Adobe Creative Suite 3

If you're a video content producer, a web designer, hell — if you own a digital camera — you've probably used Adobe software before. The newest version of Adobe's award-winning software suite, Adobe Creative Suite 3 (coming in Q3 2007; available for pre-order now), includes the fruits of Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia with all but one of the new sets including Flash. It also runs natively on Intel-based Macs, bringing long-overdue speed increases, as well as Vista support. CS3 Design Premium ($1800) includes software every Designer needs, with InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Illustrator CS3, Acrobat 8 Professional, Flash CS3 Professional, and Dreamweaver CS3. CS3 Web Premium ($1600) leaves InDesign out, instead coming with Fireworks CS3 and Contribute CS3. CS3 Production Premium ($1700) includes Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects CS3 Professional, Premiere Pro CS3, Soundbooth CS3, and Encore CS3. Of course, you can always go for the Master Collection ($2500), which includes the best version of every application in the suite.