Adobe Illustrator CS4 for sale too cheap?!

[Raven]

As a free lance designer, I've used Freehand v11 for years. I use it for logo design, signage, illustration, etc.
It's worked fine for me through OSX 10.4 and 10.5 As you probably know, it was bought out by Adobe and there may be no new versions in the future.
I've hesitated buying Adobe Illustrator for years because of the $750 price, learning curve, cost of manual, etc.

 I came across what looks like a very good deal. Only one left!
http://www.amazon.ca/Adobe-Illustrator-CS4...8733&sr=8-3
Could there be a catch here? It should be OK coming from Amazon?

Then, I also came across this price which is $300 less than what Adobe charges:
http://www.softwareking.ca/illustrator.htm...CFUxf2godymvNZw
Is anyone familiar with this supplier?
How can they price it so low?


24" iMac. OSX 10.5.6.  Adobe InDesign CS4. Photoshop CS4. Freehand 11. AppleWorks 6. Pages2, Keynote3

[Paddy]

I don't see any catch with the Amazon one. Amazon is a legitimate Adobe dealer.

I'm highly suspicious of softwareking (who, by the way, are in Canada). Illustrator CS4 is $599 USD from every legitimate outlet. When in doubt, call Adobe.

[Xairbusdriver]

'If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably a politician talking."

"Always wear boots when dealing with strangers."

"Always have a few Polish friends. Especially tall ones"

"You can fool some of the people all the time.

You can fool all the people some of the time.
The rest of the time, we're just foolish!"

[Raven]

Yes, I hear you Xairbusdriver! :-)

Not even sure what "Upsell from Freehand" means.
Is that like an incentive to change to a competitive product?
Most software companies offer those.

This product is coming directly from Amazon.
What could be wrong with it?

[Paddy]

Yes, it's a bid to get you to change to Adobe's software. Parallels offers their software for the upgrade price to those switching from VMWare Fusion 3. Adobe did similar things to lure people from Quark XPress to InDesign a few years ago.

Anyway, if the deal is still there and you want Illustrator, it's not going to come any cheaper and I see no danger buying from Amazon.

[Raven]

Amazon's price is $277 which I thought was a deal. Never seen it so low before.
Then checked it out at Adobe.com at $199 for an upgrade from Freehand for $199.
Gotta get it for that price!

Makes me wonder what Adobe is up to... getting rid of the competition? ;-)
I hate it when companies buy out their competitors and the public doesn't have choices.

[Paddy]

One reason that we may be seeing lower than normal prices on CS4 apps is that CS5 is on the horizon. Rumors have it being released in April through to June. Adobe hasn't said anything yet, but typically they release new versions on 18-month cycles and April 2010 is 18 months since CS4's release.

The current public beta of Lightroom 3 expires on April 30, which points to a May release of that (which so far hasn't been part of the CS suites) - whether or not anything can be read into that or not is still pure speculation.

[tacit]

QUOTE(Raven @ Mar 22 2010, 03:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I hear you Xairbusdriver! :-)

Not even sure what "Upsell from Freehand" means.
Is that like an incentive to change to a competitive product?
Most software companies offer those.

This product is coming directly from Amazon.
What could be wrong with it?

"Upsell from FreeHand" means you must be a legitimate, registered owner of Macromedia FreeHand. Adobe bought Macromedia, and have discontinued FreeHand.

In order to use the upsell copy of Illustrator, you must have a valid, registered FreeHand serial number. The upsell version will check your hard drive for a licensed copy of FreeHand.

[Parker]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Mar 22 2010, 12:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, it's a bid to get you to change to Adobe's software. Parallels offers their software for the upgrade price to those switching from VMWare Fusion 3. Adobe did similar things to lure people from Quark XPress to InDesign a few years ago.

Anyway, if the deal is still there and you want Illustrator, it's not going to come any cheaper and I see no danger buying from Amazon.

I just discovered yesterday when I purchased Parallels 5 that the student version is $10 cheaper than the upgrade! I was going to buy the upgrade from Parallels 3 since the darned thing won't work with Snow Leopard (faill) and then discovered the student edition! With a valid .edu email address, you can nab it for only $40!