Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express, a component of Adobe’s Photoshop.com, is a web-based application that lives on Adobe’s servers designed for the non-professional user and hobbyist. Its’ Flash based interface provides a sleek user experience, and seems to be another step in the direction of the future of Cloud Computing. Professionals using CS3 or CS4 probably won’t be as dazzled asthose that don’t have Photoshop on their desktop. It’s a fairly stripped version of the full application–about 25% of features in the desktop version of 

Photoshop live in Photoshop Express. Those of us who are used to massive amounts of RAM and lightning speed processors may be annoyed that it’s not nearly as fast as we’re used to, but it does include some nice features for the hobbyist and that seems to be the new, untapped market for Adobe.

Photoshop Mobile

In addition, you get 5 GB storate, or 20 GB of storage withthe “Plus” plan for $50/year, and connectivity to Facebook, Picassa and Photobucket. Photoshop Elements 7 will also be compatible with Photoshop.com.One concern is that once you publish your images, by agreeing to the terms you effectively are granting Adobe “a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce and modify your content for purposes of operating the service.”

Photoshop.com has also just released a free Mobile app. WhenI first saw this, I was a little shocked since the idea of Photoshop on a phone seems quite impossible. Then I learned that this is in a nutshell a conduit to upload photos to Photoshop.com. Previously Adobe has offered only a PDF reader for mobile users and Flash Lite. It’s currently available for Windows Mobile smartphones, including the Samsung BlackJack I & II, the Motorola Q9h and Q9m, and theTreo 700w/wx and 750. Because there don’t seem to be any confirmations that Flash Lite is going to be available for the iPhone, the app won’t be availablefor iPhone users. The user interface of the new Adobe Mobile App is quitesleek, and can automatically upload photos from your phone to yourPhotoshop.com account.

New Competition: Sumo Paint

Where Photoshop Express is offering a truncated Photoshopuser experience, a new app in Beta called Sumo Paint is actually offering amuch closer Photoshop CS3 interface–and it’s all online. You have the choice ofopening files from your Sumo account, your computer, or a URL. My first reaction was when is the lawsuit going to start–it’s so closely similar toPhotoshop, that this can’t be legal. The Magic Wand tool works with Tolerance just like Photoshop, There is an eyedropper, a Clone Stamp tool, and layers. Whilethe professional will probably always be married to Photoshop, this seems like a more in depth application than Photoshop Express.

- Jori Curry