Meanwhile, as implied, Photoshop CS3 picks up the refined image and has color, new HDR features, animated layering, better selection, and photo merging technology to spare in its newest edition. Every one of these features are at least one if not two steps ahead of the fast diminishing supply of competitors to Adobe – with one notable exception. Microsoft has eneterd the graphics 2D, animation and 3D world with its Expression Suite of products.
We would review these products but their demand for .NET framework 2.0 and really, “we run best in Vista”, have prevented a review since our intial look see. This reviewer is not a fan of software that works in only one version of a product line – Windows Vista best, XP for some, not at all for Windows Millenia, 9X, and 2000 users – all of which are out of luck. Given that Discreet, Autodesk, and Adobe are doing good if not better things than the Expression Suite( and across platform), this reviewer will wait until there is clear indications that Expression Suite is able to lead in some aspects of graphics processing before committing the time, dollars and effort to follow this suite. So that leaves the “other” photo editors ACDsee, Apple, Corel, Google, Magix, Ulead(now part of Corel), and a smattering of others.
The Other Photo Editors
The other photo editors are endangered not only from the top but from the bottom – they are being squashed. Note the inclusion of Google in the list of mid-range photo editors. Google’s Picasa plus a host of other free photo editors being given away by Photo Print Services (think Shutterfly and Kodak among others) are really getting quite excellent evaluation ratings (and generally desrved). So the for $25-200 photo editors are having to do three things. Innovate by providing more ease of use wizards and auto-correction functions. Or try to take on specialized photo completion tasks like calendar making, scrap book creations, website gallery design and FTP/push support. Or the other photo editors try to navigate into the Photoshop-dominated world of high end photo graphics (see the screenshot above and the services being offered in the latest edition of Uled’s Photo Impact). There is some room to play with for these mid-range vendors. But not a lot as the freebie software get better and better. whiole Adobe pushes Photoshop relentlesswly into newer graphic domains. And with the new suites from Adobe being such a bargain for web and organizational shops involved in animation or illustration, even the high price of Photoshop is buffered.
(c)JBSurveyer 2007 – If you liked this, let others know:
