Times are tough, the digital era is a vicious circle of, “faster, better, here’s your software”, oh, sorry, we haven’t worked out all the kinks, is not the chosen path I’m taking anymore.

Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me Three times. Shame on me.

PS. Photoshop is the greatest program ever to be invented for photographers, graphics,
etc. just be fair with us.

I use Lightroom and it’s a great cataloging system as well as an overall correction tool. I use it daily. But when I have clients that want to make changes or clean things up, etc.. I use Photoshop to do the things I can’t in Lr. It then becomes a need for speed!

It’s the UI that makes it worth the money. It saves time in so many ways and I think that it DOES represent a good value, for the fact that I consider my time very valuable. One thing that has been hasn’t been mentioned yet is the app Configurator, giving you the ability to create your own custom panel, it’s fantastic!

In CS3 Bridge would slow my old Powerbook G4 1.5GHz way down. And sometimes PS would open it up without asking. Now it’s more than usable — no more spinning rainbows.

PS is also much less CPU intensive, much more responsive — even though I don’t have a GPU that it can take advantage of. Most of the Designer Suite is faster with the exception of sluggish Fireworks, which is a grave disappointment.

And as you guys mentioned earlier, the new (excellent) user interface shaves minutes off every hour of production time.

Reason to upgrade –> Speed Speed Speed!

It sounds like you went searching forums for a fight. Why leave negative comments about photoshop in a photoshop blog? If it is not for you, move along. Your comments are neither constructive nor helpful.

“I do not see how the Lightroom/Aperture combo allows you as much flexibility as Photoshop.”

Well …. along with all other decent photographers (Scott Kelby for one …..) around 85 -90% of all PP is conducted in Lightroom (or Aperture). I do export to PS occasionally but only for Lab colourspace, to stich Panos., and to blend (rarely). All of that can be achieved in CS3. I raely spend more than 2-5 mins per image in PP. I do not need more time because the images do not require more and LR/Aperture are fast.

In the near future I doubt if many photographers will spend time at all in PS. They simply will not need to. Photoshop was never designed as the tool of choice for photographers was it? We sort of adopted it.

The fact is CS4 is not worth the money to upgrade for photographers.

You keep stating that 85-90% of CS3 users are not upgrading. Where are you getting that number? Is it perhaps just anecdotal based upon your views and that of your friends/colleagues/internet contacts? Only Adobe really knows how many CS3 users are upgrading, and I would wonder how you would be privy to their data.

Everyone has their opinion, but I am willing to pay for significant performance boosts, hands down.