Rated
Apr 02 2008
•
44 reviews
•
photography, web2 0, free, photoshop, adobe
• photoshop.com
A basic version of Adobe Photoshop was recently made available for free online.
Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser.
Photoshop Express is a Flash-based application that provides basic image manipulation capabilities and image hosting. Features include picture warp, color tinting, distortions of color and the picture, and the ability to add titles.
Adobe Systems says providing Photoshop Express for free is part marketing and part a strategy to create up-sell opportunities. It hopes some customers will move from it to boxed software like its $99 Photoshop Elements or to a subscription-based version of Express that's in the works.
While Adobe's flagship product
Photoshop, is designed for trained professionals, Adobe says Photoshop Express, which it launched in a "beta" test version, is easier to learn. User comments may be taken into account for future upgrades.
Photoshop Express is two things: a photo-sharing site targeting the millions of snapshot photographers who think software such as Photoshop Elements is too difficult, too disconnected or just too much, and a platform from which Adobe will serve partner sites with editing tools. At beta launch, Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa comprise the short list of partners; Flickr will be next in line, though a date has not been announced.
Though there's a lot to like about Adobe's first stab at online photo editing and sharing, you probably want to wait until the company fixes a few problems with the beta -- and defangs its terms of service -- before uploading scads of photos to
Adobe Photoshop Express.
While it may be premature to pooh-pooh Photoshop Express as another new-fangled example of the nascent
Web OS trend, it will mostly likely prove to be a boon for web/graphics designers and photography aficionados, as they will have handy access to the familiar PhotoShop features, on the move.
Pics courtesy: the
Photoshop Express review at CNET.
