I think that only artists (designers, motion graphics pros, editors & compositors, music & sound effects producers, etc.) get excited about new software. You don’t generally overhear a conversation in a bar between two business blokes that goes like this:

Business Bloke 1: “You see that Microsoft is releasing Vista in like 87 versions?”
Business Bloke 2: “I know, doesn’t that make your cock hard?”

However, artists are a different animal. We get really stoked about new software. Why? Because, often times, it makes tasks that, previously, we’ve had to jump through hoops in order to make work. So a typical conversation between two artists might be overheard as:

Artist 1: “You see that CS3 is coming out?”
Artist 2: “My cock is hard.”

This can also be a let-down. Consider: jumping through hoops, spending hours or even days to get a project to look a certain way with year-old software, only to have new software come out days later that addresses those EXACT issues, cutting out the need for your brainpower and making the work you did a breeze – bummer.

Eh, it’s good and it’s bad. Creativity will always be a step ahead of technology, and half the features that are implemented in new software often look cool, but really would never be used. I can’t tell you how many of the “new features” in any given program I’ve never used. Take Photoshop. I know that program inside and out – been using it since v1. Yet, there is still stuff I learn every day that I can do with it. And there is other stuff that has been around for a decade that I would never use. Simple as that.

But this software release is different, in 3 fundamental ways. Adobe CS 3, in 6 different mixes. Viagra has nothing on Adobe this week.

1) It’s Universal. Intel Processor Macs, start your engines. Sorry, PowerMac G5 Tower… I think you’re getting replaced very soon.

2) After Effects CS3. This was the problem that has been avoided – AE7 just came out a short while ago, and we knew that CS versions of Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator were coming for the Intel chips… but AE? I don’t think any of us saw this coming, though we wanted it to.

3) Flash & Dreamweaver CS3. Can you say “copy Illustrator art directly into Flash without having to first save as an old EPS, open in Freehand and copy from there”? And can you say “export content from Indesign layouts as XML that AUTOMATICALLY gets tagged and formatted based on a previously made CSS file”? Ok, that one’s a little harder to say. What it MEANS is that you can create a brochure, select the contents and export them to a web format through Dreamweaver without ever actually coding, adjusting or typing anything. Just upload and charge the client.

Although there are tons of “cool features”, only a few ever catch my eye as stuff I’d really use. Some are things I’d really love to use, but never will. And others are nice to know that they are there, but I’ll never even greet them, open the door and sit down over a polite cup of tea.

And here’s the best part: Upgrading. Since going freelance, I’ve had to (of course) purchase software that previously the job would just have. The first time you do this, it hurts. CS, Final Cut Studio and the like are $1200+, or even more. But upgrading to the new versions? $440. I love it.

Of course, I’d love for it to be free to upgrade, like Chronosync, an excellent backup program I use (anyone with OSX, you need this). Even when Leopard and Time Machine come out, I’ll still use this. And once you buy it (it’s $30!) every subsequent version, update or fix – free.

So now that I have this tent problem, what the heck should I do with it? I need to calm down a little, since I can’t actually GET the software for at least a month. Well, there’s always Season 8 to watch.

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A side note. My wife and I just watched The Departed. First of all, of course Scorsese deserved the Oscar. He’s deserved it before. But never mind that. I think this is one of the finest, if not the best, movies he has made. Not one performance is bad. Not one shot is boring. Not every question is answered. Not any minute drags. Go buy it. Now. Support fantastic, not just good, cinema.