I had been looking forward to it for a while, the official presentation of Adobe Creative Suite 4. I saw some previews at Multimania  but at the Adobe Usergroup Meeting in Ghent yesterday, Ton Frederiks and Klaasjan Tukker official presented Adobe CS4. I intended to write you about CS4 and the new features, but you should see it, use it and experience it. Make sure to visit adobe.com, they list the new features, have demo-videos and you can download some of the beta versions.

Time for a break. Boulevart provided us with free champagne.

After that short break, Aral Balkan was waiting for us with a brand new presentation; the test-audience was enthusiastic. Aral didn’t talk about CS4; well he did, but only for a moment. His session was called “Aim for the lower fruit”. On twitter, Aral asked people who were at his new talk in Amsterdam (where he performed earlier that day) or Ghent to send a 140 word review on his session, so I did.

Aim for the lower hanging fruit; 5 Rules for success, by Aral Balkan.
A 140 words review by Sarah.

Well, you know, I think it was about success, missed the first slide, I had tears of laughter in my eyes, Aral was constantly joking.

The “rules” aren’t even that important, ’cause in life, there are no rules. And even if, break them! Weird that he uses the word “rules”.. it sounds like the “I agree” you have to check when installing software; nobody reads them. So let’s call them “guidelines for a fun way of living & working”.

What is Aral trying to teach us? Simple: Create, share, profit, play.. above all.. PLAY! The session was not stuffed with revolutionary guidelines, but everyday things that people forget because they are afraid of sharing, of being different, of creating what they want, rather then what other people want them to create. So when creating: always play! And… check out Aral’s session.
PS: according to his blog, it’s 5 rules for Hedonistic Developers. 

So, if you have the opportunity, check out Adobe CS4 and Aral Balkan.
And if you speak Dutch, check out Ronny Welter his review on the Adobe Usergroup Meeting on CS4.