Photoshop CS4's new features

[Schewe]

What I would like Adobe to do to address this situation is to release the 64 bits version of PS on Mac in 2 steps:

1. CS3.5 (or whatever it is called) with the same functionnal scope as CS3 but 64 bits compatible for OS10.5 using the new cocoa API set,
2. CS5 with the CS4 and CS5 new functions on 64 bits.

Point 1 is something they will have to do internally anyway, the cost of the release would only be the industralization of this as a public release. This could probably be delivered months before CS5.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224127\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Do you have any friggin' clue what's involved in moving Photoshop from Carbon to Cocoa APIs?

We'll be REAL LUCKY if they get it done in the Photoshop CS5 time frame (on average, an 18 month cycle). They've had their top engineers (the super-geeks) working on it from the moment Adobe found out about it last year in spite of having to do major work on CS4 for both platforms.

It took two friggin' years to move from CodeWarrior to Xcode so they could get 4 million lines+ of code just to compile as a Universal Binary under Xcode (and a lot of work by Apple to get Xcode to compile a big project). Still, people complained it took so long and blamed Adobe (not Apple)

What you want isn't realistic or possible given what Apple has done to Adobe this time around.

You want 64 bit computing? Get a CS4 Win license and Vista 64 (don't even screw around with XP 64) the MacPros run Vista really, really fast...

[giles]

It took two friggin' years to move from CodeWarrior to Xcode so they could get 4 million lines+ of code just to compile as a Universal Binary under Xcode ...

I feel better about the product I work on having 2.5 million lines of code now. :-)

I understand the challenge Adobe face for migrating to 64 bit on OS X; for those not in the software business changing the user interface code AND moving from 32 to 64 bit at the same time is TWO (2) big jobs.

You want 64 bit computing? Get a CS4 Win license and Vista 64 (don't even screw around with XP 64) the MacPros run Vista really, really fast...

My experience -- which appears to be somewhat unusual -- is that Vista is far more stable than OS X.  That plus Apple's, ah, "less than ideal" idea of hardware service means my future machines are likely to be generic PCs, but that will cause me grief trying to migrate Adobe licenses. :-(

My wish is for Adobe to do with CS4 what they've done with Lightroom, and treat a licensed copy as a licensed copy whether it's installed on Windows or OS X.  Then at least I'd only have the grief of having to use Windows, virus protection, et al, but could move as and when I wish (e.g. a new desktop at a different time from a new notebook).

Giles

P.S. I'm no advocate for Microsoft, and I've found bugs (minimum) and crashed (usually) any operating system I've ever used.  Why Adobe thinks locking people to Windows who want to migrate to Apple or locking people to Apple who want to move to Windows is a competitive advantage I do not understand.  Maybe I lack the requisite marketing clue.

P.P.S. If Adobe *really* want to get a clue, they could start matching their USD$ prices in other markets.  Just sayin'.

[lightstand]

So, if you wanna be pissed at somebody, it's Apple you should be pissed at.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224016\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

First, when it comes to building software I am completely clueless and am only asking a question. (so Please! don't bite my head off)

My question is shouldn't we be thankfull that Apple is moving this forward to Cocoa now? Won't it be necassary in the future anyways?


I realize with the internet and the way forums explode for Adobe not to release a CS4 now for Mac would be a marketing (branding) nightmare but at the same time I personally would like to see these major software companies take more time in between upgrades and make sure everything works and that truly new features are brought fourth.


(sidenote:  Yes I alway skip a generation of upgrades unless I truly need it)

[madmanchan]

I think you'll find that CS4 for Mac will have plenty of new features. It's not as if CS4 for Windows will have all these bells and whistles whereas CS4 for Mac is the same as CS3 with the "3" changed to a "4". There are even things that CS4 Mac will have that CS4 Win doesn't, such as 16-bit printing.

Can't please everybody ...

[teddillard]

oh guys please...  hahaha!

I HAVE to get the stuff, not only that, I have to get it before all you guys do.  Not only that I have to re-do about eleventy-million screenshots on a manuscript I thought was in the can about a month ago, and I have less than a month to do it.  

BAH!

[Schewe]

My question is shouldn't we be thankfull that Apple is moving this forward to Cocoa now? Won't it be necassary in the future anyways?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224302\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I'm NOT saying that Apple moving forward isn't a good thing–it is. The problem I have was with the way they did it. In 2006, they promised to have Carbon 64 in Leopard and all the 3rd party developers then made their road maps based on that promise. Then, a year later they decided to kill Carbon 64. That's where the problems came from. I'm not saying that Adobe COULD have done a Carbon>Cocoa switch if Adobe knew in 2006 that Carbon would NOT be supported in 64 bit in Leopard...but killing it in 2007 guaranteed that the Mac version of CS4 could not be 64 bit.

It's a pot hole, to be sure...we'll all get over it. And, as Eric says, there's STILL a ton of new stuff in CS4 that DOES improve productivity...for most people who don't work on multi-gig files all the time, the GPU acceleration is actually a bigger story for both platforms (and boy, let me tell ya, THAT was easy either). And, Mac Leopard with new printers/drivers CAN print in full 16 bit where as Windows doesn't support that. Also, CS4 will have GPU enabled support for multi-touch gestures on MacBook Air/MacBook Pro...ain;t gonna get that on Windows either.

The main point of my discourse is to make sure people understand the situation and don't go ballistic blaming the wrong company. Adobe bends over backwards to try to do platform agonistic features and functionality. But where the platform gets in the way or causes, (as in the case of 64 bit Carbon) an impossible task, then there's nothing Adobe can do except for what they've done.

[Mark D Segal]

Can anyone advise whether Windows XP Professional systems now with SP2 really need to adopt SP3 in order to use the shipping version of PSCS4?

[jjj]

You want 64 bit computing? Get a CS4 Win license and Vista 64 (don't even screw around with XP 64) the MacPros run Vista really, really fast...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224131\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I've been dithering about installing XP64 or Vista 64 on my MacPro and you've just tipped me towards Vista, as I trust you on this. Now if only Boot Camp on my Mac worked.  

[jjj]

Can anyone advise whether Windows XP Professional systems now with SP2 really need to adopt SP3 in order to use the shipping version of PSCS4?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224412\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I've been testing CS4 beta on a 3 year old VAIO laptop and it works very nicely, though it is missing the nice zooming features I enjoy on my more recent MacPro.
I thought SP3 was on it, but today I was informed SP3 was waiting to be downloaded. So the beta at least works OK without it.
Content Aware Scaling on a 5D image however, told me that it did not like a mere 2G of RAM on laptop. Even with everything else turned off.

[jjj]

And, as Eric says, there's STILL a ton of new stuff in CS4 that DOES improve productivity...for most people who don't work on multi-gig files all the time, the GPU acceleration is actually a bigger story for both platforms (and boy, let me tell ya, THAT was easy either).
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

It's often the little stuff that in reality makes the most difference in the real world. Being able to pan documents off screen edge was the best enhancement  for me, of whichever version of PS introduced that.

There's a list of the less headline grabbing stuff here.
[a href=\"http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/09/cs4_sweating_the_details.html#more]http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/09/cs4_s...tails.html#more[/url]

[Mark D Segal]

So the beta at least works OK without it.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224428\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks JJ - I too am aware of this, but the shipping version may be a different story, why I asked. Maybe we'll only once it ships unless anyone reading this thread knows the final product and can say.

[John.Murray]

Can anyone advise whether Windows XP Professional systems now with SP2 really need to adopt SP3 in order to use the shipping version of PSCS4?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224412\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I've pushed SP3 out to hundreds of workstations running all kinds of applications with nearly zero issues related to SP3 itself.  The "nearly" actually refers to an existing application (in house software run by CarQuest dealers) barfing on misconfigured HP network printers - we fixed the printer configuration - the problem went away . . .   MS did a *great* job on this one

[mbalensiefer]

http://www.layersmagazine.com/cs4?link=7&s...ewsletterSept08


CS4.
I just got this link in my inbox. Everything you wanted to know about what's new.

Michael

[Mark D Segal]

I've pushed SP3 out to hundreds of workstations running all kinds of applications with nearly zero issues related to SP3 itself.  The "nearly" actually refers to an existing application (in house software run by CarQuest dealers) barfing on misconfigured HP network printers - we fixed the printer configuration - the problem went away . . .   MS did a *great* job on this one
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224477\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

John,

Thanks - good to know that experience. My reluctance has been the amount of stuff I've read about incompatibility or screw-ups with certain drivers and applications. Normally drivers can be up-dated, but, for example, not my Minolta Dimage Scan-Elite 5400 scanner because Minolta is out of that business and no longer supports it. Do you know if the up-date is reversible in the event one installs it and gets into trouble?

[Mark D Segal]

http://www.layersmagazine.com/cs4?link=7&s...ewsletterSept08
CS4.
I just got this link in my inbox. Everything you wanted to know about what's new.

Michael
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks Michael, there is also this one:

[a href=\"http://www.peachpit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136722]Peachpit - CS 4[/url]

[John.Murray]

Mark:

Uninstalling SP3 isn't a problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

A couple of things will make this easier if you should need to. . . .

Do you have system checkpoints on???  If not, enable it and set one before you get started (System Properties | System Restore Tab)

Be sure to leave the Archive System Files checkbox checked in the SP3 dialog (if you forget this you can *still* uninstall using the recovery console).  Note that several system checkpoints are set during the process . . . when done, after applying all subsequent patches, I'd manually set a final checkpoint and make note of it.

hth - John

[Brian Gilkes]

I may have missed this , but, as a Print Head I would like to know is there information anywhere on the new printing limit with CS4? John Nack mentiones a change but I could not find any figures.
The old limit of 30,000 pixels was a real pain.
While on printing and CS4, has anyone made comparason tests with the higher bit depth printing on Mac with the old system?
Thanks
Brian
ww.pharoseditions.com.au

[Schewe]

I may have missed this , but, as a Print Head I would like to know is there information anywhere on the new printing limit with CS4? John Nack mentiones a change but I could not find any figures.
The old limit of 30,000 pixels was a real pain.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224806\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The limit is now dictated by the limitations built into the print driver. So, if the print driver can accept more pixels, Photoshop will push it out to the printers...

[Mark D Segal]

Mark:

Uninstalling SP3 isn't a problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

A couple of things will make this easier if you should need to. . . .

Do you have system checkpoints on???  If not, enable it and set one before you get started (System Properties | System Restore Tab)

Be sure to leave the Archive System Files checkbox checked in the SP3 dialog (if you forget this you can *still* uninstall using the recovery console).  Note that several system checkpoints are set during the process . . . when done, after applying all subsequent patches, I'd manually set a final checkpoint and make note of it.

hth - John
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224794\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks John - very helpful indeed. I appreciate it.

Mark

[Brian Gilkes]

The limit is now dictated by the limitations built into the print driver. So, if the print driver can accept more pixels, Photoshop will push it out to the printers...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=224812\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks Jeff.
As I understand then this will mean unlimited print length (assuming paper goes on forever!!)
It looks like I'll have to get CS4.
B****r
Cheers
Brian