There have been a couple of references in the past few weeks to the next iteration of the Creative Suite for Adobe. Now in its third edition, recent web searches have seen a few alleged leaks of a beta called Stonehenge on various torrent sites. Since no public beta has been released by Adobe thus far – the recommendation is to stay clear of these “leaked” versions. With the extensive proliferation of spyware, malicious viruses, rootkits and all other sorts of destructive code commonly referred to as “malware”, this practice does make sense.
However, rest assured, a CS4 is going to happen eventually. Some are obviously in the know already as they work hand-in-hand with Adobe in beta testing software even before it gets to public release beta versions. (Case in point, a coy reference from Dave Cross on a video blog entry a week or two ago.) It’s no secret that the industry leaders like Dave and others are definitely insiders as well, and get to sneak a peak at upcoming software before it ever gets to anyone else. How else could these guys get up to speed on it so quickly? Sure, they’re quite adept at their craft, and are obviously not mental slouches by any means, but knowing everything they know as soon as betas hit the web simply means they are privileged individuals, whether they care to publicize it or not.
There is other evidence though as some of the screenshots posted in various web forums and blogs seem to indicate that the next version of CS4 should be forthcoming (at least in beta) before the end of the year. While the veracity of these resources is unknown to me, there does seem to be some credence to the legitimacy of a beta already in the works, both by the historical time line Adobe takes with new product releases, as well as similarities in the names to boot! (Adobe has a product out that uses a Stonehenge theme already, called Atmosphere and you can download an EPS version of the graphic here: Stonehenge EPS File) While it’s not really all that similar to the graphic found for the “beta screen shot” seen on CybernetNews, the mere fact that the naming scheme is repeating itself suggests that something is definitely in the works.
So, does anyone else have any thoughts on the CS4 time frame, and when it might be released. Thus far, the only news I’ve seen is what you see posted above. Feel free to share your thoughts and predictions in the comments section! Tomorrow is likely a “no blog Thursday” for me as I am having my first even root canal done. Not looking forward to that! Until Friday then, happy shooting, watch those apertures!
