Photoshop Graces Mac OS X 62
cpk0 writes "Well, we finally have Photoshop on Mac OS X. Now that must have been one heck of a year over at Adobe, cause this piece of software is pretty elegent. Even on my iMac 600 it's pretty swift and smooth. There's no official Adobe press release yet, but there's a VersionTracker page for it, and that makes it official enough for me."
Re:Can you say Layer Styles? (Score:1)
Re:Can you say GIMP? (Score:1)
Elements (Score:2, Informative)
Adobe CEO on PDF, Mac OS X, 'Premiere Elements,' more [macworld.com]
Yeah I know gimp is free, blah blah OSS or die, blah blah.
Seriously folks I like Photoshop, & Elements is functional enough for my needs (No pre-press support) - definaltey worth the $100 (IMHO)
Re:Elements (Score:2)
I wouldn't mind something like a Photoshop Lite to see how it works, then if I got powerful, I could pay for the full version later.
New Features (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:New Features (Score:1)
Re:New Features (Score:2)
That's the ONLY reason I bought it. We just got a new G4, and if only Quark were 'modern', I could dump Classic mode entirely.
finally (Score:1)
I've been using it for a while. (Score:3, Informative)
I particularly like the "healing" tool. It works much better than the cludgy old cloning tool, as the healing tool takes shadows, tone and the whole 9 into consideration when cloning bits. It's quite a tool, and my favorite addition since the magnetic lasso.
Did I mention it's stable? I hated (HATED!) running ps6 in classic mode on OS X. Now, I really don't have any OS 9 apps left now that PS7 has left the gate.
In my opinion, if you own a previous version the low upgrade cost is well worth it at $149. If you don't, pay the $609 and get on the train. Or better yet, get the web collection [adobe.com] and get Livemotion [adobe.com], Illustrator [adobe.com] and Photoshop [adobe.com] for $999.
Re:I've been using it for a while. (Score:1)
Ugh. Still bundled w/ ImageReady. (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, from reading Adobe's product page [adobe.com], you'd think all of ImageReady's features had finally been folded into its parent app, seeing as there's no mention of IR anywhere. It was only after reading this MacCentral article [macworld.com] that I realized the unwelcome guest was back yet again. Ugh.
For anyone who does a lot of web work in Photoshop, having to jump back and forth between the two apps is both an inconvenience and a resource hog, particularly since they duplicate many of each other's features. (So much so that the only time I fire up ImageReady these days is to bang out an animated GIF. Everything else can be done better by hand -- image slicing, rollovers -- or in Photoshop itself.)
All that said, of course I'm going to upgrade; the OS X support alone is worth it. (Photoshop and Flash were my last real reasons for running OS 9 day-to-day.)
Re:Ugh. Still bundled w/ ImageReady. (Score:1)
Cire
Finally... (Score:1)
default. Photoshop was the last major app I needed
OS 9 for. This is what decent number of the hold-
outs have been waiting for, I'd bet. (Not all,
mind you. I know of a few people who object to OSX
on entrenched usability issues.) Now, if they'd
just give us spring-loaded folders...
Re:Finally... (Score:1)
Re:Finally... (Score:1)
Re:Finally... (Score:2, Informative)
over them and then close behind you when you drag
that file into a sub-folder. No unnecessary windows
left open in your wake, less desktop clutter.
Neat little feature. It was introduced in 9 and
hasn't yet made its debut in X. Sure you could just
as easily use the column view and bypass the need
for them entirely, but I'm old and set in my ways...
Re:Finally... (Score:1)
And if my memory of 9 is still working you can then move the file out the window to go back down a level.
It was very useful for moving files all over the system. For some reason a lot of people loved it to no end. I never really used it much, and they have been crying for this for over a year and a half now.
But X does need this to make moving files all over the system easier in any of the 3 view formats. Cutting and Pasting files is so winblowz..
Re:Finally... (Score:1)
While cutting and pasting files may not be your thing, copying and pasting files is rather nice.
Quark is all that remains... (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, now Quark is the final remaining piece before publishing folks can finally stop using classic. I won't ever convince the long time Quark users to switch to anything else. I don't even want any new features from Quark (except multiple undos). I just want it running on OS X, native.
This is such a gorgeous implementation of truely essential software (PS 7). I didn't mind the wait at all. Seriously, do people mind waiting for a year for really great software, or getting a POS in a few months. Personally, I'd rather let the developers make a fast, production-stable release than get some bloated Freehand 10, Netscape 6 junk.
Re:Quark is all that remains... (Score:3, Interesting)
We're looking at Adobe InDesign right now. Seems like Adobe clued in that Pagemaker couldn't cut it, so they started over, and boy is InDesign nice. It can even import Quark documents perfectly (better than Quark can, IMO), exports as PDF (and does it well, unlike Canvas
--Dan
Re:Quark is all that remains... (Score:1)
Re:Quark is all that remains... (Score:1)
Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:2)
Perhaps it's because people actually LIKE Adobe stuff?
Naaawwww
(Okay, this doesn't disturb me at all, actually, but it does make me laugh. Maybe if Microsoft was actually NICE to its customers and partners, it would do better in the PR wars.)
D
(Who has willingly spent over $1,000 with Adobe in the past year).
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:1)
The difference between "having a monopoly" and "abusing your monoply" is all the difference in the world.
I am still using GraphicConverter, which is even bundled with new Macs now, for my admittedly-limited graphics needs.
Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
I'm not sure if the actual impact was intentional, and to give them credit, once they saw how seriously the government took the situation, they dropped the case. It was the government's decision to continue prosecuting.
But that aside, this is an interesting test case to show that what many of us really hate about Microsoft is not its monopoly, or its bundling policies, or its bullying ways, but a combination of product quality problems(*) and persistent privacy invasions.
If they'd made a wonderful operating system, I'm betting we wouldn't be nearly as mad at them as we are.
Adobe has always made great products, and hopefully will always make great products. So we forgive them their monoply, and I'd say even their treatment of that unfortunate Russian.
If it had been Microsoft, can you imagine the furor?
D
(*) Persistent rumours exist that Microsoft has improved its quality greatly and cleaned up its act. But in a couple of hours of creating a simple resume for a friend using the new MacOS X version of Word for Windows, I got it to crash. Lost a lot of work, too.
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
Possible, but it is equally possible that they brought this to the attention of the FBI, and then once it appeared that the FBI was going to pursue the case stopped endorsing the prosecution, so that they could wash their hands of it but still have it happen.
Who knows what the real reason was.
mark
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:1)
This is exactly what I think happened. They saw the bad PR rolling in, the people dishing on their stock on the investment weblogs, and realized they had a problem. Then they figured out they could have their cake, and eat it too, by walking away knowing full well that the FBI, wanting to increase funding to fight "cybercrime," would hang on like bulldogs.
Sadly enough, it seems to have fooled much of the technically literate community. Or worse, not much of that community cares.
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
At the same time, the community also knows what company to go to to get great graphics software.
For whatever reason, the computer biz is about cool products, not morality. Even Steve Jobs of Apple, the cool computer company, is known as a relentless perfectionist who can be staggeringly cruel to his employees. Do we care? No, we keep buying his products because, for better or for worse, he makes the best stuff.
Same with Adobe.
Harsh reality, but that's the way it works.
On the other hand, can you see anyone using Adobe's secure PDF format or whatever the heck it was any time soon? They suffered a genuine defeat with the publicity; they shouldn't have done what they did, even from a pragmatic commercial viewpoint.
D
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:1)
If that were true, Adobe's stock would be in the toilet from lack of sales. I agree that the community worked hard to get him released, but we seem to have given Adobe a pass. And if all it takes to be able to engage in wanton malicious prosecution and get by with it is "cool products," I guess there really is no community.
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
D
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:1)
dalamcd
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:1)
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
http://www.freesklyarov.org/
http://www.wired.
http://www.boycottadobe.com/
That should get you started.
D
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
That doesn't seem realistic in the case of Adobe. Killing off the unit that sold the technology that got us in this mess would surely seem sufficient, no? If you're going to force Photoshop to die, you'll have a whole bunch of angry graphic artists crying for blood
Do you know the fate of the technology he reverse-engineered?
D
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:1)
Yes, that would have been an appropriate punishment, or at least the most appropriate one short of violence.
That doesn't seem realistic in the case of Adobe. Killing off the unit that sold the technology that got us in this mess would surely seem sufficient, no? If you're going to force Photoshop to die, you'll have a whole bunch of angry graphic artists crying for blood :-).
I'm sure such an attractive piece of property would prove irresistible for an enterprising capitalist or competitor who would want to take over that market. Photoshop wouldn't have died, though it might have been renamed to eliminate the taint of its prior assocaiation with Adobe. I'm sure the bloodlust of the graphic artists, along with their cash, would have kept the feature set available :).
Do you know the fate of the technology he reverse-engineered?
AFAIK, it's still available for sale, though not widely adopted. Same as before.
Re:Moralty vs Product Quality (Score:2)
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:3, Interesting)
In terms of Adobe's target market as a whole, they have a lot of competition. Quark and Macromedia really give them a run for their money. Illustrator leads the pack for vector graphics, but Freehand is nipping at it's heels. Quark XPress singlehandedly destroyed PageMaker and Adobe was forced to design a better program, InDesign. Even though it is easily the better program of the two, it is having a difficult time penetrating the market that XPress has dominated for so long. Real, honest competition from a determined and strong competitor is the only reason that we have InDesign now. Freehand keeps getting better with each rev and consequently Adobe has to make Illustrator that much better just to retain their lead.
Macromedia has Dreamweaver which is hands down the leader in visual web page layout. Adobe has GoLive which has improved over the years and offers some features that Dreamweaver doesn't, but still has yet to garner a large market share despite being the leader some 5 years ago.
Macromedia has Flash. Adobe has LiveMotion. Although, in many ways, LiveMotion is easier to use, Flash is still the 800 pound gorilla of the web/vector animation market.
Adobe has Premiere for prosumer level video editing. Suddenly Apple comes out with Final Cut Pro (3 in particular) and just blows Adobe out of the market. Now there's Cinema Tools! Oh yeah, and then there are Avid and Media100!
Adobe has AfterEffects which is doing quite well, but has to compete with products from Discreet and Nothing Real (now folded into Apple.) Essentially, AfterEffects is relegated to the prosumer level again and must improve with each rev.
Anyone remember Persuasion? Fabulous presentation software that was totally crushed by PowerPoint.
So, yeah, Adobe is a huge company with a near monopoly of the graphics market, but they are besieged on all sides by fierce competitors and if they get complacent for a single version of their applications, a large chunk of their market can be taken from them. I continue to use Adobe products and willoingly fork out large sums of hard earned cash because their products are so comp[elling. However, I have given up on PageMaker altogether in favor of Quark and am waiting for InDesign to be a bit more polished before I start using it as a regular publishing tool.
I'm sure the people involved in developing Premiere are more than a little pissed at Apple right now. I know I will never willingly go back to Premiere ever again... not after using FCP 3!
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:2)
The same is true of Photoshop. Once you've learned their keyboard equivalents, secret workarounds and the like, you have an enormous investment in the product and are unlikely to switch unless a competitor enormously raises the bar. I know that I tried a few different photo editing programs in an effort to avoid Classic, and none of them felt as right as Photoshop. They had all the functions of Photoshop, but, well, they weren't Photoshop.
Another big advantage of Adobe is that they still include old-fashioned paper manuals with their products. That's enormously appealing to me; you get something tangible for your $150-600. Almost nobody does that anymore, and it's a darn shame.
It gives them the image of the Classy Software Company, and I think it's very much merited.
Come to think of it, Final Cut Pro 3 comes with a few bricks worth of manuals. And you're right, once you've seen FCP, Premiere just plain doesn't feel right.
D
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:2)
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:2)
That's a very interesting point. Being a UI and usability designer, I have a hard time with Macromedia products in general. They make good products in general. Dreamweaver and Flash are irreplaceable, but Fireworks and Freehand I could do without. Illustrator and Photoshop more than meet my needs and I just plain find them easier to work with.
I do do a lot of HTML coding, mostly in BBEdit and Dreamweaver, but all of my image editing is done in Photoshop and now I do a lot of it in Illustrator now that they have the "save for web" feature built in. Fireworks has always been counteruintuitive to me. But then again since I do no JavaScript whatsoever (other than simple Dreamweaver level stuff like rollovers), I don't need that technical end of an image editing app. Just raw usability and flexibility.
Again, Firework's scripting level stuff can be a huge asset. For raw, multi purpose image editing though, I'm gonna stick with Photoshop.
Re:Photoshop: The beloved monopoly (Score:1)
Re:other unix like systems (Score:4, Informative)
It would be really nice if people would learn, that most of the OS X commerical apps, DO NOT TOUCH the bsd layer, nor require it to work.
Photoshop for OS X, is Photoshop written for the OS X gui, namely Cocoa. It is not a 'bsd app'.
As far as OS X being a BSD based system, perhaps you should go read a little bit more before you claim it's BSD based. It isn't. The kernel is mach, with Cocoa, Carbon and BSD running on top of it as a seperate layer.
If OS X were BSD based, you wouldn't be able to unselect the BSD enviroment during the install =)
kevyn
Re:other unix like systems (Score:2, Interesting)
What you think of as layers are actually Frameworks and shared libraries running on top of this subsystem. The subsystem is actually quite stripped down for a unix OS unless you install the Developer package from the Developer CD. The gui is just a Window Server slightly different than traditional XFree86 implementations.
When you say that most apps don't require the subsystem you are partially correct, in that they are not required to be aware of it, but your OS would not be working if the subsystem was not in place....you may think it doesn't exist because it is hidden from the gui, but try booting without your
Apple has done a good job of hiding their necessity.
Re:other unix like systems (Score:1)
Nice . . . (Score:1)
That's nice, but I was hoping for a Tracker-Tracker [tracker-tracker.com] page for it. Since after the DMCA wielding bastards had Dmitri arrested, it'll be a cold day in hell before Adobe sees another thin dime of my cash.