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Software Adobe Photoshop to Go Online, Free
Gabriel Ikram (Blog) - February 28, 2007 11:14 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 32 comment(s) - last by Ralph The Magi.. on Mar 2 at 2:15 AM
Adobe has big plans to get its next-generation Photoshop on the web

Adobe Photoshop will be making its way online within the next six months. The online Photoshop will be an entry-level form of the product and will be available to all Internet users free of charge.

Adobe already has the foundation for an online product in place with Adobe Remix, a web-based video editing tool. Remix, which is a simplified version of Adobe Premiere Elements, is offered free of charge through Photobucket.   

Like Remix, the hosted Photoshop will also be offered through a partner. Despite this, according to Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, if ad revenues are high enough Adobe might be tempted into offering its web services to users directly.  

"That is new [for Adobe]. It's something we are sensitive to because we are watching folks like Google do it in different categories, and we want to make sure that we are there before they are, in areas of our franchises," said Chizen to CNET.

There is little doubt that Adobe has made this move as a result of the looming threat of Google, which lately has been placing a large amount of emphasis on online software. Late last year Google launched Docs and Spreadsheets, a word and spreadsheet editing tool based completely online and available for free. It is possible that Google might also create an online version of Picasa, which is currently distributed as desktop software for free. 

Like Microsoft, Adobe’s business is largely based on packaged software. It is evident, though, that the company is not planning to be caught off guard in the case that Google offers an online competitor. Although the online version of Photoshop will be a low-end form of the product, Adobe claims it will still offer enough features to beat other free competition, namely Google Picasa.

The web-based Photoshop is expected to be the first move of a larger transition that will integrate hosted services into Adobe’s business model. Adobe plans to market the online Photoshop using its well established Photoshop brand, which is one of the leading graphics-editor software available. 

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AJAX Please
By Ralph The Magician on 3/1/2007 12:40:55 AM , Rating: 2
Let's just hope it's done in AJAX, and not in Flash. But given Adobe's recent aquisition of Macromedia, that's probably not the case. :-(

God, I hate Flash.




RE: AJAX Please
By Hare on 3/1/2007 3:32:23 AM , Rating: 3
AJAX is great for many things but AJAX photoshop? C'mon, that would be just wrong... Don't compare Flash and AJAX, these are two completely different things. Like a boat and a car...


RE: AJAX Please
By ira176 on 3/1/2007 4:14:49 AM , Rating: 2
What is AJAX?


RE: AJAX Please
By Hare on 3/1/2007 4:53:18 AM , Rating: 2
RE: AJAX Please
By GoatMonkey on 3/1/2007 8:11:26 AM , Rating: 2
There's nothing wrong with Flash when it's used correctly. The problem is that most people's only exposure to Flash is "punch the monkey" type advertisements. For example, a lot of streaming video is now Flash based. I think the developers would have a much easier time making a nice simulation of a thick client app by using Flash instead of AJAX.


RE: AJAX Please
By Ralph The Magician on 3/1/2007 10:51:14 AM , Rating: 2
I'd consider Flash video to be one of the worst things that Flash has done to the internet. Hard to save, hard to play, not compatabile with most software players, not compatabile with any devices, scales poorly, crappy sound, etc.

Flash video and the On2VP6 codec are what I'd consider a perfect example of how NOT to use Flash.


RE: AJAX Please
By TomZ on 3/1/2007 10:55:16 AM , Rating: 2
Flash video gives content providers a small amount of control of their content, which allows them to make it more readily available. Otherwise, you would not see so much content freely available. So, your lack of control also has this other side-benefit.


RE: AJAX Please
By glennpratt on 3/1/2007 12:27:35 PM , Rating: 2
There were already a ton of formats that provide control to the provider. Flash won because of market share and low bandwidth utilization.


RE: AJAX Please
By glennpratt on 3/1/2007 4:26:01 PM , Rating: 2
Replace market share with installed base.


RE: AJAX Please
By GoatMonkey on 3/1/2007 1:19:50 PM , Rating: 2
The streaming video aspect is not really the point though. You're right that Flash video has its drawbacks.

I'm just saying that there are ways to make applications in the web browser using Flash that can talk to back-end servers, so that it has a look-and-feel that is close to a thick client application, and many times (especially for Adobe) can be easier for the developers to work with than AJAX.


RE: AJAX Please
By edge929 on 3/1/2007 9:55:24 AM , Rating: 2
Flash has already transformed the internet for the better in many ways. This coming from a long-time Flash programmer so admittedly I am biased. I also love AJAX and the 2 can play together nicely I've found.

Seeing how it's Adobe we're dealing with, they'll use their recently acquired (Macromedia) Flash technology for this in order to get the full functionality they're looking for. Even AJAX can't provide the full functionality that Flash can.


RE: AJAX Please
By SinistarX on 3/1/2007 10:32:31 AM , Rating: 2
Except in terms of accessibility. Flash has been a major pain for anybody with vision or hearing problems.

Of course, AJAX hasn't exactly been any better.


RE: AJAX Please
By TomZ on 3/1/2007 10:58:01 AM , Rating: 2
You can easily zoom into Flash movies - isn't that helpful for people with vision problems? I'm not an expert in accessibility, however.


RE: AJAX Please
By glennpratt on 3/1/2007 12:37:22 PM , Rating: 2
Wow, zoom in. How about screen readers or braille interfaces. How about accessibility to robots and text only browsers. What about clients other then Adobe's official plug in.

The worst part about Flash is that it's client is closed source and it's infected half the web. If you only run a mainstream OS, I guess it's fine to put up with that BS.


RE: AJAX Please
By TomZ on 3/1/2007 2:32:30 PM , Rating: 2
Your point about screen reading and braille interfaces is well-taken. But the rest of your comments are crap.

1. What is wrong with using Adobe's free plug-in? What other choices do you want besides free?

2. What is keeping you, me, or anyone else from making their own open-source plug-in?

3. Flash is supported on Windows (incl. IE, FF, Opera, Netscape, and AOL), Mac OSX (Intel and PowerPC), Linux, Solaris, PocketPC, HP-UX. Doesn't that cover like 99.9% of all computers? What else are you looking for?

4. What alternative technology can you suggest instead that would give the degree of interactivity and expression that Flash gives you?


RE: AJAX Please
By gilboa on 3/1/2007 2:47:45 PM , Rating: 2
1. Closed source - very limited documentation. I rather not have a closed box that may or may not work on my hardware/software.

2. Closed standard. Having to reverse engineer -anything- (especially if you're required to do a clean room implementation) is major hurdle.

3. Yes, it does support Windows and Linux - but it doesn't support BSD; it doesn't work in 64bit (Windows/Linux/BSD). It -may- cover 99% of the machines (now) - but considering 1 and 2, I rather not relay on Macromedia's good will. (They may decide to drop Linux/OSX in the future - what then?)

4. To be honest, I have no idea - I'll let the people who do know a thing or two about web-programming take this one.

Compare Flash to PDF (Apples and oranges, I know).
You have 1000 different PDF viewers (and writers) some of them much more capable then Adobe's Acrobat Reader (KPDF?).
In the Flash world you have two open source projects that barely manage to support Flash v7 - let alone v9.
Nuff' said.

- Gilboa


RE: AJAX Please
By glennpratt on 3/1/2007 4:16:33 PM , Rating: 2
TomZ nothing I said is crap. I don't have a problem with Adobe or Flash or closed source technology so much as I have a problem with lazy web developers who use it when it is unnecessary.

Hover menus, streaming video, simple interactivity and things of that sort shouldn't be in flash. It makes browsing the web very difficult for people who fall outside of Adobe's sphere of influence.

Here's my point, Flash is great for product demonstrations, vector animated cartoons, things which it's designed for. It shouldn't however creep into all the aforementioned places which have perfectly good, standards based implementations.

Also, I'm of the very strong opinion that if it wasn't for Flash; free, open, standards based solutions like AJAX, SVG animations (hell SVG rendering at all) and the like would be much farther along.


RE: AJAX Please
By TomZ on 3/1/2007 4:52:33 PM , Rating: 2
Choosing Flash for a web site is not about being lazy. People choose to use it because it allows you to develop a high-quality, very interactive site, without a lot of hassle. There is really little comparison between what you can do today with Flash compared to other competitive technologies. Bottom line is, if you want a sexy, highly-interactive, responsive web experience, Flash is the only game in town.

In addition, Flash is a de-facto industry standard, and I personally don't see why an open standards-based solution is inherently more virtuous. The measure of the goodness of a standard is in the tools and solutions it enables, not the model under which it was developed.


RE: AJAX Please
By glennpratt on 3/1/2007 6:34:05 PM , Rating: 2
Wow. That sounds like a bunch of hype. Can you tell me how a website can be 'sexy' or at least how that could possibly relate to flash? :)

Seriously, you just glossed over my point. Flash has it's uses, but given it's current limitations, it's use should be limited, especially when there are alternatives.


RE: AJAX Please
By Ralph The Magician on 3/2/2007 2:15:31 AM , Rating: 2
Of course it's hype. Almost anything that can be done in Flash can be done outside of Flash, and done better. I have seen *very* few examples of Flash, outside of animation, that have actually enhanced a site. Making things Flash and swirl all over the place does not enhance a site. In most cases, Flash ends up making the site slower, more complicated, and harder to navigate.

Actually, I'm curious what kinds of sites would actually need to be done in Flash that couldn't be done in AJAX/RoR/PHP. I know I've seen a few, but there isn't one I can think of off the top of my head.