Adobe Set to Update Its Creative Suite

Mon Mar 28, 6:00 PM ET

Adobe Systems is readying the second version of its popular Creative
Suite bundle of professional graphics software applications. The
current version includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive.
Adobe plans to announce the Creative Suite update on April 4, but a
statement announcing part of the bundle was inadvertently posted to the
company's Web site over the weekend. The statement has since been
removed, but not before it was indexed and cached by Google's search
engine and picked up by enthusiast Web site Neowin.net.

In the statement, Adobe announces Photoshop CS2 and says it will ship
the update in May. Photoshop CS2 is a key component of Creative Suite
2, which, according to the statement, will also be announced on April
4. PC World will post its review of the new Adobe suite on April 4.

Adobe spokesman Russell Brady declined to confirm the authenticity of
the statement because of an Adobe policy not to discuss unannounced
products, but did say that "Web hiccups happen from time to time."
New Features

In lte 2003, Adobe released the first Creative Suite software bundled
with new versions of its applications. That release was the first time
Adobe put out new full versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign,
and GoLive simultaneously. The company said at the time that it planned
to synchronize new releases of the applications in the suite.

According to the statement, Photoshop CS2 includes a host of new
features that are designed for digital photography professionals. For
example, the product will have an enhanced Spot Healing Brush, a tool
to correct photo problems such as blemishes, red eyes, blurring, and
lens distortion.

Also, Photoshop CS2 includes improved support for working with "raw"
digital camera images, unprocessed digital camera files that are
increasingly popular among professional photographers and digital
photography hobbyists. Photoshop CS2 will allow batch conversion of raw
files and offer better cropping and straightening tools, according to
the statement.

The new Photoshop version will also offer access to a new service
called Adobe Stock Photos, which will be announced on April 4 according
to the statement. The service will let users shop for images from five
stock image providers right from the Adobe Bridge, which is an upgrade
to the old file browser in Photoshop.

Photoshop CS2 for Mac OS X and Windows is slated to begin shipping in
May in the United States and Canada. International versions are
expected to begin shipping in late May and early June, according to the
statement.

Photoshop CS2 will retail for $599. Licensed users of any previous
version of Photoshop can upgrade for $149.