There is a big production advantage in having cross-application
compatibility and a common code base but it still feels that the push is
coming from marketing and not software engineers or product managers.
Perhaps if there was another 6 months on the development cycle we would have
got the After Effects wanted and frankly we, as loyal customers, deserve as
we've all parted with thousands and thousands in cash for Adobe products.
The cost of going from CS3 to CS4 is not cheap - even more for me as I'm in
the UK and it doesn't feel like value for money for new features compared to
say the jump from 7 to CS3! I want better native particles and 3D without
having to fork out another fortune for Trapcode or Photoshop Extended as
plug-ins!