Well, brothers, I just upgraded to the Master Collection of Adobe CS3. Started off with a profoundly irritating install issue. Let me just say this: if you've EVER installed the CS3 trial or public beta, your purchased version of Photoshop CS3 will NOT install, thanks to a conflict.

OK, so you go on the Adobe site and ask what the fuck... you get some bullshit about "just run the uninstaller." Nah-ah, doesn't work. I called tech support. They tell you about a script that's available: MacCS3Clean. However, there are warnings all over the thing, to the effect of "Back up all your files and software before running the script, or else you may lose everything on your hard drive." HUH??? That doesn't sound very promising.

I ask the kid on the line, hey, is that really true? In my case a total hard drive backup is going to take two full days. I get the typical ass-covering, well, it hasn't happened so far, but you never know. Meanwhile, I tell him I'm still a GoLive user, and would it be possible to keep my copy of GoLive CS2, and still work with CS3? Again, didn't sound promising. Sounds like there are many, many issues. Great.

Furthermore, I didn't check carefully enough the minimum system requirements. There are apps in the suite that aren't going to work on anything but an Intel Mac. Namely Adobe Soundbooth, Premier Pro, and Encore. Fuck me.

It's just not going my way here. A $1500 UPGRADE price, plus if I want the whole suite to work, I need a new computer? Puh-leez. That's fucking insanity.

Anyway, I ran the script. It didn't toast anything, and I started the install. I went out for coffee and a slice of coffee cake, farted around town, came back. Still not done. Probably the longest install I've ever experienced next to OS X itself.

OK, so Adobe is basically coming out and saying that GoLive users might as well switch to Dreamweaver. GoLive (once a great app), is now kind of like OS 9, where Dreamweaver is "the future." Luckily I've used both programs all the way along, and so the migration isn't that difficult for me. But I find it curious that Adobe is pretty much saying that version 9 of GoLive (not a part of the CS3 suite of apps) is the program's swansong.

As always, with me, the app with the better INTERFACE always wins. The interface that's more intuitive, I use more. GoLive had that. It also has frustrating bugs and flaky behavior (under OS X)... but I do weigh interface above all things. If you have to fight the interface to do anything, it doesn't matter how well programmed something is. You won't be productive. A crappy app with a killer interface is going to be better than a decent app with a TERRIBLE interface. But by killer interface, I don't mean (as is the case with OS X) overdone. I mean usable. Something that makes sense. Intuitive. With the tools where you expect them. With behaviors that give consistent predictable feedback.

I HATE the crashes in GoLive. But when it works, it's easier to use than Dreamweaver.

Not that Dreamweaver sucks, oh god no, there are things about it I love... but there are too many times where key functionality seems squirreled away in a menu when it should be in a palette, and in a palette when it should be in a menu.

Now, there's a GoLive extension available for people who will be migrating all their sites to Dreamweaver. It's kind of a pain in the ass to use. I tried testing it, and the first site I tried to export(very simple site)... called up the Java debugger. Greaaat. So it's not going to be easy as "Export site to Dreamweaver"... Fuck.

I have probably thirty GoLive sites to do this for.

Isn't this crappy? Roughly, the whole pre-press/dtp business is now using Adobe-Software, is addicted to Adobe, Adobe is the new monopoly. Back in the day Quark was another monopoly - only in the layouting department, but now we switched to Adobe which IMHO controls nearly ALL areas.

Isn't it a bad feeling to be forced to use app X because company Y sez so? Freehand is another example. Dead, now we a force-fed friggin Illustrator. Of course we still can use Freehand, but it's only a matter of time till it dies off. Besides that Freehand went downhill after 9.0...

Argh, i'm still addicted to beer.

Yeah, this is nothing compared the Quark monopoly of the early days of my business... that was one app. Adobe is cornering everything. And yeah, when they talk, what can I do but listen?

But the fact is, they earned their spot. ID kicked Quark's ass. Quark has been furiously emailing and calling me about upgrading... pfft. No thanks, not until you stop sucking. I admit I am to this day more USED to Quark's interface, key commands and so forth... but they've lost their supremacy. Almost art department or press I deal with prefers InDesign files. And this is largely due to ID playing nicer with PDF than Quark did. Everyone was sick of boobytrapped PDFs in Quark.

I was a Freehand user, still am. But Illustrator has dominated. Freehand played nice with Flash, but I'm betting that's changed now that my copy of Flash says "Adobe" rather than Macromedia.

The real killer with all this has been all the friggin' licenses, and access to the support sites. I have a bunch of different usernames, passwords, licenses for various apps, multiple licenses, service deals... all Adobe's now, and it's tough to figure out how to access all of the crap I PAID for.

Welcome to the most fucking irritating Photoshop bug in creation. When opening old CS2 documents, sometimes I get the text update for vector output alert. I hit OK, and then Photoshop CS 3 totally locks up with "Your request couldn't be completed because of a program error"... you hit OK, the alert pops right back up. Nothing you can do but force quit.

Holy crap.