Adobe Debuts Web-based Photoshop Express

Photo storage on the Web is nothing new. Nor is image editing. But when the two are combined under the mantle of Adobe's Photoshop, well, that unto itself becomes news. Fortunately, Photoshop Express--Adobe's new free, Web-based service that entered public beta today--offers more substance than just the novelty of its heritage.

Photoshop Express may carry the name of Adobe's flagship image editing software, but the online version bears little resemblance to that. Rather, the software tries to make basic editing and enhancing tasks point-and-click easy. My early impressions after using this service: The Photoshop Express beta succeeds in making serviceable image editing available wherever you have an Internet connection, but it stil has bugs and annoyances to eliminate in this shakedown cruise.

The best part about Photoshop Express--beyond its 2GB of free storage hosted by Adobe--is its interface: The graphical, Adobe Air-based user interface is both accessible and attractive. Building a basic slideshow is a snap, and sharing the slideshow is just as simple.

That's not to say this beta doesn't have work ahead--and lots of it. The worst issues I've had so far: My initial hands-on was frought with false starts, including interminably slow upload times (over a robust cable modem connection) and a finicky upload mechanism that rejected 11 out of 15 of the high-resolution images I tried adding to my online album, for no apparent reason (beyond giving an unhelpful upload failed message; I'll be asking Adobe about this issue and update this item when I hear back from them).

Stay tuned for more details about what I liked and didn't like about Photoshop Express in my upcoming review.

Free Online Version of Photoshop Launches

Thursday Adobe launched Photoshop Express, an free, online version of its popular Photoshop picture and graphics-editing software. In doing so, Adobe joins the crowd of vendors offering online versions of productivity software. Typical of such offerings, Photoshop Express (PE) arrives in beta form.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe Systems Inc. says it hopes to boost its name recognition among a new generation of consumers who edit, store and share photos online.

While Photoshop is designed for trained professionals, Adobe says Photoshop Express, which it launched in a "beta" test version, is easier to learn. User comments will be taken into account for future upgrades.

Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser. And, once they register, users can get to their accounts from different computers.

Photoshop Express already integrates with Picasa, Facebook, and Photobucket. For now, the beta is U.S.-based. Users can try to login from other countries, but all the servers are in the U.S. so Adobe indicates you'll likely see performance issues.