v2 or whatever it’s going to be called).

I prefer to upgrade with every version so that I can be sure to keep up-to-date with developments, but hey, that’s just me! 😉

Rob.
DM
Don_McCahill
Nov 3, 2003
Rob

Different strokes …

I skipped PS7 entirely (well, not really, since I just got it in the Design Collection I bought, but that was purchased entirely to get a free upgrade to CS).

I have been back at university as a mature student for the past year and a bit, and the cost and need for PS 7 were not what they would have been if I was working.

I did upgrade, but waited until CS was announced so I could get it for free. I wanted to get into all these cool programs before my use of educational pricing ends.
GH
Grass_Hopper
Nov 3, 2003
another "method" that I tend to use when dealing with upgrades: simply upgrade to a new major version as soon as (or shortly after) it is available rather than towards the end of that version’s lifetime.

There seems to be an assumption that a new buyer would be aware when the recent version was announced and the next version was due to come out. If someone was new to the Adobe products, they might have no idea what the cycle time was and could easily end up buying a product that is near the end of it’s life.

Once you own the product, you might have a little more "inside" information as to the cycles, but certainly not a first time buyer with very specific needs to buy right then and there.
RL
Robert_Larsen
Nov 3, 2003
Don – definately make use of that educational discount while you can! 😉

Wish I could have done so as well, but can’t really complain as I’m lucky enough to work in the IT/internet sector and get paid reasonably well.
RL
Robert_Larsen
Nov 3, 2003
Grass Hopper,

Yes, I agree with you – I was actually going to mention that my "method" doesn’t work for first-time buyers, but I got distracted while writing my post so I forgot about it.

So, once you’re on the ladder, so to speak, it’s easy enough to keep up-to-date with each major release (or every other one, if that suits one better).

Rob.
SW
Skot_Weidemann
Nov 3, 2003
I just got my new Photoshop CS disks & happily installed on my main studio computer & the "slave computer" I have hooked up to my Epson printer. Today I’m trying to install it on my laptop (always in the van for location work) and have intentions to install on my home computer as well (just like I have done with Photoshop 7), BUT the registration procedure was denied because I didn’t read the fine print that a single copy can only legally be installed on one desktop and one laptop. I’ve already run out in installs and cannot use it on the other computers for more than 30 days without either buying another upgrade copy or a "volume" license. I called Adobe and initially the phone rep seemed to want to accomodate me so I could install on the other computers, but (after being put on hold for some consultation with the others) I was told I need a volume license which was only available from resellers. At this point, I have found no resellers with a volume license. I fully intent to activate my other computers but can’t do it without the license.

My assumption is I can order another upgrade copy (with new license number for 2 more computers) or wait until some "reseller" has a volume license available. I don’t know why Adobe can’t get me a multiple license, since I did get the upgrade from ADOBE Direct.
CS
Carol_Steele
Nov 3, 2003
My assumption is I can order another upgrade copy<

I don’t think that will work as the activation is also tied in with the serial number and you will have the same serial number if you are simply purchasing an upgrade version. You need either a new (i.e. full priced version) or the multi seat licence.



Carol
(Posted from the UK)
W
wes
Nov 3, 2003
How can that be. Doesn’t each upgrade come with its own S/N? When I upgraded from PS 7, all I had to do was put the serial number in from the CD cover and all worked fine. What happens when a new upgrade comes along?
JR
Jon_Robinson
Nov 4, 2003
I am running Windows 2000 — a necessity if one wants to use both processors on a dual Pentium II machine.

I think I will wait awhile. With Adobie’s new activation policy, it sounds like it would be a headache to try and move to a completely new machine. Since I am planning on upgrading my hardware within the next year it makes sense to wait.
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 4, 2003
Upgrading of machines every so often is taken into account in the activation scheme. If you ever run into trouble (not likely unless you change machines every month), a phone call can fix it.

-Scott

wrote in message
I am running Windows 2000 — a necessity if one wants to use both
processors on a dual Pentium II machine.
I think I will wait awhile. With Adobie’s new activation policy, it sounds
like it would be a headache to try and move to a completely new machine. Since I am planning on upgrading my hardware within the next year it makes sense to wait.

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