Photoshop goes native MacIntel

Adobe has released a beta of the next version of its flagship image-editing product Photoshop CS3. It runs on Windows XP and Vista – but critically it is the first version to run native on Intel-based Macs.

The current version can be used on MacIntels but only using a PowerPC emulator called Rosetta, which causes a performance hit. The beta is in Universal Binary format, which means it can run native on both old and new Macs.

Adobe says the software will be available, in English only, here , later today, when the US wakes up. It times out after two days unless you can provide a serial number for Photoshop CS2, Creative Suite® 2, Creative Suite Production Studio, Design Bundle, Web Bundle or Video Bundle. You also have to register with Adobe.com, or be an existing member.

The beta includes a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge, as well as a preview release of the all-new Adobe Device Central, which allows Photoshop users to design, and test content for small mobile screens.

John Loiacono, senior vice president of Adobe's creative solutions business unit, said: "We still have some surprises in store, but this beta gives customers an early chance to see the power of another great Photoshop release, optimised and tuned to run natively on the latest hardware and operating systems."

Adobe has also released betas of two new web tools: Adobe CSS Advisor, a site for resolving browser compatibility issues; and Spry framework Ajax, for scripting interactivity. Spry is available here.

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!