Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta reaches 500K downloads in less than a week
Adobe's free beta of Photoshop CS6 has gotten off to a strong start, with more than a half-million downloads tallied in less than one week.
Adobe announced on Wednesday that it has been "blown away" by user response to the free beta. Its public release last week was a different approach for Adobe, which typically does not provide an advance preview of future Photoshop releases.
The beta is available for both Mac and Windows from Adobe Labs, and users are encouraged to provide feedback to the product team during the trial run. The software is available in both English and Japanese.
Highlights of Photoshop CS6 include a new content-aware patch, and what Adobe has touted as "blazingly fast performance." In addition, it will feature a new and reengineered design tools and is powered by the new Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine, promising "near-instant results" from editing tools."
AppleInsider first revealed the changes in Photoshop CS6 last October, including its new Aperture-like dark background user interface, and new 3D capabilities.
It was also highlighted this week that Photoshop CS6 has dropped support for older 32-bit Macs. That means older Macs based on Intel Core Duo processors running legacy 32-bit versions of OS X will not be able to use the latest version of Photoshop.
The change is unsurprising, as Apple also does not support 32-bit code in hardware or software. But it is noteworthy as Photoshop CS6 on Windows will still run in 32-bit versions of Microsoft's operating system, including Windows XP.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
They better not charge a dime more than to upgrade from CS5. It ain't fair but its a fact! I can live with CS3 and Pixelator, Adobe... Savvy?
Just curious:
Why do you need Pixelmator if you have Photoshop CS3?
Does it do something that Photoshop can't do?
Not surprising. It is free after all. I'm assuming that legitimate Photoshop users number in the millions (I'm being conservative) so it stands to reason that a sizable number of those users will grab the free public beta.
I never download betas of major products that I already have the latest version of. I certainly don't want it on my professional machines and risk it making my real version wonky or should I need to delete the beta, having it somehow break the real version. I would suspect the largest group of beta downloaders are not the hard working pros, perhaps a few elite pros, but mostly just amatuers looking for a freebee.
I just hope I can outright purchased PS and not have to subscribe to lame service the Adobe is pushing.
I think they will continue to offer it as purchased. There is a big difference in price between upgrade and subscribe. Subscribe is designed mostly for people who can't afford the full price new version. Another situation where subscriptions makes sense is if you get a huge project and need to hire a bunch of freelancers but only for a couple months.
The thing that many people complain about is the suite versions. Once you get locked into the suite upgrade scenario you end up paying for applications you may never need, but switching back to purchasing separate apps, you lose your upgrade eligibility.
asking as a non-pro. Does the beta have an expiration date? Or will it just work (with whatever shortcomings it may have)?
Thanks,
Alfons
asking as a non-pro. Does the beta have an expiration date? Or will it just work (with whatever shortcomings it may have)?
It has no usability limitations. It expires in early 2013, I think.
It has no usability limitations. It expires in early 2013, I think.
I believe Adobe is planing on shipping the upgrades to PS and the other CS products in the first half of this year. My guess is late May 2012 with the beta expiring soon after.
It has no usability limitations. It expires in early 2013, I think.
Does it require "activation" ?
FWIW, I never (and will never) buy any software that requires activation or any type of phoning home to operate. Explicit upgrade downloads initiated by me are acceptable as long as they can be downloaded outside the application itself (i.e. no user-profiling).
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/963473
If you have any issues there is always the C6 uninstaller in the utilities folder.
as a working retoucher I can say - CS6 is very solid. No issues working concurrently with CS5. Only thing now all psd's default to open in CS6. Which happened when CS5 was released too.
If you have any issues there is always the C6 uninstaller in the utilities folder.
Can PS CS5 still open CS6 psd files?
just the default application to open it changes.
but if CS5 is open already then psd's should open in CS5
here are some places read about this:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4284197#4284197
and known issues:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4211025#4211025
Hopefully those at Adobe "blown away" by all the free downloads realize most of those will never become paid customers.
Sure, of course a percentage of free beta dlers are not gonna buy, thats the point, its a free test drive for the new customers and a preview of things to come for long time users who can give educated real world feedback.
Ppl who have never used photoshop may download this and go buy essencials, or maybe, just maybe, someone with a couple grand in a nice Pro-Sumer SLR camera, flash cards, lenses and stuff as a hobby may see some value in the full PS CS 6 application and grab it...
I never understand all the complaints about PS being so expensive. As far as Pro applications go, PS is not really a high cost item - look at Avid, Auto Cad, Solid Works, Maya, or anything else in the media creation space that is considered best of breed -- they all cost a shit ton more than even PS Extended. Heck, Final Cut Studio was like $1400 before they made it a toy last year.
Does it require "activation" ?
Of course it does. It's an Adobe product.
Just curious:
Why do you need Pixelmator if you have Photoshop CS3?
Does it do something that Photoshop can't do?
No, PS is far more feature rich than Pixelmator. Pixelmator had a far better UI, OTOH, and is a pleasure to use compared to CS3.
CS6 UI reminds me of Light Room 4 which pales in comparison with Aperture. I'm sure you're aware Apple charges $79 for Aperture. I don't think Adobe got the memo with their bloated thou$and $ software suites and dingy interface.