Photoshop 5.5 - Giordan on Graphics | 4

Where Do They Go From Here?

This brings us to the question of John Warnock and world domination. While Im obviously speaking tongue in cheek, this approach of bundling ImageReady dramatically enhances Photoshop even as it diminishes the perceived value of ImageReadys competing products. Adobe said that 90% of ImageReady owners already owned Photoshop, so they saw no compelling reason to leave it as a stand-along product.

This shoves the market toward an integrated application model that is sure to pave the way for deeper integration with products such as Go Live and InDesign. I know a few people who will grudgingly give up Fireworks for Imageready just because it's bundled with Photoshop...even though they think Fireworks is a better product. Adobe is leveraging the huge installed base of Photoshop users to get them to embrace ImageReady at the expense of other products in the market.

Adobe began this strategy when they redesigned the interfaces of all their applications to have the same look, feel, and functionality in all overlapping areas. They then began building in bridges between the programs, allowing things like path importation, drag and drop design, and psd file preservation.

Now we have further integration, as well as bundling of products. Dont get me wrong as Im saying thisI think that this particular move is good for the market and for Adobe. Its just that Im a little wary of all-in-one applications that try to be all things to all people. They always end up a bit too homogeneous, or too feature laden to let the average user figure them out. Programs like Canvas and the Corel Suite have never quite gained the mainstream acceptance they were after for this very reason.

And now we can brace ourselves for Adobes next wave of integration as they try to bundle Go Live and InDesign, creating a vast design suite that rivals or exceeds the aforementioned Corel. And yet, the general market does not appear to be compelled to buy these products on their own. Oh Im sure that Adobe is moving products here, and perhaps Im revealing some of my own biases towards Dreamweaver and Quark.

Having said that, is the day coming when I will be compelled to switch if I want the full functionality of Photoshop et al? Freedom of choice and software modularity are good things, and while I will eagerly accept the new features of Photoshop 5.5, I will sleep with one eye open, tightly gripping my well worn copy of Dreamweaver 2.0.

fin

URL: https://www.webreference.com/graphics/column 17/
Created: June 28, 1999
Revised: June 28, 1999

Photoshop 5.5 - Giordan on Graphics | 4

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