I’m going to go ahead and be upfront about my pet-peeves. It’s confusing having Premium and Standard versions with different product mixes- and then two different versions of Photoshop. It feels like the mish-mash that makes up the various Microsoft Vista product line. Oh I understand – some people don’t need certain features. My wife suggests that Adobe sell each product individually and add discounts as you add in more then one product, thus the end user gets to chose what exactly they need and yet still get a “volume” discount. However that would effect packaging and shipping. But its still a more consumer-friendly approach in my view then the Adobe Design (standard or premium), Adobe Web (standard or premium), or Adobe Production (standard or premium) Creative Suites where Adobe decides which product mix you need. And then to top the whole shebang off they have the “Master Collection.” – which pretty much has everything and the kitchen sink. For a nice $2,500 dollars, non-upgrade price. I have a hunch that this will be the highest selling version of CS3. It just simplifies matters and hey, if you’re going to be spending serious money on software, why not drop a bit more and get everything? But all my grumbling aside I will probably be getting CS3 (in some form) in the next six months. Why? Because I skipped CS2 and believe me, selecting multiple layers in Photoshop without having to link them is down-right a killer feature that I really miss on my home machine…
Spring
Winter is now officially over. Spring has sprung. Rain and thunderstorms mark the coming of warmer weather. Michigan begins to turn green. And my work has taken off at MPHI with much acclaim from both internal and external clients. And I can’t tell you how cool it is to create work that actually matters – like designing the look and feel to a website that connects users to vital information about genetic resources. It’s design that actually improves lives.
Enjoying…
Despite the winter weather (yeah Michigan!) there’s much to enjoy. If you haven’t yet discovered it, try out the CBC Radio 3’s fabulous podcast. This last podcast has introduced me to a group that I’m enjoying and seriously considering adding to my collection: the Chucky Danger band. They have a decent unpretentious site too. Chucky Danger Band
I like their layered pop sound as heard on the tracks titled “Beautiful One” and “Marching Machine”. And they perform in suits! Classy. They have nice tunes and I like their sound.