by Conrad MacIntyre
By Conrad MacIntyre
Adobe’s message is clear: if you need or want to continue using Photoshop, the only responsible course of action is to buy every new version, which most Photoshop customers never needed to do before.
Or you could give that sentiment back to Adobe and pirate their software. I am not a fan of software piracy, but with so little regard for their users it makes you think...
The product is available for $149, which is half of its predecessor’s $399 price tag. The upgrade price has been cut too, and existing users can pay $79 to upgrade to Lightroom 4, rather than the $99 fee that was required to upgrade to Lightroom 3.
I try to avoid Adobe products wherever possible (can't drop Photoshop yet, but Pixelmator's getting closer) because they tend to be bloated and overpriced. At least Adobe's working to fix half that problem. But with Aperture providing the same functionality (with better system integration, but less Creative Suite integration) at Adobe's upgrade price of $79 it's hard to imagine why anyone without the full Adobe suite would bother.