Adobe CS4(CS3+1) Interface Change

The ultra popular Creative Suite (CS) series of professional applications, developed and sold by Adobe Systems, Inc., will be upgraded to version 4 (CS4) sometime soon in  the coming 4 months (most likely in  October). So what’s so special about it ? Adobe has released upgrades almost every year! This time, Adobe aims at overhauling the complete interface of many of its apps especially imaging apps like Photoshop.

 

Photoshop CS4 v11 is currently in its beta form but Adobe delivered some very obvious and exciting changes to its latest beta. Some of the most notable are:

• It facilitates N-up (2-up, 3-up, etc.) document layouts that adapt as you adjust the interface. Think “live window tiling”–great for comparing, compositing, etc.
• It makes it easier to move the entire application and its contents, including from one monitor to another.
• It prevents documents from getting obscured by panels (palettes).

Mac Only:

• Blocks the contents of the desktop, minimizing visual clutter. (A number of Mac users have requested this option for many years. Certain people currently achieve this by opening a small blank document, hitting F to put it into full-screen mode, and then putting it into the background to hide the desktop.)
• Optional new interface, may revert to old interface at any time!
• The UI is full of unique elements that don’t appear elsewhere in the OS–e.g., custom scroll bars sitting next to OS-standard ones.

CS3 v/s CS4

 

A video demonstrating the new features.

And for those wondering as to why I’ve mentioned a CS3+1 for CS4, its because Adobe has asked people from refraining to use the term CS4. This definitely means we can expect a name change (and probably deletion of ‘Adobe’ before every app name!).

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Snow Leopard: Mac OS For the Masses ?

Snow Leopard will be the next major release of Mac OS X v10.6, the Macintosh operating system developed and ‘nurtured’ by Apple, Inc.. It will succeed the current version named Leopard, v10.5, released in October 2007! Snow Leopard is scheduled to be launched ‘in about an year or so’ as stated by Mr. Bertrand Serlet, Senior VP of Software Engineering Apple Inc.

 

“We have delivered more than a thousand features to Mac OS X over the last five years. We are going to hit the pause button on new features [to focus on] foundational features”. That was Steve Jobs, about 10 days ago at WWDC 2008, speaking at the preview (covered under NDA). So, what are these ‘foundational features’ ? Well, Apple has done a great job of answering that! Even 12 months before launch, Apple has already unveiled features (fundamental, though) like OpenCL (Using Graphics Card for Processor computing purposes), Grand Central (Multi core Processor Support) and ZFS (New Enterprise Level File System) and smaller system footprint(lesser HDD space utilization)  among many others and without doubt these 12 months will see a plethora of more of these added!

 

But the point to ponder is why did Apple decided to take such a step when most people transition to Macintosh because of two reasons: 1. Features (Time Machine, iLife, Gorgeous GUI, etc.) & 2. Performance (which is already phenomenal) ? My guess  is that there were/are (possibly) two major reasons. First, Apple has a pretty clear vision of what’s coming in he next 2-4 years and its preparing for that. Second, Apple is planning to release their OS for the PC family (yup, thats what I mean ‘for the masses’). I know this is stupid but well why is Apple dropping PowerPC support when its trying to improve its performance for not-so-powerful computers. Also recent events like rebranding of .Mac (Apple’s internet SAAS) to MobileMe and making the service fully PC compatible also doesn’t help!

 

Its still a full 12 months before we see anything and a lot can happen in 365 days! So the only thing we can do is to wait for Apple to demystify the mystery behind this one! Time will tell……

Bill Gates Ends Full Time Job at Microsoft

 

William Henry Gates III, popularly known as Bill Gates, will  ‘transition’ from his current post as Chairman Microsoft Corp to Non-Executive Chairman on June 27th. Putting it in simpler terms, he’ll be required to come to office only once a week or two rather than the full 5 days as he does now! 

 

While Microsoft may refer to this as a simple ‘transition’, we all know that it is much more than that. Bill is the face of Microsoft as it stands today and I’m guessing a plastic surgery in this case wont be so easy and effective either. Even if some of us might claim that he’ll still be a Chairman (though not full time), speaking in corporate terminology, its just a way to ensure that the loss of such a public figure doesn’t plunge the company’s stock seawards. Its ultimately a terrible loss for Microsoft however hard they may argue that there’s no single point of failure or that the company is too big to be affected by next week’s events. 

 

And Microsoft is well aware of this fact. The recent interest to acquire Yahoo! Inc. was a way to protect themselves from the onslaught of other mighty giants in the industry! Microsoft also knows that once Bill exits it’ll be as vulnerable as once IBM was, the same company Microsoft successfully displaced to become the king of the tech industry. Steve Balmer, CEO Microsoft since 2000, is a strong contender and a mighty champion under whom Microsoft has flourished but not a replacement to Bill!!! 

To look at the history, Bill Gates was truly one of the founders of the Tech Industry as we know it today. He founded the World’s first (& one of the biggest) software industry. He built the Worlds first Operating System in collaboration with Apple and for those of us who believe that he certainly doesn’t deserve such a mention, the OS he founded drives more than 90% of the computers in his World. He dedicated his life to achieve his ambition of a PC on every desk and today he has achieved it (at least in all developed and most developing countries). He has helped in this industry’s growth and development like no one else and apparently, no one else can!

 

We salute you Mr. Gates for its just because of you and some others like you that I’m writing this and we are reading!