Here’s an interesting sneak peek of Adobe’s project called “Rome”, shown at the MAX 2009 conference. It’s an application written in ActionScript that combines the features of Photoshop, Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and lets you work with different content types. It runs on Air, meaning it’s cross-platform and even works inside the browser.
I certainly like the idea of a mashup app of Adobe’s most indispensable tools and perhaps this is the real sort of integration people have been looking for in the Creative Suite. It’s quite smart too: the interface is not as cluttered as other Adobe programs, and the contextual palettes appear according to the currently selected object.
That it can run inside a web browser is also another golden feature; I wonder what Aviary thinks of it. If Photoshop.com isn’t enough for you, this will certainly be more than enough.
My only question is performance. Small widgets created in Adobe Air work fine (TweetDeck, for example), but can a full-blown app work better than native code? Should Adobe be building programs like this on Air? Some of the bigger questions when dealing with Flash-based apps and its cousins.
We’re not sure when Adobe Creative Suite 4 will actually arrive, but now that beta releases, reviews, and even rumors are starting to clog the internet pipelines, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of what the programs will be like.
Try it
Adobe has just announced that the newest versions of several Creative Suite titles, namely, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth, can now be downloaded for a test run.
There’s a catch. If you’re not currently using the CS3 versions of Dreamweaver and Fireworks, the trial period for these programs will end within 48 hours. Otherwise you can request serial numbers to use them during Adobe’s prerelease period.
As for Soundbooth, the same rules apply except that you can use the serial number of any CS3 product. That is, “including but limited to Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.”
If you’re curious about what these CS4 versions have in store but don’t or can’t try them for yourself, CNET has a brief rundown of new features. For example, Fireworks “finally resembles those of other applications in the Creative Suite” and “features compatibility with Adobe’s AIR, Flash, and Flex Builder as well as HTML”.
Here are more in-depth reviews of the three programs:
Widgetize it
John Nack says that CS4 applications will be extended with “lightweight, cross-platform, network-aware widgets…via SWF panels (palettes) created in Adobe Flash or Flex.”
It seems inevitable to employ widgets in this day and age, whether you’re a desktop app or a web app. And Flash is really taking center stage in Adobe’s pursuits.
Abuse it
Nack also shoots down rumors that the next Photoshop will be released this October 1st, and that it’s not really called “CS4″. But since the CS4 moniker is already plastered all over place, we might as well shrug our shoulders on that one.
But the rest of TG Daily’s report on GPU acceleration support for CS4 programs seems real enough. Clearly, Adobe is continuously looking for ways to harness hardware power and push the capabilities of its graphics programs, regardless of rumors.
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