Adobe Creative Suite 3: Adobe’s Best Upgrade Yet?

We review Adobe’s latest update to the Creative Suite and ask: could this be Adobe’s best upgrade yet? The review covers Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Contribute, and more — while also addressing the question of whether such expensive software has a place in the small business environment.

This is Adobe’s first update to the Creative Suite since acquiring Macromedia in late 2005, so some of the individual components have changed: gone are GoLive and ImageReady, with Dreamweaver and Fireworks replacing them. Contribute and Flash also make their first appearances under the Adobe flag, while familiar Adobe products Photoshop and Illustrator both receive worthwhile updates. Changes to Acrobat Professional are less inspiring, while a few bits of naughty behaviour on the part of the Adobe software are downright annoying. All told, however, this is a very solid update that has much to recommend it.

Our review takes a look at each of the major components, starting with Dreamweaver, and also addresses the question of whether such expensive software deserves a role in a small business environment. Adobe has segmented the market with several different editions of the Creative Suite, with the most expensive weighing in at over two thousand pounds and the least expensive still hitting over 800. Is it worth it?

Read the rest of the review and decide for yourself!

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