In response to Google and other competitors, Adobe plans to release an online version of its image-processing software Photoshop, the company's CEO said Wednesday.
According to CNET, the online version of the software will be available within six months, and it will also help Adobe expand its revenue model from traditional software licensing to the increasingly popular online advertising market. Mr Chizen, the company's chief executive, said the online version of Photoshop would be working with Adobe Remix, a web-based video-editing tool provided by PhotoBucket.
Like Remix, the future online version of Photoshop will be completely free to users and will be positioned as an entry-level image manipulation software. All of the company's profits from this business will come from online advertising. "It's going to be a completely different Adobe, and we're inspired by Google's different operating model." Said Mr. CEO. It is reported that Adobe will also launch a series of Internet-based services in the future, so as to improve the current software services product line.
From this perspective, Adobe's situation is very similar to that of Microsoft, which previously focused on the stand-alone software market, where all software had to be installed on the user's computer. And recently Microsoft launched a series of web applications, that is, the famous Live service series. It is reported that in the future, Photoshop will launch a full suite of online applications, and several versions of Photoshop will be brought to the web, such as Photo Lightroom.
In a sense, Adobe's move could also be seen as forced, analysts said, given that it follows Google's launch of Picasa, a service that helps users post images on the Web and is even compatible with the Photoshop file format. "For digital media consumers, Adobe really needs to move its traditional business to the Internet." Analysts at Burton.