Mac Photoshop CS5 – Menus Too Long (yes really !)

Question

I've just bought Photoshop CS5 to stay on the upgrade path.  I have to say I'm rather disappointed, the new features don't seem to work as advertised, and I'm finding a few glitches – one of which is the subject of the post.
In designing (or redesigning) the interface for CS5 and Adobe Camera Raw something seems to have gone awry.
Overlong Menus
Compared to CS4 two of Photoshop CS5's menus have lengthened so that they no longer fit on the screen of my MacBook Pro – the Edit and Layers menus.  Thus, the bottom of the menu is off the bottom of the screen (or the top, if you are at the bottom of the menu).  Now, it is true that the Edit menu has two more items (32 instead of 30) but the Layers menu has the same number (29 items). In CS5 all the menu text items are more widely vertically spaced leading (pun not intended) to this problem on a MacBook Pro.
The CS4 menus were perfectly legible before so why do this ?  What purpose does it serve ?  Did anyone at Adobe test this ?  (obviously not).
ACR Disappearing Into the Dock
And using Adobe Camera Raw has a similar problem in that the the ACR window disappears into the Dock at the bottom of the screen.  Now I've read Jeff Schewe's response to this in another post where he seems to think that those who use the Dock are in some way mentally deficient (I'm exaggerating to make a point) but, Jeff, some of us like the Dock and find its presence at the bottom of our screens reassuring and helpful.  BTW, Jeff, removing the Dock doesn't help the CS5 menu problem.  Seems to me to be sloppy design.
What would be better would be to ensure that the scale of the interfaces fits on our screens, would it not ?
BTW the screen resolution of my MacBook Pro is set as recommended.
Having felt I've been coerced into an early and expensive upgrade by Adobe to stay on the upgrade path is it not unreasonable to expect better ?  It would also be nice to get the new features to work as advertised (rather like the speel chek as you tipe on this new forum – whcih it doezn't very well).

Answer 1

PECourtejoie.  No, I didn't have time for a trial.  It was upgrade or lose the upgrade path.  My practice in the past was to skip every other upgrade (actually quite a lot of folk do this).  Adobe have put a stop to this.
The content aware scale/fill podcast is brilliant.  Thanks for this.  I'll give what Terry recommends a try.  I watched the Russell Brown video and followed his tips but, on a test image, I struggled to make it work for me.
I have also watched the Russell Brown video on masking and, again using his tips, I struggled to make it work.  I will certainly give it another try but I've found Topaz ReMask much easier to use and gives better results.  I guess I shall buy this.
As to the ACR noise reduction, I've found it worked excellently with several test images but on one particularly challenging image I haven't yet managed a successful result.  I'm prepared to give it another try.  So far I've used a combination of ACR noise reduction and NoiseNinja.
I can hardly believe your explanation as to why Adobe might not fix this issue until the paid-for upgrade.  The reasons you give are really putting the cart before the horse
My Honda has had a number of minor issues whilst I've owned it.  Have Honda said, well buy another new car and that will fix the problem as we haven't made enough sales this quarter ?  No, of course not.  They've fixed the problem promptly, and free of charge.  Software is no different.  It needs to work as advertised or it needs to be fixed.  We, the customers, should not have to pay for Adobe's errors.  Any mistakes they make are their responsibility and for them to pay for.  In the UK and Europe this is enshrined in consumer law.
If what you say is true Adobe need to re-examine their corporate purpose.  Is it to satisfy the accountants or to satisfy their customers.  There is growing evidence that Adobe's first and only priority is to the ’bottom line‘ and its customers come a poor second.  Recent history will tell you that down this road lies eventual corporate suicide.  A reading of Dr W Edwards Deming will enlighten.
Actually, at the end of the day Adobe just need to fix the problem.  A problem which it is absolutely clear should not have got through quality control in the first place.
Sorry, but you did start this …