New Photoshop is focused on the creative executive

In the Mac universe (and yes, even in Windows) there is one particular milestone that has stood the test of time. This important event has happened regularly without fail since the dawn of the graphical user interface.

Like the passing of Halley's Comet, the event marks the next phase of technology advancement and inspires developers all over the world to take their products to the next level. In fact, the application is so influential that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of programs that do not work without it.

The application is Photoshop - the full version - and the event is the much anticipated 1.5 year (roughly) upgrade.

Each new version of Photoshop is usually targeted toward a specific, neglected segment of its user-base and this latest version, Photoshop CS 2, is no exception. It has new features for everyone, but is targeted towards an odd audience - the creative executive.

Three or four versions back, even though people could not use most of Photoshop, they had to have a copy just because it did so many unique things. Then Adobe introduced Photoshop Elements - an inexpensive, easy-to-use and light version of Photoshop. It was assumed that the market for the full application would shrink. It did not.

There are tens of thousands of people who can afford and want the real thing. But they want to do some of the fancy things possible in Photoshop without having to take courses or do long tutorials. Here's how the creative executive market is defined: affluent, creative, busy, no nonsense, focused on impressing, value and brand conscious. This is what they get.

For the affluent and value conscious Adobe dropped the price of the US$700 application to US$599. That's the first major price drop for Photoshop. Some discount retailers will have it for less.