Here's some new info that I hadn't seen before that hopefully makes it clear how Adobe's upgrade strategy works for Creative Suite and then upgrading a single component. I read this on an Adobe employee blog (a product manager in marketing).
The summary is that"
1) You can upgrade from Photoshop to the Creative Suite.
2) You can later upgrade to only a single version of Photoshop, if you still own the original version of Photoshop (you just upgrade that version, not the suite).
In essence, you just own two Adobe products and you upgrade either one of them (the whole suite or just Photoshop). The only thing it looks like you can't do is buy Creative Suite from scratch and then upgrade from that to a future version of just Photoshop.
Here's the text from the actual blog and a link to the blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2005/09/speaking_plainl_1.html
Speaking Plainly, Part II
Okay, my turn: for some reason we haven't been able to explain the deal when people are considering upgrading to the Creative Suite. I've seen lots of confusion in forums, emails, etc. lately, so, here goes:
Q. Can I upgrade from Photoshop to the Creative Suite?
A. Yes.
Q. Which versions?
A. All versions.
Q. If I upgrade Photoshop to the Suite, and later I decide I want to upgrade just Photoshop, can I do that?
A. Yes. As long as you still own that earlier copy (say, PS7) and have the serial number, you're golden.
Q. What if I get an application (say, InDesign) for the first time as part of the Suite, and later I want to upgrade just that application (not the whole Suite). Can I do that?
A. No. For various legal reasons, a Suite isn't a collection. So, you can't upgrade just one piece of it.
To recap, if you owned Photoshop previously and want to upgrade to the Suite, you will have a choice of upgrades in the future. And if you owned InDesign, Illustrator, etc. on their own, you could upgrade them on their own in the future, even after upgrading the Suite. It's only apps that you didn't own outside of the Suite that need a Suite upgrade to move forward. Make sense?
If you have further questions or hear conflicting info, please let me know: jnack [at] adobe [dot] com.
--John
