Making the switch...?

[Bond007]

We are going to be switching from PC's to Mac g5's in the coming months here at work. What I was wondering was this: We have full versions of many graphics apps for the PC, like photoshop for example. Is it possible to upgrade photoshop to the mac version, instead of having to buy the application all over again for full price?
Has anyone gone through this yet? I plan on calling adobe anyway, but I thought i'd ask here first for some feedback from anyone who has done this.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I'd think you'd have to talk to the Adobe people on that one. I did a cross platform upgrade with Newtek's Lightwave from a PC to a Mac and they had no problem with it.

Good luck!

D

 

[Schiffi]

If you have Premiere you can send it to Apple for a free version of Final Cut Express. But I believe Adobe has some cross-upgrade solution.

 

[idea_hamster]

Always interested/optimistic to hear about business switchers.

What kind of business is your company in? How big is it?

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Little-known fact: If you have site licenses for the software, it's not uncommon to have a cross-platform license for the software.

 

[Bond007]

thanks for all the help everyone. We'll be calling adobe here in the next few days to see what happens.

Always interested/optimistic to hear about business switchers.

What kind of business is your company in? How big is it?

http://www.advancedgraphicsinc.com

We've been using PC's for years. never a mac. The PC's are nice, but with all the graphic work we are doing, they are having problems. Dual Xeon P4's. Compaq EVO workstations. We have 3 of them. And all 3 of them are having issues. Switching from illustrator to Photoshop is a huge headach. The machines just take forever to go betwwen the two, and eventually lock up. Compaq has been out here several times, but there is nothing they can do. Its the way it is, they say. There are many more problems, but you get the idea. i have had a mac for a while now, I brought it in to work one time, and the boss said, "how come we dont have those"? And that was it. We are placing an order for several G5's to have by early next year.

 

[idea_hamster]

Dude -- that sounds like a commercial! (And in a good way.) Congrats on the switch and good luck!

 

[acj]

PC's have such weird, unnexplainable problems

PC's have such weird, unnexplainable problems. Every one is different. For example, I have never been able to make a computer with XP lock up. But with Macs nowadays you don't have to be afraid...

 

[solvs]

Your company is making the right choice. PCs aren't that great for graphics, and I've always had problems with Compaqs. That's why so many people who do audio/video/imaging use Macs.

You should be able to do a cross-platform upgrade if you have valid Windows licenses. You may even be able to get a discounted 5-user license. I guess you'd have to call Adobe to make sure, though. Their site isn't exactly clear on the subject.

If you knew a teacher or college student, you could buy the educational versions.

edit: Found this on the Adobe knowledge base.

Adobe does indeed allow cross-platform (and cross-language) upgrades. It is a hassle, however. You cannot simply walk into a retail store and buy an upgrade for a platform other than the one you currently have a license for.

For the benefit of others, view this PDF to find out how to go about upgrading from one platform to another:

http://www.adobe.com/support/pdfs/lodexchange.pdf

Note that a cross-platform upgrade requires removal of the current copy of the software from your computer and destruction of all media.

 

[Bond007]

Thanks!

 

[Schiffi]

Re: PC's have such weird, unnexplainable problems

Originally posted by acj
PC's have such weird, unnexplainable problems. Every one is different. For example, I have never been able to make a computer with XP lock up. But with Macs nowadays you don't have to be afraid...

Yeah, I'm lead to believe that if all copies of WinXP were used on the same hardware there would be less issues. Probably as stable as OSX. However, because Windows deals with so much hardware they probably do everything half-ass. Oh well, something you can't remedy I suppose.