Adobe has announced a pilot program in Canada to test a free, web-based, version of their Photoshop image editing program. Canadian users can sign up for a free Adobe account to access some of the program’s features. A spokesperson for Adobe told CNET that “all editing features are available.” It is also described as “freemium,” which means that some features may require a paid subscription or upgrade later on down the line.
While there are many image editing programs on the market for free and paid, nothing has captured the market like Photoshop. “We want to make [Photoshop] more accessible and easier for more people to try it out and experience the product,” Maria Yap, Adobe’s VP of digital imaging explains. It makes sense that they would want users to be comfortable with their interface. Before they shell out for a full, or even a semi paid version.
This web-based program is also useful for those who don’t necessarily have the equipment for resource intensive software. “I want to see Photoshop meet users where they’re at now,” Yap elaborated. “You don’t need a high-end machine to come into Photoshop.” So, users can now access Photoshop on something as stripped down as a Netbook.
This is also a very different program than what Adobe started beta testing in October. Which is a stripped down, web-based, version of Photoshop and Illustrator. But those were designed more as a collaboration tool. The intent was to be able to share images with colleagues and have everyone be able to do quick edits. Or leave comments without the burden of getting a subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Which can cause a lot of friction when working on projects with several people.
There are no current plans to make this program available outside of Canada.
