Adobe ships Acrobat 9, updates CS3 suite
Adobe on Wednedsay made available Acrobat 9, the latest version of its PDF creation and reading software, and also revamped its Creative Suite 3 bundle to include the new Acrobat edition.
As previewed late in May, the new suite is an evolutionary upgrade that makes standard features that were previously left to outside plugins and reworks existing features.
Adobe's biggest offerings are its format and collaboration tools. Version 9 now adds native support for Flash animations embedded into PDF files, a redesigned interface for packaging multiple PDFs now dubbed PDF Portfolios, and a beta online collaboration service at acrobat.com that lets workgroups view and edit PDFs online at the same time.
The refresh also lets owners of differing versions make scanned-in documents searchable, the ability to track when people complete and submit forms, and create geospatial-aware PDF-based maps.
The full Acrobat 9 software is available immediately in a Standard edition for $299 with a $99 upgrade price; a Pro edition at $449 adds the ability to validate PDF files to certain standards, convert files from AutoCAD and other formats to PDF, and embed either Flash or H.264 video clips. It can be purchased as an upgrade for $159.
A definitive Acrobat 9 Pro Extended version at $699 ($229 upgrade) bundles Adobe Presenter, which lets users edit PowerPoint presentations and translate them to PDF, allows more 3D and video conversion formats, and adds the map creation feature.
The unveiling of Acrobat 9 also brings the launch of Creative Suite 3.3, an upgraded version of the audiovisual editing package that now includes Acrobat 9 by default. Photoshop and other programs in the suite are unchanged from their respective versions released last year.
As previewed late in May, the new suite is an evolutionary upgrade that makes standard features that were previously left to outside plugins and reworks existing features.
Adobe's biggest offerings are its format and collaboration tools. Version 9 now adds native support for Flash animations embedded into PDF files, a redesigned interface for packaging multiple PDFs now dubbed PDF Portfolios, and a beta online collaboration service at acrobat.com that lets workgroups view and edit PDFs online at the same time.
The refresh also lets owners of differing versions make scanned-in documents searchable, the ability to track when people complete and submit forms, and create geospatial-aware PDF-based maps.
The full Acrobat 9 software is available immediately in a Standard edition for $299 with a $99 upgrade price; a Pro edition at $449 adds the ability to validate PDF files to certain standards, convert files from AutoCAD and other formats to PDF, and embed either Flash or H.264 video clips. It can be purchased as an upgrade for $159.
A definitive Acrobat 9 Pro Extended version at $699 ($229 upgrade) bundles Adobe Presenter, which lets users edit PowerPoint presentations and translate them to PDF, allows more 3D and video conversion formats, and adds the map creation feature.
The unveiling of Acrobat 9 also brings the launch of Creative Suite 3.3, an upgraded version of the audiovisual editing package that now includes Acrobat 9 by default. Photoshop and other programs in the suite are unchanged from their respective versions released last year.
Comments
Photoshop and other programs in the suite are unchanged from their respective versions released last year.
Other reports on this upgrade say that Fireworks will be added to the Design Premium package.
Not ME!
Here's one: Photoshop doesn't understand an 8-bit png with alpha channel, which is allowed in the Blu-ray specs. Funny, Pixelmator understands what's going on: $60. The Gimp understands it: $0. Not Photoshop. So Sonic will sell you a $1,000 plug-in that corrects this flaw.
It's incomprehensible to me that Photoshop, with its hefty retail price, cannot understand what the Gimp gets right for free, and anything that has Apple's Core Image also gets right.
Concentrate on quality, Adobe.
First of all, most of the Acrobat versions are Windows-only. I was really hoping for the Acrobat 9 Pro Extended version so I could put interactive and 3D content in these documents, but they had to exclude it from the Macintosh platform!
Secondly, all of the other updates are very minor. Nothing major about it at all!
What really ticks me off is that Adobe is a big business that thinks like a big business. I bet they were thinking, "We're the king of the crop! No one can stop us!", when they were creating this update. They bloat up the hardware and the subsequent advertisements to make it look like they have it all, but in the end their Creative Suites have to be over a grand. Those suites can do anything these smaller plugins can do!
Acrobat 9 is one of the many reasons I will never buy Adobe products again!
I don't get it. Why update CS3 now if CS4 is coming in October?
I thought this was annoying at first too, but then I read someone's post who pointed out that by being off cycle with the rest of CS, this gives the other programs time to write to the new Acrobat formats. Otherwise, you'd have those teams waiting for the Acrobat coders to finish. I think this is more efficient. :-)
Best,
Keith
I suppose the interface is just as stuffed up or even more so.