Photoshop Universal Binary arrives as CS3 beta

Stephen Withers
Friday, 15 December 2006 04:36

Your IT - Home IT

If anything has muffled the demand for Intel-based Macs, it's the absence of native versions of Microsoft's and Adobe's flagship programs. Both companies said the switch would be fitted into their development cycles, but a year or 18 months is a long time to wait. Adobe is about to join the party with a Universal Binary beta release of Photoshop CS3, the next generation of the widely used image manipulation program.

"This is an exciting time for the Mac, and Adobe wanted to ease the move to new Intel-based systems with a preview release of Photoshop CS3," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.

Information about what's new in Photoshop CS3 was scant, and the software won't be available from labs.adobe.com until later today. Adobe's announcement did mention Adobe Device Central, a tool to design, preview and test mobile content, as well as a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge.

The beta - which is also available in a version for Windows XP and Vista - expires after two days unless a serial number from Photoshop CS2 or a relevant Adobe suite or bundle is entered. The final version is expected in Autumn 2007.