Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 Premium (Windows)

More on this product: preview; user reviews; shop

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Reddit
- Facebook
E-mail
Print

Average user rating:
Write your own review
See all user reviews

Product summary

Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 is a premier design environment, combining image-editing and layout apps for both print documents and the Web.

CNET editors' take

Reviewed by: Robert Vamosi
Reviewed on: 04/03/2005

With Creative Suite 2.0 (CS2), Adobe integrates its photo and design environment components into one neat package so that graphic designers can share files more easily among applications. Included are updated versions of Photoshop (photo editor), Illustrator (graphic illustrator), GoLive (Web designer), InDesign (layout designer), and Acrobat 7.0 Professional (Web publisher)--all of which are available separately. The main advantage of this suite, however, is its ability to share images produced in one app with another app. Version Cue 2.0, a file management app, maintains version control, while Adobe Bridge, a new app, allows designers to synchronize color settings throughout the suite and preview images from within any Creative Suite program, whether or not they were created by that app. The suite also includes access to Adobe's library of stock images.

Upside: New to Photoshop CS2 are Vanishing Point, a visual adjustment tool; Smart Objects, a feature that allows for nondestructive editing of images; and Camera Raw 3.0, a plug-in that provides access to a variety of native digital camera standards. Illustrator CS2 ships with Live Trace, a tool that coverts scanned line art or bitmap images into vector-based drawings for editing. InDesign CS2 features better control of rich black and CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, black) values. GoLive CS2 offers more Web standards support, including XHTML and SVG-t for mobile-enabled pages. And Acrobat 7.0 Professional enables comments within PDF files for team collaboration.

Downside: Unfortunately, Adobe still hasn't fully integrated ImageReady CS2 within Photoshop CS2, an obstacle for some. As in Photoshop, you can set customized work spaces within Illustrator CS2, but unlike Photoshop CS2, no preset work spaces are provided within Illustrator CS2, so you'll have to create them all from scratch. We noticed a slight file incompatibility between InDesign CS files and InDesign CS2 files. We feel there are too many pallets floating around the GoLive interface. And, overall, the Creative Suite 2.0 package is not for old hardware; you'll need a pretty powerful PC to run everything.

Outlook: Despite its overall size and few misses here and there, by providing better integration of all the suite's applications, Adobe gives current users and newcomers a reason to purchase Creative Suite 2.0: more efficient work flow. Even if you're not part of a network or a collaborative team, the ease of accessing files within apps other than the one that created them is still worth the price. Check back shortly to read our full review of each app within this suite.

	Premium edition	Standard edition	The scoop
Photoshop CS2	Yes	Yes	Digital photo-editing app supports Camera Raw 3.0 and non-destructive editing
Illustrator CS2	Yes	Yes	Vector illustration app now converts scanned or bitmap images to vector-based drawings
InDesign CS2	Yes	Yes	Layout and design app offers better rich black and CYMK control
GoLive CS2	Yes	No	Web and mobile page-authoring app
Acrobat 7.0 Professional	Yes	No	Document-publishing app
Adobe Bridge	Yes	Yes	Visual file manager for Creative Suite
Adobe Version Cue CS2	Yes	Yes	File version management system for Creative Suite

See more CNET content tagged:: Adobe GoLive,; Adobe Creative Suite,; Adobe PhotoShop,; Adobe Systems Inc.,; app

User reviews

Average user rating: 0 stars Not yet available
Back to product review
My rating: 0 stars Write review

Showing 2 of 2 user reviewsSee all 2 user reviews
3.5 stars

20 out of 30 people found this review helpful

"Still missing a necessary feature"

by tilbee on April 5, 2005

read more
4.5 stars

"Most complete single-package publishing tool in the world (including Microsoft Office)."

by DiSHdesigner on April 6, 2005

read more
See all 2 user reviews Write review

Submit your review

Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 Premium (Windows)

1. Rate this product:: (Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.): 0 of 5000 characters; Submit