Caution for Adobe users: OnOne Essentials 3
I've been a CS fan for years, and even liked the Elements for my laptop. So
I was using CS3 on my aging HP (with XP/SP3), tried to transfer it to my new Dell. Bought a Dell m435mt (i7-920) and have 12 Gb DDR3 1333 RAM with an ATI 4850 HD 512 Mb (DDR3) card, Vista Home Premium. I wanted to upgrade to CS4, but the CS3 refusted to transfer to Vista. Contacted Tech Support at Adobe, and was told there was not yet support for Vista Premium. Later, I got a routine download or two, and still no luck transferring. It would not go on my Vista laptop either. As a result, I chose not to upgrade to CS4. I have upgraded to Photoshop Elements 8 from 7, and generally like it for the things I commonly do with photos. Having lost my photography business (not Adobe's fault), I'll stick with Elements. Then in October, I upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium with no problems. CS3 still wouldn't install. During the Elements upgrade, Adobe had an ad for OnOnesoftware's Photo Essentials (several versions), and I decided to go for the latest, v.3 to reasonably assure it was compatible with Windows 7. It took a week, and I immediately upon receipt installed it. No problem installing. Brought it up to do some work on some Christmas card photos I was doing for friends, and while the split screen (original and modified side-by-side photo boxes so you could compare and see any transformations) came up, nothing I did could get a photo to show up. I emailed OnOne's tech support, and after A WEEK, they asked for more info on my graphics card. I replied with the info, and today got a response saying Essentials 3 has a problem with some graphics cards, and I should download the latest drivers for the card. I check weekly for updates, and have ATI's latest for the 4850. So I am returning their software because it failed to do what it said it would do. It said it was compatible with Elements, but I now question that. Certainly looks easy to use, but that is worthless if it doesn't work at all. One more instance of a third party's crapware not being compatible for God knows what reason. I'm an experienced (since 1983) computer user, though no tech or expert. I hope they will provide the full refund they claim to offer (within 30 days of purchase). Just a caution to anyone who is considering getting this software. Could it be my computer? Possibly, but I'm pretty standard, with default installations. It's sad that Adobe offers 3rd party products either it hasn't tested, or doesn't keep up with.
