Excellent news for content providers, adult and otherwise, looking for ways to simplify Adobe Systems' popular image-editing programs: A new version of Creative Suite, which integrates many Adobe design- and document-making and editing tools into a single package, is expected to arrive in late May.
The new suite is expected to add a new image browser and access to a stock photo library offering royalty-free imagery, as well as bring together updated Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign programs with Bridge (file browsing) and Version Cue (file version management) utilities.
And that, according to Adobe, is just the basic package. In addition, the company plans to issue a premium edition of the suite, which also integrates Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional and GoLive.
"Our goal is to develop a technology platform that the creative community can rely on and build upon,” said president Shantanu Narayen in a formal statement announcing the forthcoming package. "With Creative Suite 2, we've delivered the essential tools designers need to efficiently realize and create their best work."
Of the new tools included in the package, Adobe Bridge integrates with all the main tools and lets you centralize your color-preference settings while also linking to Version Cue, another new tool that lets you track multiple versions of the files you use in your projects, Adobe said.
Adobe Stock Photo will serve as a single access point to hundreds of thousands of images from Getty Images, Jupitermedia, and other royalty-free sources, Adobe added. "[Our] unique approach brings royalty-free image libraries into the heart of the creative process," Narayen said.
Creative Suite 2 will support Mac OS X 10.2.8–10.3.8, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4, and Windows XP with Service Packs 1 and 2. The standard edition will reportedly sell for $1,265, while the premium is projected for a $1,680 price tag.
