A long time ago I tasked myself with finding a good IDE to use for web development. At the time I was using Microsoft Frontpage and I was getting very frustrated with the lack of stability and features. In my search for something new, I came across a product called HomeSite which was exactly what I was looking for and I started using it as my main IDE.

A little while after using it, Macromedia aquired the company that developed HomeSite and pretty much morphed Dreamweaver from it. So, Dreamweaver became my new IDE of choice and it gave me added features and enhancements over HomeSite.

Enter Adobe. In April 2005, Adobe Systems, Inc acquires Macromedia. My first impression of this is great because of the quality of Adobe products that I had seen and worked with (Acrobat and Photoshop). However, fast forward to today and I am appalled. These guys seem to think that slapping a new UI onto an existing application constitutes charging an arm and a leg to the consumer. In the last 2 versions of Dreamweaver/Fireworks that I have used, there is absolutely no apparent difference to me.

Today I see an article that mentions something about CS3.3 (Creative Suite 3.3) being available. It looks like it has been out a little while but I just found out about it myself. I use CS3 at work and I figured that since this appears to be a minor update (from 3 to 3.3, major would be from 3 to 4) that I could just download and install the update. Apparently not! You have to pay $159 to upgrade! OK, so what does this upgrade entail?

According to Adobe:

• All-new versions of essential creative tools for web and mobile design and development
• Enhanced integration and workflows throughout the edition, including design tools
• Includes Adobe Photoshop® CS3 Extended, Illustrator® CS3, and new Acrobat® 9 Pro

The only difference I can see is Adobe 9 Pro, which coincidentally costs $159 to upgrade. Why, Adobe? Where are the bug fixes, enhancement requests that are all over your message boards? I don't want to pay another $159 for a new version of Acrobat when there is little reason to upgrade to it.