Ponderous, Man, Really Ponderous...

[the_gneech]

Pondering software purchases. In the upcoming months, I'm going to need a much more robust set of tools for my comics etc. production, so I have to decide which path I'm going to take:

Cheaper Path
$500: Upgrade to InDesign from my beloved-but-creakingly-ancient PageMaker 6, plus a full copy of Adobe Acrobat

More Deluxer Path
$1200: Spanking new license of Adobe Creative Suite Standard, including InDesign, Acrobat, Illustrator (which I have a long-running love/hate/but mostly hate relationship with), and the current version of Photoshop (I'm currently on 6, the 1999 version, which works perfectly well)

What it boils down to: is it worth $700 to me to have the shiny new Photoshop, plus Illustrator? I currently don't have any vector-based draw program, since CorelDRAW! died about the time that Windows 98 was on its way out. (I used to love CorelDRAW! ... and I have long suspected it may be my inability to get out of the CorelDRAW! way of thinking that's led to my love/hate/but mostly hate relationship with Illustrator. That plus the fact that Illustrator has always crashed any machine I tried to use it on, no matter how powerful.)

I'd be more ready to jump on the More Deluxer Path if the package also came with Flash, which it doesn't. There's only one package deal that has InDesign and Flash both -- which is the "Whole Adobe Library for the low, low price of one arm and one leg" collection. I got no use for that.

Not that I need Flash, really. But it would be fun to play with.

Must ponder. *ponders*

-The Gneech

Comments

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

We've got Flash on our work laptops if you want to just play with it.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that's at work! ;P

-TG

I think so, Gneech, but this time you put the trousers on the chimp

[exatron.livejournal.com]

If you want a vector-based drawing program, consider giving Inkscape a try.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I wonder how it does exporting to print. :) I'll check that out.

-TG

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Adobe CS3 is sold on my campus with a special rate for SFSU students. Since I am one, I could feasibly buy it and send it your way.
The Standard suite is $215 and the CS3 Design Premium is $299.
I just don't know how legal it is for me to send you a student license for these programs...

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but it's probably better not to mess with it. :) Thanks anyhow!

-TG

Well...

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll ask anyway. I'm sure they won't say there's a problem with me buying it as a "gift for a friend," right? It'll save you bunches, and the suite has a lot.
http://www.sfsubookstore.com for details, I suppose.

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Well, according to my coworker, they really don't care as long as I'm a student, so I can buy it and send it to you and you can reimburse me for it. Or the other way around. Something like that.
http://sfsubookstore.com/catalog/default.php/cPath/2_96243
There's the listing of our license options.
And no, other readers, this offer is only for the Gneech. :P

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Well, well! Send me your e-mail addy? thegneech@gmail.com

Thanks! :)

-The Gneech

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

frostdemn@yahoo.com is the one I check most frequently. How soon do you think you'll need this? I'm not currently funded enough to make any purchase. Oh, and which version would you like?

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

E-mail sent! Thanks!

-The Gneech

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Oooooh. 300 bucks for CS3 Design Premium? Shiiiiinieees. That has more options and abilities than a swiss army knife.

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Well, as I've been told by others, if you're computer isn't really up to date, Photoshop CS2 or CS3 can be called Photoshop Slow. Its supposedly a huge resource pig, but it probably also does all the cool stuff that PS7 could, without being stupid. Thats probably why I still use PS6 as well.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

The computer's pretty up-to-date, that's not a problem. Heck, even the cost isn't really that big a problem, since I can deduct it from my taxes. It's just the up-front cash outlay that I'd prefer to avoid.

-TG

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Ah, it might be worth it then, if you can deduct it. Not sure if there's a trial version of PS CS3 you could try out but if there is, you might wanna try that and see what you think.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's the version I use on my job. :) So far, I haven't noticed much difference, but I hardly use the more advanced features.

-The Gneech

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Well.. then the other stuff might be fun to use. I'll be stickin' with PS6 till the end of days, or I get a much better PC. Seriously, if you don't need the advanced stuff, well, it might not be worth it, except for the other stuff. If you do start to use the advanced stuff for your art, then maybe...

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

25 bonus points for the 2NU subject line. :)

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll put 'em to good use. B-)

-The Gneech

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I use CorelDraw frequently -- including yesterday -- and I've been using it since the early 1990s. When you say it "died", what do you mean?

(I have installs for CorelDraw 12, but I'm still using CorelDraw 8. I started with CorelDraw 1.)

===|==============/ Level Head

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I forget which version was the last one I tried to use; the number 7 sticks in my head, but it was just after the CorelDraw/WordPerfect split I think. Anyway, it was unstable in the extreme -- as in just starting the program would reliably crash my computer every time. It may be that there are newer versions that work, but I haven't even seen a copy in ages.

FWIW, I still use WordPerfect for my word processing. Talk about hard to find copies of! :D

-The Gneech

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I'm sitting here annoyed with a bug in Microsoft Word -- it will not reliably handle outline level tracking. And I remember being annoyed with this bug in 1999. You'd think after most of a decade, it would have been addressed.

I find myself tempted to fire up WordPefect -- and I have both 5.1 and Corel WP 10 on my system.

But CorelDraw seems pretty stable; let me know if I can assist with this.

===|==============/ Level Head

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Oo manna chaka pana nonna jing kow.
Ding kappa lanna wana guumma jing pow.
Hebby gabba louie comma ginnising gee
Oo manna chaka pana one is now three.

And a girl who could talk with her eyes.
Do you see what I'm saying?

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

the "Whole Adobe Library for the low, low price of one arm and one leg" collection.

I've actually heard rumors that soon you'll be able to break that down into six easy payments of one first-born child each. Though you could probably avoid that just by guessing the name of that funny little computer repairman.