PICshopy: Adobe CS7? Next Release of Creative Suite to Be Revealed May 6th

Adobe CS7? Next Release of Creative Suite to Be Revealed May 6th

Recent indications from Adobe hint that they will announce a new version of Creative Suite on the morning of Monday, May 6th.

May 6th is the first day – and main keynote address – of the big annual MAX conference in Los Angeles, California.

Sign Up for the Free Live Webcast on May 6th
These release tipoffs have come in the form of new sneak peek videos of what’s going to be in the next generation of CS tools – see the sneak for After Effects, as well as for Dreamweaver & Flash Pro.

Adobe is ending all these “first look” videos with a teaser page: “Learn what’s coming next from Adobe to help you create your greatest work. May 6th at MAX.”

And in one of the official blog posts accompanying these videos, the product manager says, “Over the past 12 months we have been hard at work on the next version of Dreamweaver and today we’re excited to give you a first look… Make sure you check out Adobe MAX, where you can learn more about what’s coming next for Dreamweaver and for the rest of Adobe’s creative tools.”

What’s more, the MAX conference has many sessions with titles like, “What’s New in Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign / …” – and tellingly, the lists of features to be covered are definitely not present in CS6…

Which means there should be news of a new release of these applications by that time.

Typically, the springtime is when we’ve been seeing new versions of Creative Suite anyway – so this jibes with historical patterns.

If you want to see what’s going to be available soon (and there is some chatter on the Adobe Forums saying it would be CS7), then just tune in yourself on Monday, May 6th for the free live webcast of the keynote address.

We also have an early read on what’s going to be in it – check out the list of expected new features.

If you’ve been thinking about going with the Cloud, Adobe says:

The new version‘s release date has not been announced, but there is a great way to get yourself to the front of the line. If you join Creative Cloud now, you will immediately receive the entire stable of currently shipping CS6 applications AND you will automatically receive the new versions of all your favorite Adobe applications as soon as they are available.”

Why Creative Cloud Is Your Only CS Purchase Option Now
Finally, our best advice to our readers. We’ve been covering Adobe software for over six years, and invariably there are customers who wind up upset when purchasing Creative Suite tools right before a new release…

Nobody wants to buy a major product and then have it already be displaced by a newer version within a short time.

In the past, Adobe has offered “grace periods” for free upgrades to recent purchasers, but there is definitely no guarantee that would continue with the advent of the Creative Cloud, which is growing very popular…

The reason is because all full Creative Cloud members automatically receive all upgrades for free anyway, they are included with membership… So presently, there is no risk to signing up for the Cloud now because CS7 would become available immediately and at no additional cost in the Creative Cloud.

So bottom line, if you can’t wait until May and need or want to use CS tools now, then you might want to consider signing up for a month-to-month Cloud membership or individual product subscription – and those could get you to the big news and coming announcements, and then you can see and be more informed with the latest software out (or available soon thereafter).

Just our sense for what could help out in navigating with this “upcoming version” on the way…

Give your input before it ships – what would you like to see in the next release? Share your thoughts in the comments below or at Adobe’s official feature request “wishlist”…