is_page() in the footer not working?

This bit does work in the header but not in the footer, where it returns both not being main-page or 52, ie: in the header i have the correct linked/notlinked text appearing, in the footer, both are linked…

<?php if (!is_page('main-page')) { ?>
<a href="<?php echo bloginfo('wpurl'); ?>">see selected projects</a>
<?php } else { ?>
see selected projects
<?php } ?>

<?php if (!is_page('52')) { ?>
 / <a href="<?php echo bloginfo('wpurl'); ?>/view-all-projects">see all projects</a>
<?php } else { ?>
/ see all projects
<?php } ?>

I am having the (somehow) same issue as here: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/117732?replies=1
with the footer and is_page combination on 2.3.1
I also had an (unfortunate) look here:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/122803?replies=4
Is there really no chance to get this working on 2.3.1?
Thanks in advance for any view or help on this!