“Adobe’s next version of Photoshop — CS6 — is now available as a free download in beta form,” Charlie Sorrel reports for Cult of Mac.
“The update packs in a lot of new features, but it really feels more like a reboot, with a redesigned interface and several features ported back from Photoshop’s sister product, Lightroom,” Sorrel reports. “The biggest changes are the fixes to the basics. Crop is now undoable at any time, just like in Lightroom, and Photoshop also gets Lightroom’s shadow and highlight tools which pull details out of the dark and light parts of an image without make it look all HDR-y.”
More info in the full article here.
More info and download link for Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta (.dmg – 984 MB) here.
MacDailyNews Note: You do not need a serial number to install and use the beta. Simply select “Try. I want to try Adobe Photoshop CS6 for a limited time.” in the welcome screen when you start the installation process.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Judge Bork” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
I love the smell of Adobe getting desperate.
I heard the “limited time” was for a day?…..
The first time I clicked the download link, it told me I did not have permission to access that folder, but I closed that tab and followed the links again and now it it downloading.
And then you can rent it at $50 a month forever! Fat chance!
Anything but Adobe. They have thumbed their noses at Mac users far too long. I won’t use Adobe products and will use Pixelmator for photo editing.
unfortunately photoshop is the only software available for pro’s, lighting effects, colour separations. nothing else does it.
pixelmator is nice but its kiddy software.
Wow, you sure put the general public in their place. Most of us don’t need all the features of Photoshop and even the professionals like Scott Kelby don’t use most of the features. Can you say ‘feature bloat’?
Feature bloat is not a problem as long as the software runs well, doesn’t crash, does what you need it to, and is optimized for the platform.
The issue is how well does photoshop meet these criteria.
Yes, I use Photoshop every day because there really isn’t an alternative, and I can’t do without it. But Adobe is a chaotic operation. New features in P-Shop are often of beta functionality. The tool icons, always hard to distinguish, were made even worse in the last upgrade. Despite the fact that Mac users established PS, and remain their core support, they seem hostile to Apple. Adobe made a futile attempt to kill OS X, and seem still not fully integrated with Lion.
I heard a story a few years ago that top management called a meeting with the PS team to plan new appealing upgrades. The PS leaders announced that the software was a hopeless, confusing hairball and they proposed to throw it out and start over from scratch. Management said that’s not going to happen. Don’t know if it’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Its a pity Mac users only get about half the features…the windows version has over 700mb of extra wow!
File size =/= features.
exactly. Wise up Ploth!
“Beta” ???
Isn’t all Adobe software still technically “beta”.
It sure seems that way.
Flash was in beta for over 15 years… 😉
Do they have illustrator CS6 in a downloadable beta?
CS6?. Heck, I’ve got CS8.
Wait, does CS stand for c..k size?
produce it
Still prefer Pixelmator. It’s fast, easy to use and feels like a Mac app.
Download Adobe Photoshop CS6 now, for free?
Eww! I’d pay Adobe to keep it the hell away from me.
Ten bucks says the beta version has an expiration date. This is, after all Adobe. Am I right?
MacDailyNews Note: You do not need a serial number to install and use the beta. Simply select “Try. I want to try Adobe Photoshop CS6 for a limited time.” in the welcome screen when you start the installation process.
Don’t think you’re going to get any takers on that bet.
From Adobe Forums —
FAQ: When will the Photoshop CS6 Beta expire?
The Photoshop CS6 beta will expire soon after the launch of Photoshop CS6 in spring 2012.
Been using Photoshop since version 3. It’s gotten so buggy and bloated over the years as to be almost unusable for me. I’ve been doing the same work for years but every time I upgrade the software and hardware the performance never improves because Adobe just keeps adding usless tools and “features”. I don’t want 3D tools and video editing in Photoshop. The last good version was 5.5 but sadly there really is no alternative. I’d love to see Apple compete here.
I usually buy every three versions to keep my license. So I was glad about the policy reversal with CS6 to force purchased updates to CS5.5
as for PS CS5, it’s been rock solid and I have zero complaints for what I use it for. “opening customer files, mild touch ups and printing”. The most over priced software for the least amount of functionality.
As a professional photographer I stopped using Adobe PhotoShop and use PhotoShop Elements 10 as a plug-in editor in Aperture 3. This is supplemented by GEM and onOne software within the Elements 10 plug-in folder. For What I do, it takes care of 99% of the tasks I do.
http://www.barewalls.com/ix-john-nakata.html
I’ve been using PS since version 1.0 on Mac – the one thing they have not figured out yet in all the version upgrades is file sucking and RAM usage.
If you have a file and add a layer, then apply filters, tweak color, paste another layer or add a layer mask, etc… the file size triples… and then uses up more resources. Even with lightning fast computers and Solid state drives, maxed out memory, the file sizes increase astronomically.
Maybe they can work on that at some point?
I’ve never used pixelator but i’m sure it’s good if you’re not trying to work on real photo-retouching for print and just chopping pics for your Facebook page, etc..
Uh…..NO. I wouldn’t infect my machine with any of their crap, free or not. Especially beta crap.