Some students and staff members may have noticed that Lethbridge College has upgraded their Adobe software from Creative Suite 3 (CS3) to CS4, and also may have wondered why the college decided to upgrade so quickly, and what the real benefits of CS4 are.

The simple answers for upgrading seem to be competition and the college’s contract with Adobe. When prospective students are considering whether to apply for a course, seeing that the college offers the most up-to-date software may be enticing enough for them to apply at Lethbridge College instead of somewhere else.

“You have the latest and the greatest industry standard software–which looks good from a college marketing perspective (for students and employers). It could be seen as a reason for the student to choose our program–don’t ever doubt that we are in a competition for student dollars in the education world,” said Gavin Brinsmead, who manages the computers for the third floor in the TE Wing.

Since the college buys their computer and software in bulk, they get a big discount. Within their contract with Adobe, if a new version of software is released, the college can upgrade almost immediately at small cost.

“We have a maintenance contract with Adobe–that is, once a product is purchased, we pay a sum of money to keep it current for the duration of the contract and renew whenever it expires. This way, when a new version comes out we don’t have to purchase a “new” license each time,” said Brinsmead.

This begs the question, what’s the real difference between Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Creative Suite 4? They both have the same programs (Photoshop, InDesign, etc), but CS4 builds on the features from feedback received from CS3.

According to CNET.com, “Adobe aimed to improve the options for making round trips among the applications without rebuilding content, [and] there’s greater integration from one application to the next, with support for the latest formats for web sites and mobile phones.”

CNET also mentions that Adobe has streamlined the interfaces (the way they look) across all the CS4 programs.

In regards to the individual programs. Online reviews say some programs are worth the upgrade while others are not. CNET says there isn’t enough compelling about Photoshop to warrant an upgrade, aside from its ability to now work with 3D content. However, Illustrator finally manages multipage documents, and so does InDesign by using tabs (much like a web browser).

According to Photoshopcafe.com’s review, “InDesign CS4 offers a few cool features for those of us who place a lot of images. First, the Links panel has been given a ground-up redesign, and it’s just so much better, [with its] arrangeable columns like a spreadsheet or database.”

Another awesome feature of InDesign CS4 is it now has Smart Guides that show up whenever you drag or resize an item. As Photoshopcafe.com explains, “you can drag one frame below another and quickly align it to the left, center, or right side of the frame above it based on the smart guides that appear. Or, you can drag one frame between two others until the smart distribution guides indicate that there is equal space among all three objects. Very smooth, very powerful.”

CS4 is for the serious professional, and requires some hefty hardware to run, including at least 2GB of RAM, a processor of at least 2Ghz, and if you’re running the Master Collection, at least 26GB of free space. Yes, you read that right. As for software, Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Windows XP SP2 or Vista is needed.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:46:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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