Adobe to take Photoshop online

software as ad-supported service to complement shrink-wrap products

[phranque]

from CNET News.com [news.com.com]:

Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe Systems plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company's chief executive said Tuesday.

The online service is part of a larger move to introduce ad-supported online services to complement its existing products and broaden the company reach into the consumer market, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen told CNET News.com.

[limbo]

Interesting news

Seems it will be a stripped down application, even more so than PS Elements. It could be a life saver for on-the-move design - and it WILL be free!

... is set to be free and marketed as an entry-level version of Adobe's more sophisticated image-editing tools...

[surfin2u]

Could gimp be giving them enough competition to help motivate this move, too? ;-)

It's hard to keep charging outrageous prices when the competition is improving.

[carguy84]

Hmm I see two potential problems with this.

1) Will you have to upload files to Adobe in order to work on them?

2) If not 1, will you have to download some massive ActiveX control?

[Jon_King]

Just a guess, the meat of the program will reside on your HD or flash drive, downloaded just once.

I do like this for Adobe, it will be a very handy on-the-fly app and keep the PS brand concrete tough.

[Clark]

Have you tried installing their product lately? Not fun, easy or reasonable. DRM crap. Definitely won't use it online.

[drooh]

i found this helpful

<snip>
No URI's please, see TOS [webmasterworld.com]

[edited by: limbo at 9:54 am (utc) on Mar. 2, 2007]

[gibbergibber]

--Seems it will be a stripped down application, even more so than PS Elements. It could be a life saver for on-the-move design - and it WILL be free!--

I would welcome a stripped down app, I just don't need anything more than the basics. It's the same with Google Docs, it's a godsend for people who just want a barebones word processor.

Obviously these online apps are much worse than their offline competitors, but people don't need them to be that good any more because we got most of the WP and photo editing features we absolutely needed about ten years ago.

And them being free and online makes them into killer apps, they unchain you from having to use a particular computer, and free is obviously the best possible price point.

-- Just a guess, the meat of the program will reside on your HD or flash drive, downloaded just once.--

If that's the case then it's not hosted, it's just another photo editor which you can download.

[limbo]

I would imagine it would have both options - in so much as you can upload and edit remote, but also work in a networked local environment if you download the local toolset - like Picasa. Some and Some.