Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Allows extra laptop install and moves to new computers
Review: Since this is a fairly expensive product, I wondered if I would need to buy a separate copy for my laptop, or buy a new copy if I replaced my main desktop PC. After some digging, things look good on both fronts.
The license allows an additional install on a laptop or home computer, provided you don't use that copy at the same time as the main install. From the license: "... the primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed ('Primary User') may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided that the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer ..."
The software requires activation, which includes sending license information to Adobe. According to Adobe's website, it is OK to move the software between computers you own, but you need to manually deactivate the software on the old computer before the move: "If you want to install the program on a different computer, then you must first deactivate it. In the program, click Help > Deactivate, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to deactivate the program."
Adobe also recommend doing a deactivate before making any major hardware changes (such as replacing your hard drive) which might cause the activation software to think it is on a different system.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Illustrator cs3 still has kinks
Review: After using illustrator for a few weeks i finally started learning some really cool features with the pathfinder tool to make those perfect vector shapes. (I'm still learning) But now my software doesn't want to export eps files, or save ai files. It just constantly says unknown error. It 'acts like' it exports eps files but none are ever where I save them. Then when I export as eps i get "The operation cannont complete because of unknown error [Imer]." When I research all of these problems it seems many many people are all over the adobe forums as long ago as November 2007 and and as recent as May with the same issues and Adobe techs haven't addressed these issues. Several comment they have phoned in and adobe can't fix it. So I am left deleting preferences, reinstalling, and holding keys while i boot illustrator to no avail, pretty much going off of people's advice off of forums. Not good. Very frustrating for how much I paid for design premium, which the rest works great.
I would probably wait until all of the "Unknown error has occurred" problems are fixed. Right now I am copying and pasting my work into tons of new files and basically going to lose my work if I get a power outage!
Some say this is attributed to the Zune software, but i have no such software.
Other than those MAJOR flaws, i give it 3 stars for the premise it will get an update eventually and work perfect. The color guide is really neat because it helps you select harmonious color schemes, which is easy to plop into designs and try. Also you can choose historic color schemes like renaissance, baroque, pop art, etc. Loads of symbols like networking and web which would be so easy to color in for instant icons, and just fun symbols like maps if you ever felt like making a map in illustrator.
Overall, I wish I had waited. That's a lot of money for my small, one person graphic design business and I will have to think of an alternative for logo creation.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: For professionals only
Review: Lots of hobbyists use either Photoshop Elements or the full Photoshop application. Not all that difficult to learn. But Illustrator is another matter altogether. If you're a professional doing a lot of vector graphics, Illustrator is the only way to go. One of the best features of Illustrator is Live Trace. Scan a photograph into Illustrator, hit a few keys, and the pixels are rendered into vector paths. As we all know, vector images can be scaled from real small to real huge with no loss of resolution. Try to draw a red rose with the pen tool and bezier curves. For sure, not me. Just whip out the trusty digital camera, take a picture of a red rose, into Illustrator, and presto! Scale it. Color it. Make a big bouquet. Less than ten minutes. This is one of the best features of Illustrator and is something you certainly can't do in Photoshop. About the Bezier Curves Tool. Lots of people find this intimidating. Not to worry. It's like riding a bicycle. Wobble around for awhile then all of the sudden you have it. It's pretty much intuitive. I used it a couple of hours ago on a few characters of type that were overly distorted by applying the Warp Effect. Zoomed it up to 3600% and very carefully restored the outlines. Took only a few minutes. From talking to other people in the business, it seems people are put off from Illustrator because they think Illustrator is all about bezier curves. A big misconception. I use curves only a few minutes a day and then on simple things. Like the task of reshaping type I mentioned. Or drawing a curved path with a stroke to separate a text field from a photograph. Right now I'm using Illustrator to design political campaign buttons. Works perfectly for this. Illustrator has more than a few quirks and "work-arounds" but every application has those. I began using Photoshop at Version 4 so I know from quirks. A couple more quick tips. Get the biggest monitor you can afford. And a really good graphics card. I use a wide 24" Samsung (which I highly reccomend) and it's kind of cramped. Seems way smaller than when I use it for Photoshop. Also use a trackball. I use an inexpensive Logitech that works fine. I have a Wacom 9X12 that I use a lot in Photoshop but it kind of surprised me that I don't much in Illustrator. Moving around with the ball is way more precise and much faster. For a training manual the only one you need is Real World Illustrator 3 by Mordy Golding. (See my review there...I wrote it when I was slightly toasted... oh, well) Video tutorials are pretty much a waste of time IMHO. All you need is Mordy's book, the Adobe Help resource, which is great, and plenty of quiet time.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: The only CS3 program worth buying!
Review: I am a professional Graphic Designer with a degree in Fine Arts & Graphic Design. I have been using Adobe Illustrator in one version or another for about 7 years.
So far Adobe Illustrator is the only program I would recommend for people to upgrade to if they have previously been using Adobe Illustrator CS2. Several new tools, such as the eraser tool (new in CS3) make this a worthy upgrade. The eraser works on vector shapes the way the eraser in Photoshop works on bitmapped shapes. It cleanly erases whatever you move it over, and it accurately completes your shapes. It is a real wonder that has significantly improved my productivity in Illustrator.
The improves Smart Trace is very nice as well for turning bitmapped images into vector drawings, although depending on the source image you might get less than perfect results. I find it very useful.
Adobe Illustrator is not as easy to use as Photoshop, since with Photoshop you draw with tools that work like a pencil or paintbrush. Basically you can draw on the screen in a similar manner that you would on paper. I find the closest analogy to who Illustrator works, it building a collage. In Illustrator you create vector shapes using the various tools, each vector shape is like a shape cut out of paper, you then build up your images using these vector shapes and blending modes. Once you have your vector drawing you can scale it to any size big or small with no loss of image quality.
Once you learn how to use it (and as previously stated in another review, it is harder to find online tutorials) it is a much more robust program for creating imagery for use in print, products or on the web. I use Illustrator for 90% of my image creation.
The only reasons I give this program 4 starts instead of 5 are the new palette menu system is not terribly useful. Had Adobe adopted a "drawer" style palette setup like InDesign CS2 used, it would have been much more useful, I ended up just using the "Legacy" setting that makes the palettes work like they did in CS2. Also the new copy protection Adobe has installed makes it very difficult to install and register. It took me 3 or 4 days to get this program installed and working on my laptop (2Ghz Dualcore processor, 3GB Ram, ATI Radeon Mobile, fresh install of Window Vista Home Premium 32bit).
Evaluation:
Conclusion: amazing
Review: this product is great! it is worth the money and i have been using this on a pc with no problems so far. if you are into designing it is worth it.
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