First, the bad news.

After pushing it to the limit for almost 2 years now, my Dell XPS laptop finally hit it’s first significant issue that just about put it out of commission. Now, compared to all the Windows Vista horror stories you read and hear about, this issue was relatively minor, so I was lucky there. For reasons unknown, the networking services just refused to work anymore, so while I had all my files, software, and data still accessible, a computer without connectivity these days might as well be a paperweight.

Now skip to the good news.

After taking me the last 3 days to back everything up and re-image my laptop, I was finally able to install my copy of Adobe CS4 Web Premium that I picked up from work earlier this summer. Up until now, I’ve been using the CS3 Master Collection I purchased two years ago thanks to an amazing student discount I was eligible for. With this separate copy of CS4, I’m still able to upgrade the previous CS3 copy over to CS4 for my Mac early next year. That should save me a good deal of money, and then I’ll have CS4 on two machines. Nice.

I’m psyched about the CS4 Web Premium bundle because it not only comes with Photoshop CS4 Extended, I also get Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Illustrator. Remember, I’m a web developer by trade, and having used Dreamweaver for about two years now and dabbling in Flash now and again, upgrading everything in one fell swoop is exciting, too.

Get to Learning

Since I’m still always learning new things in Photoshop as it is, moving to CS4 is going to give me even more things to play with. I haven’t dug into the “New Features List” yet, but many of the tutorials, podcasts, and books I’m looking at have been referencing CS4 for much of this year, so there will be no shortage of places to turn to. And, just like all the software and technology I deal with professionally, not to mention the every changing world of photography, learning just comes with the territory.

Good thing one of my life’s mottoes is: Never Stop Learning.