Adobe CS3 – The Costs

September 15, 2007 in Tools by Vyoma | 2 comments

A few days back, FreelanceSwitch.com had put up a rather indepth review of Adobe CS3 suite. And here is a quote that is tucked rather at the bottom:

Available direct from Adobe, the retail price for Web and Design Premium is $1599 USD and $1799 USD respectively. Upgrades from prior versions come in at $399 USD and $599 USD. Are you a student or teacher? Hold on to your hats: $499 USD and $599 USD for the full versions.

$1600-$1800 is rather a large amount. It makes it a rather difficult barrier for enthusiasts to use the software.

Were the price more moderate, many would be able to get into the world of digital art. As Rico at Contract Worker, puts it:

But, imagine the explosion of creativity and new talent—and a greatly increased profit for Adobe—if their pricing point was lower. More people would buy a copy! And there’d be more opportunities for budding freelancers to maximize their creativity, since they’ll have easier access to the tools the top people use.

I can not agree with him more. It does leave us to explore open source alternatives, and if few features get added to them that it lacks presently – Adobe could be in trouble and might have to face a fragmented market.

  1. Rico’s avatar

    Rico on September 17, 2007 at 3:33 pm

    Well, Adobe facing a fragmented market depends on how much the open-source alternatives improve. You can’t doubt the versatility of Adobe’s offerings.

    Reply

  2. Vyoma’s avatar

    Vyoma on September 17, 2007 at 5:52 pm

    Yes – it all seems to pivot on a set of key features that Open Source alternatives lack.

    Reply