[fryke]

Well, it's a bit difficult, really. Apple _has_ to bring out new versions of their OS from time to time, because only with _new_ features can they market the system well to customers and consumers alike.
Were Apple to say that Leopard (10.5) will be _the_ OS for the next five years and that there won't be feature updates (only bugfixes, security updates), they'd basically dig their own grave. Same goes for Adobe. Sure: There's almost no way around Photoshop (no "real" competition), but if customers don't feel obliged to upgrade to newer versions, Adobe stops making money. Even worse, I guess, it's for Microsoft with Office. They have to really, really work hard to make people think they actually _need_ a newer version of Office...

But if you _want_ to: Yes, you can live with OS 9.2.2 and Photoshop 6 or 7.

As an answer to you being cynical: No, that's EXACTLY their reason. Yes, they don't WANT to support earlier OS versions and their own earlier app versions, because it costs money that they rather spend on luring more and new customers into actually _buying_ the software they create - and of course the development and bugfixing of applications.

I've found that users like you - I know many who are weary of the update-frenzy, too - should simply go the 1-up-1-down route. Get Panther, forget about Tiger, get Leopard. 10.3.9 is a really good operating system, and if you can do without Dashboard and Spotlight (the latter will only be really useful once it comes of age, anyway...), Panther will do just fine until a) Apple releases Leopard or b) you buy a new Mac that comes with Tiger, anyway. Same for Adobe. CS1 works well, don't have to get CS2, why not take CS3, which will quite probably have more going for it for CS1 owners than CS2.