After the launch of the latest Acrobat a few months ago, everything went quiet on the Adobe front. It's now clear what the company was working on, with the simultaneous launch of each of its main creative design packages -- Photoshop/ImageReady, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive. (Please see individual reviews of all of these packages on this month's cover CD.)

Powerful new versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, and now Acrobat 8 Professional too.

Our massive guide to Adobe's huge overhaul of the Creative Suite, including reviews of Photoshop CS4, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver.

Throughout its long and chequered career – first under MetaCreations, then Procreate and now Corel – Painter has always stood out as the artistic and creative computer application bar none. The reason is simple: Painter's unique range of natural media brushes.

Non-destructive image processing and creative filters feature in this comprehensive upgrade to the market leader.

A new interface, drawing engine and programming language, but surprisingly little new power.

An improved working environment and ground-breaking colour handling make Illustrator fresher than ever.

A simplified interface, strong photo-to-art Focus and the low price make painter essentials a great buy.

Moving in the right direction, but it isn’t easy teaching an old dog new tricks.

Microsoft prepares to march into Adobe territory with its forthcoming suite of graphics and web development software.

The new interface plus PDF and AIR export sees Fireworks CS4 fully integrated into the Creative Suite.

Adobe significantly strengthens its print, web and production workflows – and the integration between them

Piranesi gets the major overhaul of interface and tools that its extraordinary creative power deserves

Piranesi gets the major overhaul of interface and tools that its extraordinary creative power deserves

An excellent release that reworks Photoshop’s core colour-correction capabilities, making them even more powerful

A wide range of power, but too old-fashioned and confusing for most users.

Some reasonable hands-on editing power, but image management and sharing are disappointing.

Efficient photo management and sharing, but let down by some surprisingly underpowered editing.

Existing export capabilities and new support for dynamic components make this a must for professional users

With its enhanced interface, support for transparency and new collaboration features, it’s the best release in years.