Adobe launches latest version of creative suite software

MANILA, Philippines - It used to be that the power of imagination of ordinary people was still far better than the best that technology can offer. The situation, however, has changed, with intelligent software now capable of being more creative than human beings. This is according to software maker Adobe Systems, which recently launched in the country a “creative suite", dubbed CS4, and billed by the company as its biggest software release yet. The product family’s main selling point is the product's ability to allow users to seamlessly cross over or move one file from one application to another using Adobe’s popular software offerings. Ashley Wearne, managing director for Southeast Asia of Adobe Systems, said during the software package’s press launch in Makati City that software innovation has become so rapid that software nowadays are “creating ideas that creative gods or geniuses have not even thought of." One of the intuitive functions that Wearne was referring to, for instance, is the ability of the Adobe Photoshop to pick the clear and focused areas of a series of photos and blends them into one perfect photo. “In the future, you can do meta search in video files. This means that you can go to a particular part of the video you’re looking for just by blurting out the word spoken in the video," said Wearne. Adobe, which controls a near monopoly of the software being used in the creative industry, said its product offerings currently run only on Windows and Macintosh platforms. But, according to Adobe System Southeast Asia consultant Nelson John, the company is looking at the possibility of opening up their software to open source-based operating systems. “There are, however, no concrete plans yet or timetable as to when this will happen," said John. For the newly released CS 4 product family, customers can choose from six suites or full version upgrades of 13 stand-alone applications, including Photoshop, Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign, Illustrator, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver, After Effects, and Adobe Premiere Pro. The company said designers using the Adobe CS 4 suite will also be able to take advantage of the new features in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver Web content across multiple browsers and operating systems. Aware of the numerous enhancements that comes in the new software release, Adobe executives said each of the applications contained in the product family contains a training CD to serve as guide to users. - GMANews.TV