[X4U] Mac versus Windows

[Zane H. Healy]

On Tue, 14 Apr 2009, zapcat wrote:

> I have several friends and clients who are not upgrading. Not a scientific 
> market analysis, but, judging from reports that CS4 sales were 
> "disappointing," I'd say there's a sizable crowd not forking over for this 
> expensive bug fest.

I assume the lack of CS4 sales can be partially attributed to the lack of
64-bit support on Mac OS X.  As near as I can tell, that is the primary
feature in CS4, and it is missing on the Mac version.  We should have 64-bit
support in CS5, and at that point I'll upgrade (as long as I can afford it). 
Note, I realize that Apple is largely to blame for the lack of 64-bit
support on the Mac, since they dropped plans to update for 64-bit a core
piece that Adobe depended on.

> One thing is certain: I *will not* sink $1700 into adobe's collection of 
> apps, especially after having seen first-hand and on a daily basis how lousy 
> it is. I remember when Adobe made truly great software, and there was none of 
> this lack of backward-compatiblity malarkey...

My copy of CS3 Premium started life as a version of Photoshop I paid $15 for
back in early '97.  I'd have never paid $1700 for it.  At the same time I'm
quite happy with CS3 Premium, and would have purchased CS4 Premium if not
for the lack of 64-bit support.

Thanks to my digital photography I do have certain requirements tied to
Adobe Camera RAW.  CS3 supports my current camera, and mostly works with
Adobe Lightroom 2, so I don't *HAVE* to upgrade to CS4.  Still as I said,
I'd like to be able to upgrade Photoshop more often than CS Premium.

Zane