The past nine months have seen an unprecedented level of disclosure from Adobe Systems, Inc. first with committing to a firm release date, sneaking a look at InDesign CS3, and today with the announcement of Photoshop CS3 as a public beta—the first in Adobe’s history.

Adobe has always played its cards close to the vest, refusing to comment about upcoming products or product updates, and never committing to firm release dates. Any such information released to the public could affect Adobe Systems, Incorporated stock prices, and is therefore closely guarded by Adobe and Federal Trade Commission regulations. Over the nine months, however, Adobe has been breaking tradition to dole out secrets.

It began in a March 2006 interview with Forbes Magazine wherein CEO Bruce Chizen committed to a 2nd Quarter 2007 release of Creative Suite 3. Next, in May 2006, following the release of competitor QuarkXPress 7 to critical praise, Adobe allowed select members of the press, including Designorati, to reveal features of InDesign CS3 (see: “[1] Sneak Peek: InDesign CS3“). Now, they’ve kicked open the vault door wider still.

As of 2:40 PM Pacific Time today, Adobe has opened the fun to not just press but the public as well.

Photoshop CS3 Public Beta

Following the success of the public beta program for Adobe Lightroom, the professional successor to the runaway hit Photoshop Album and the Creative Suite-bundled Adobe Bridge, Photoshop CS3 is entering a public beta phase as well. Beginning Friday, 15 December, 2006, the [2] Adobe Labs Website will enable any licensed user of Photoshop CS2 or Creative Suite 2 to download and try out the Photoshop CS3 beta, which runs natively on OS X PowerPC and Intel-based Macs and Windows XP and Vista. The Photoshop CS3 distribution does not include a beta version of ImageReady CS3, but does come with CS3 versions of Adobe Bridge, Adobe Stock Photos, and the new application, Adobe Device Central, an integrated tool to design, preview, and test mobile content for cell phones and other portable media devices.

Available only in English, the beta will work in conjunction with any language version of Photoshop CS2 worldwide. In order to use the CS3 beta, users must have a valid license for at least one of the following: Photoshop CS2 (full, upgrade, and education), Adobe Creative Suite 2.x Standard or Premium (full, upgrade, and education), Adobe Production Studio Standard and Premium (full, upgrade, and education), Adobe Video Bundle (full, upgrade, and education), or Adobe Web Bundle (full, upgrade, and education). After initial installation, the Photoshop CS3 beta will run for 2-days before expiring. To activate and continue using the beta, users will need to provide a valid Photoshop CS2, Creative Suite, Production Studio, or Bundle serial number via the Adobe Labs Website in order to obtain a Photoshop CS3 beta serial number.

Adobe is firm that “this is not the Photoshop CS3 product launch… Photoshop CS2 is the shipping product, and PSCS3 is no substitute. It’s unfinished, and you need to own CS2 to use it.” And: “We’re releasing CS3 as an extension of CS2, as a service to Photoshop customers who’ve been eagerly awaiting native performance.”

The company is releasing the beta to the public at this time primarily to enable Intel-based Mac users to enjoy a Universal Binary version of Photoshop. From the Photoshop CS3 Beta Q&A released today: “Adobe has a long-standing commitment to the Mac community and this release is Adobe’s way of delivering native performance to our Mac customers many months earlier than we otherwise could have done. Over the years, Photoshop has consistently done right by Mac customers, offering a free PowerPC update for Photoshop 2.5 and a free G5 update for PS 7, even though new versions were right around the corner. Making the Photoshop CS3 Beta available to all of our Mac-based Photoshop CS2 users is a further proof of our commitment to the platform. Since a large portion of our customer base is on Windows, Adobe is simultaneously releasing a Windows version of the Photoshop CS3 beta to Windows XP and Vista users.”

Recommended System Configurations

Mac OSX 10.4.8 or 10.5, 1 GHz PowerPC® G4 or G5 processor, Intel based Macintosh, or Windows: Intel® Xeon® , Xeon Dual, Centrino® or Pentium® 4 processor, Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher, Microsoft Windows Vista. Both platforms require 512 MB RAM and a 1024×769 resolution screen.

Photoshop CS3 beta will expire soon after the launch of Photoshop CS3 in Spring 2007. Details on final pricing, system requirements and availability have yet to be announced.

Adobe has not announced plans to open other Creative Suite 3 application beta programs to the public.