Adobe upgrades Creative Suite today

Adobe Systems, maker of popular software including Photoshop and Flash, today launches a sweeping upgrade of its signature Creative Suite line aimed at graphic artists and photographers.

For Adobe, the next six months "are 'Happy days are here again,'" says Gene Munster, an analyst at equity firm Piper Jaffray. "Historically, 35% of its customers upgrade, so Adobe will be generating lots of cash."

Munster estimates that Adobe will take in $2 billion in the next two years from the new release, of which 80% will be gross profit.

The overhaul is the culmination of Adobe's 2005 $3.2 billion acquisition of Macromedia, whose strength was in Web publishing programs such as Flash and Dreamweaver. Macromedia titles now are intertwined with Adobe's in the six new Creative Suite variations, which will be in stores in April.

Top-of-the-line versions of Adobe's Creative Suite 3 will sell for $2,499, up from ...