Adobe and Microsoft. What is up with that partnership?

[winrayjay99]

According to several stories on the subject photo shop will be optimized for touch on windows tablets. But they way the partnership is being touted is Adobe products will work better on Microsoft products. So this is what I am wondering. First is Adobe bringing flash back to smartphones (flash was on Android at one point) through Windows? Also do you think Microsoft is working with other companies to push innovation. Unlike Google who aquires companies to further innovation. Because at one point Microsoft wanted to aquire adobe. I get the feeling Microsoft has something big coming soon.

 

[stephen_az]

Unfortunately this is a PR partnership and nothing more. People may get together on a stage but it is about as meaningful as a photo-op between President Obama and House of Representatives Republican leaders.

In reality, the touch enhancements apply to all touch enabled Windows devices, not just Surface devices. They are also only exclusive to Windows because there are no touch Macs. Otherwise, every enhancement in the CC applications apply equally to Windows and OSX. This is a silly sort of exclusivity that is the equivalent of saying you can't get four wheel drive on a motorcycle. This is also still actually Adobe's second priority. Anyone who thinks otherwise should look at the IOS version of Photoshop Touch that has been out for a long time (in fact just as long as Windows 8) and check out the IOS version of Lightroom mobile In addition, what was not mentioned here today is Adobe also released a new suite of apps for IPads. As it stands, it is nice to see the touch improvements but it took them to years to get it to experimental and touch is still a joke in the full version of Lightroom. Sorry to disappoint people but people should take all of this with a large grain of salt.

On different fronts, Microsoft never seriously considered acquiring Adobe. It was a rumor both sides quickly quashed based mostly on the fact that Ballmer met Adobe's CEO a couple times. Flash for mobile is also not coming back. Adobe shut the project down and no one is clamoring for it anyway. For mobile devices, Flash was already in decline when the project was terminated; HTML5 continues to move forward; and Adobe is heavily invested in AIR as its platform of choice. As for something big from Microsoft, they have already made that announcement - it is Windows 10. The next big announcement is also pretty well known - the touch enabled version of Office.

 

[bilzkh]

According to several stories on the subject photo shop will be optimized for touch on windows tablets. But they way the partnership is being touted is Adobe products will work better on Microsoft products. So this is what I am wondering. First is Adobe bringing flash back to smartphones (flash was on Android at one point) through Windows? Also do you think Microsoft is working with other companies to push innovation. Unlike Google who aquires companies to further innovation. Because at one point Microsoft wanted to aquire adobe. I get the feeling Microsoft has something big coming soon.

hmm...I think it's just Satya Nadella doubling down on renewing Microsoft's focus on productivity. The partnership with Adobe makes sense because it fills in the creative end of the productivity spectrum. Adobe is a bit big for Microsoft to acquire at this point, but synergetic partnerships aren't out of the question.

One area I can see collaboration in is in bringing Adobe Creative Suite to the 'mobile first, cloud first' world. Don't get me wrong, I would never expect the full power of Photoshop or Illustrator to make it to non-x86 tablets and PCs, but what about lighter versions for professionals?

Why should I depend on my company's creative team to produce nice visuals for my presentation slides or documents (e.g. reports)? It wastes time and energy, especially for the creative people who could otherwise focus on more complex tasks. I would love to see Adobe and Microsoft offer Universal App versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, etc, that will let me - as a general professional with some creative ability - to enhance my work.

These Universal Apps can sit in between their full desktop and light mobile (e.g. Photoshop Express) versions. Adobe can leverage Microsoft's Azure, OneDrive and Office Gemini stuff to push this suite, Microsoft in turn push this 'Creative for Pros' suite to its business customers.

 

[IEhrgeizI]

Someone here does talk sensibly afterall

 

[Rodrigo Pereira Teixeira]

I heard MSFT and Adobe are planning to include Photoshop on Office 365 subscription!

 

[KhawarNadeem]

I heard MSFT and Adobe are planning to include Photoshop on Office 365 subscription!

This would be very very nice to have. :0