What's your criteria for deciding when to upgrade DTP apps?

[btravis311]

We're currently running two seats of CS3 Design Standard, and are trying to decide when/if to upgrade to CS4. We've only had two clients try to submit native files in ID-CS4 and I just had them provide PDF-X/1a files. But sooner or later, it will be more hassle than it's worth and I'll need the new apps.

My boss will spring for the upgrade if I tell him we gotta have it, but the question remains, when do we HAVE to have it? I don't want to wantonly spend money. There's almost always a workaround for these types of things when it comes to using your previous generation DTP apps. Heck, I've been making do with Trueflow 3.02 for years now, and am still having to use Acrobat Pro 6 because of it.

My question for you is at what point do you decide you have to have the latest Creative Suite, or Quark or whatever? Please discuss, and thanks for any insight.

 

[couriergraphics]

upgrades

upgrades

The fact of the matter is that at some point you will need to upgrade. I feel as a printer we need to be able to handle anything the client throws at us. Now with that said i do not have my operators run CS4 unless the file is supplied that way. But the truth of the matter is pay me now or pay me later at some point you will need to pay!

 

[Mike Bishop]

CS4 is not a revolutionary upgrade of any of the component applications, it is more the result of an Adobe "product cycle". They need a new product out so here it comes whether we need it or not. Unfortunately, as a printer, we need to have the latest software. Buy it and install it, but use it only on files supplied as CS4. This will get you used to the new interface and ease you in to the day when everything is CS4. And then CS5 will come out.

 

[SlaveToTheMan]

What's the value of a job lost because you don't have current applications, and the client decides to simply take it to another vendor they know does? I come from small shops (and even the current one isn't exactly huge) so I understand the mentality of waiting as long as possible, but they have to weigh the loss of a job, or several, against investment in the tools we need to function. It's just part of business.

Look into the Adobe Solutions Network, it's a worthwhile deal even if the initial fee seems high, it pays off easily upon new releases of the Suites.