Okay, folks–the Photoshop CS3 beta is now live on Adobe Labs, so have at it! Please note, however, that we’re experiencing some problems [see below] with the online serial number tool. Our engineers are cranking away on it, but in the meantime some valid CS2 serials are not being accepted. (We believe that the bulk of numbers are working correctly, but some clearly are not).
Sorry about the glitch, and thanks for your patience. We hope to have it resolved soon, and in the meantime you can run the beta in tryout mode if you’d like. I’m now headed over to the new CS3 beta forum on Labs to try to answer questions.
[Update: We believe we’ve addressed the issue, so if you ran into a snag earlier today, please try again. If you continue to experience problems, please let us know via the forum. –Thanks, J.]
You guys have done a fantastic job with the CS3 beta. Nicely done.
[Thanks very much. Now, we just have to mash down this serial number validation issue & I think we’ll be set. –J.]
that’s right… some keys (like mine) didn’t work on my first try… Hope this will be solved before the expiring…
thanks for sharing 🙂
Fantastic!!!
Yeah, my CS2 Premium key didn’t work, but I have a stand-alone copy of Photoshop CS2 and that key worked.
I went ahead and tried it without the serial number. All I can say is ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! This is how Photoshop is supposed to run!
Nice work!
Great upgrade! Thanks! My Noiseware pro doesn’t work. Will all plug-ins need to be rewritten?
[Yes, plug-ins will have to be rewritten for Mactel. You can still load them when needed by launching PS in Rosetta mode (via Get Info on the app icon). –J.]
With ImageReady being gone from Photoshop CS3 why haven’t they at-least incorporate the Rollover features into Photoshop CS3. ImageReady’s way of working with Photoshop files and it’s rollover features are amazing. Fireworks is really clunky and not so nice when creating rollover their way and doesn’t work with Photoshop files as well as it should where ImageReady worked with them perfectly. If Photoshop would add in ImageReady’s Rollover features then it would be good. Fireworks as the solution isn’t acceptable.
I feel the ultimate solution is to add the Rollover capabilities from ImageReady to Photoshop that way the loss of ImageReady will be acceptable.
Congratulations on a good job, well done! From the outside looking in, it sure seemed like you folks have just gone through a firestorm of activity to get this out, and the effort is bound to be appreciated by all of your users.
It’s an extra-special Christmas present, from my point of view.
(Not to be a nag, though, but the SDK? Can you give us a hint where it will be posted? If I just knew where I should be looking to find it when it does show up, I’ll feel a lot more reassured, and won’t have to keep digging around the entire adobe site, in case I missed it…)
[Good questions, and I’m just not sure yet. We should have something out in a few days, and I’ll post info here about its location. –J.]
Seems pretty awesome so far!!
One of my first issues after opening it and creating one new document befor doing anything… I tried to move the dock. But, I don’t have any control of where I can put the dock… I can’t move it anywhere at all, just expand and collapse. I want to move it to my other monitor and have it dock to the left side of that screen, or even have it dock to the bottom of the primary screen but I can’t! 🙁
[Yeah, we had to pick our battles, and there are some definite “1.0” limitations to the new UI. I’ll be posting more info about it shortly. In any case, even with its limitations we think it’s a big step forward. –J.]
I’m sure you are getting about infinite suggestions, but this is just my 2 cents. However I must say, I love it so far, and Bridge is sooo much faster and I’m not even running MacIntel. Great Job!! Looking forward to the full release!
[Thanks! –J.]
Thank goodness Adobe are finally treating their Mac customers with due respect – the serial number glitch needs quick fixing though.
Some nice new features – but I really hope that the upgrade will be gratis – not enough to justify a full $175 upgrade cost. Please bare this in mind when you set the upgrade prices.
I love the new filter mask ! Painting on blur etc is much better and intuitive. There have been some Apple freebie apps that do this on core image – but its good to see it on CS3.
I’m happy now !!!!
Do Windows CS2 keys work with the Mac version of the CS3 beta? I’ve recently made the switch to the Mac after being a Windows user for a long time, and I’d really like to try CS3 on the Mac without having to commit to anything (i.e. purchasing the Mac CS2)
[Sorry, no: serials are platform-specific. –J.]
I just need to say Freakin’ AWESOME. Worth the wait (and the grousing i’ve been doing about adobe apps since buying my MacBookPro). Plugins will be an issue for a while… and i’m sure there will be some UI tweaks to come, but this is great… opens in about two seconds where Pshop CS2 takes about 35 seconds. Nearly everything is happening in real-time… just great. And i for one love the new icons.
[Sweet–really glad to hear it. –J.]
Hi John,
Very nice job on CS3. I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. Not exactly sure what the process is for submitting bugs or issues. FWIW, here’s one I discovered while playing around with smart filters. Applying a motion blur to any smart object results in a blur that is confined to a square region around the object. For example, if you create a circle, convert it to a smart object and apply a motion blur to it, the blur is confined to a box the same size as the circle. What is the official route for filing bugs? Keep up the great work.
[Thanks for the info, Trevor. Our QE guys ask that you report bugs via the beta forum on Labs. –J.]
New CS3 is awesome – sooo much faster. However my serial number from CS2 still isn’t activating it, which is frustrating, hopefully it’ll get fixed before my 2 days are up.
It’s Saturday morning, and it still will not accept my CS2 serial number. Tried the v.1 serial number and that was rejected as well.
I am still having a problem. I called Adobe this am (waited for a long time to get through) and they told me about the serial number issue. When i try to register, it tells me my serial number is invalid and already in use for CS3. So I only have one more day on the trial.
Mark Kay
markay@stanford.edu
I can only activate CS3 on my laptop with an internet connection, not my desktop (no connection, failed over the phone and the help line told me this is the case). Will this change? I have never had a connection to my main editing machine.
Thanks, Mike
[When CS3 ships, we’ll support phone activations, as we do with CS2, but for now I believe you need a connection. The whole thing takes a matter of seconds. –J.]
Trevor Johnston – We have a bug logged for smart filters being confined to the original square bounds of the smart object. Thanks.
Any idea on when the serial number issue will be fixed.. kind of frustrating to spend over $600 for software and have the company say that the copy I have doesn’t exist.. I really like the speed of the 3.0 version.. I just want to be able to use it for more than 2 days.. thanks
[Carl, when’s the last time you tried? Please let me know if you’re still seeing the problem today. Note that serial numbers are platform-specific. –J.]
Hi John,
I’ve downloaded CS3 while you were asleep and I’ve been playing with it for a few hours. My first impression: looks great! Nice UI, and I like the speed in Bridge. Thanks to the development team.
Ed
[Oh, I never sleep, Ed; blog ain’t gonna write itself. 😉 –J.]
Hi John,
Any plans when a full 30-day trial will be available? I am in the same boat as a lot of new Mac users… I only have a serial for CS2 Win, and I want to be able to try out this baby for a bit longer than 48 hours.
Besides, the Win version was kinda my only real option as I’m using an Intel Mac.
[Colin, at this time we don’t plan to change the beta tryout period. That said, we’re certainly listening to feedback on the forum & will endeavor to remain flexible. (Of course, we also have to concentrate on actually finishing this sucker!) –J.]
When will you release Photoshop for Linux? I know that such giant which even bought Macromedia only counts money and wants to make money from its customers as much as possible so will never go open source, but why don’t you support Linux platform? Why do you treat Linux users as “second class” people? Adobe products are mainly for professionals so do you think there are no graphics pros using Linux?
Some people want be OK. If they can’t afford something – they don’t steal. So they use open source operating systems because of money or philosophic reasons. Money which they saved on Windows they could spend for Adobe products. Photoamateurs could buy Photoshop, web designers Dreamweaver for example.
Even Microsoft wants release in near future his office suite for Linux.
[Wake me when that happens. –J.]
Where will be Adobe then?
PS. I thank God that something touched you and you will release new version of Flash player for Linux after years. I thank God becuase it had to be act of God – there is no other option.
[That had to be it. Yep, that’s the ticket. –J.]
I still cannot get a serial number to validate. Do I need to re-download the program again and start over? Is it a problem with the actual downloaded program or a problem at Adobe? This is Sunday… still get a big old red “X”!
[Our QE guys will follow up with you to diagnose what’s going on. –J.]
INVALID KEY?????????????
I thought this issue was resolved? When does the beta expire? I wish I could get back the last 30 minutes I spent trying to make Adobe’s broken website work.
*sigh*
[The sigh is on my end: since you don’t provide a name or email address, I can’t follow up with you to troubleshoot what’s going on. –J.]
Hi John
I have been delving into CS3 for the past couple of days without encountering any serious problems in ‘my’ usual workflow. I quickly got to grips with the new layout and now have my most used palletes and the single column toolbox all parked neatly on the right-hand side – which I am getting to like a lot.
The addition of the hue saturation and luminosity tab to ACR4 is a great bonus as it includes the ability to edit the secondary as well as the primary colours. Accurate camera calibration should now be a breeze.
Just for the sake of nit picking..
Will there any way of altering the brightness of menu/tool-bar and pallets? At present they seem to be at 237 which is exceedingly brighter than I am used to. I would prefer somewhere around 180 -200 which I find plenty bright enough to read without them dominating the image I am working on.
[Glad you’re liking it overall, Kevin. The ability to change palette brightness was on the to-do list for the new UI, but I’m afraid it had to be cut from this release. We know it’s important. –J.]
Great job on the CS3! I am still having troubles with the serial code. I upgraded my copy of CS to CS2 via download, and used the serial number that was provided in the email receipt. It’s still not working though. My trial will end tomorrow I think. Is there any hope of getting it to run?
[I’ll follow up with you to investigate. –J.]
Really sad that I have only 3 days to try this because I’m a CS1 user. I mean, just three days? Come on, can’t the CS1 user have chance to try this software a bit longer? We paid for Photoshop too… ;-(
[I hear you, but it would be a little hard to tell everyone who paid for CS2 that we were now just giving away all that functionality. –J.]
(But I’m happy that CS3 seems to be way faaast compared to old versions 😀
[Cool, glad to hear that. –J.]
Am concerned to try the download of CS3. Have CS2 but when I try to update Illustrator there seems to be a conflict with the new Apple security via airport. At least that’s what the “report” says.
Have seen a workaround from Version Tracker but that is untenable.
[I haven’t seen any such reports, and I’m using the Airport update without incident. Would you point me to the info you’ve seen? –J.]
I would encourage Adobe to reconsider the platform-specific licensing that you are presently using for CS2/CS3. Like many others, I have recently become a Mac convert. I bought a license for CS2 Premium for Windows. I was super-excited to run finally on OS X (one less program to run in Parallels).
Much to my chagrin, I had a time-limited 48 hour experience because I have a Windows license, not a Macintosh one.
Please consider changing your beta policy to allow those of us with Win CS2 licenses to generate Mac CS3 beta serial numbers.
Additionally, given all of the posts I have seen, perhaps this should cause Adobe to change their licensing schema– if we are allowed to install legally on two machines (not running simultaneously) then many of us probably would like to install 1 copy on Mac and 1 copy on Windows. Perhaps the products (Mac and Windows) could ship all in the same box, like many other vendors.
Thanks for your consideration.
[Okay, thanks for the feedback. We’ll put our heads together. –J.]
I really appreciate Adobe making the beta available, but it would be nice if you issued serial numbers that worked for both platforms. I have two PS CS2 licenses for Windows but I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. I didn’t buy CS2 for the Mac because I heard that it runs slowly on the Intel microprocessor. I’d really like to try the CS3 beta on the Mac, and if it works well I’d certainly be buying an additional CS3 Suite for the Mac when it’s released (I don’t want to buy CS2 for Mac now, which I wouldn’t use, and then pay for an upgrade when CS3 is released). Thanks for listening!
my serial still doesnt work 🙁
[I’ll follow up with you directly. –J.]
Hi, my CS2 Premium serial number isn’t working. My company participates in Adobe’s volume licensing program, and the CS2 serial has been registered through adobe.com. Thanks for any advice.
[We’re working on a solution for volume licensing customers. –J.]
My CS2 license is an “update”.
It does not allow instalation on my VAIO P4 laptop. The “RED X” comes up on completion of the serial number, even before I press “Next”. The CS3 beta was downloaded at noon, Dec., 18, 2006.
Would appreciate help and response.
Thanks, Avi
[Avi, I’ve sent you a message so that we can troubleshoot. –Thx, J.]
I’m having the same problem as Avi – my CS2 license code is an update version and it also won’t validate with the CS3 Beta.
[I’m on it. FWIW, we’re setting up an email alias to deal with problem reports so that you’re not having to depend on me/QE for triage. –J.]
I am a Mac G-5 1.8 mz user with OS 10.3.9. After over an hour trying to figure out how to install the beta version without success, I read all through your beta web site page and finally found waaaay at the bottom of the “Product Details” tab that OS 10.4.8 is required to run this version. Would it have been all that hard to have put that up at the top next to the download link to protect old farts like myself from wasting time and raising blood pressure? (Actually that is a health issue with me at the moment, not just an expression.)
[Sorry it was such a pain to find that info. I’ll look into ways to make it easier to discover. –J.]
I have no plans to upgrade my OS from 10.3.9 since it is purring along so very nicely doing everything I want and need it to do and it works on my old Pismo that I take on the road with me when I infrequently travel. So does this mean that when the actual CS3 upgrade is issued for real that I will not be able to use it? As a professional photographer and web designer I sure hope that will not be the case.
[Yes, that’s the case. The transition to Intel-based Macs is a big, big deal, with lots of non-obvious changes required under the hood. We had to make the call to focus on newer systems/OSes. –J.]
Yeah, I’m having ser# troubles, too. I have a cross-platform serial number for an educational batch license for the creative suite. I have entered the serial number on the site (two numbers, actually) and have gotten the same number back for both numbers. Entering this into the Mac version of the PS3 registration yields an X. I haven’t tried to use it in Windows yet(and frankly, I’d rather not. I’m biased.) I would love help on this, cuz I been using Pshop since, uh, ok, forever (my old company bought one of the first copies of PS 1!).
[Sorry for the delay, Sheldon. Please check out the info I just posted and let me know if you need more details. The folks at the other end of the email address I posted there will be able to sort you out. –J.]
John,
I’m currently updating our college catalog for FA07 and see that ImageReady is not a part of Photoshop CS3. Is IR a dead app?
[Yep, that’s the case. –J.]
I realize that Fireworks has a larger user base and is the better option.
[I don’t think we actually know which app has more users. What we do know is that IR users would like IR’s functionality folded into PS so that they don’t have to use multiple apps for those functions, and that is mostly accomplished at this point. Also, FW offers a more unique toolset (hybrid vector/raster) that we think is really well suited to new tasks (e.g. rapid prototyping). –J.]
I strongly agree with the “universal” user-interface for all apps, there also needs to be a “universal” approach in the way different apps produce similar results i.e., animation! ImageReady produced animation one way, Flash another way, and Fireworks yet another way. Is there any effort to solidify a single method of producing animation, to help reduce the learning curve between apps?
Thanks for your time.
Gary
With no image ready capabilitys, forget cs3, is not for us.
[What, specifically, are you getting in IR that you aren’t getting in PS/ And if you own IR, why not keep using it? –J.]
IR allows a few things very simply that PS does not like URL Tags to Slices, Rollovers, and Image Maps.
Also we can’t open CS3 Docs in IR CS2 so we can’t really keep using it.
I am hopeful the FW will be at least included as part of the CS3 standard bundle. Otherwise I have been paying maintenance for products that are being killed.
My Serial Number for CS2 is still not recognized so I can no longer use the trial. Help!
My Serial number for CS2 Web Bundle does not work. This is (was) a great upgrade. Nice feature and much faster.
[Ted, are you entering your CS2 serial number into Photoshop CS3, or into the serial number page on Labs? It needs to be the latter (more details here). Let me know if you’re still having trouble. –J.]
[Update: Ted confirms that the Labs site gave him what he needs & all is now well. –J.]
The beginning of the year will be about Vista and Mac Leopard, but towards the latter part of the year Linux will be just as sexy with Ubuntu, Fedora and Suse all adopting a richer graphical (read bling!) interface- supporting the same HW acceleration.
So what do Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat need to do to convince you to support Linux as well?? Tell them and I’m sure they’ll beat a path to your door.
PS. Note that when Novell did a poll it was Photoshop that was most requested – even though Gimp is free.
Hi folks,
The program didn’t recognize my CS2 serial number. Two day trial period expired. Still not activating tonight. Do I need to re-download prior to trying again?
will activating cs3 beta on a computer count as one of the 2 computers allowed for cs2?
[Nope–the two versions are totally independent of one another.. –J.]
Hi,
Please can you tell me how to activate CS3 im having problems with the code i put in, as many others are also… ive looked on diffrent sites to try and find somting that might help with no luck.Please tell me a number that works or a step by step way in activating the betea CS3…i realy like to use CS3 i only had 1 day try. A despreate person…… Help Tony
[Please see the information I posted. –J.]
Great Beta, but not being able to move pallets to 2nd monitor is unacceptable.
[It’s just as possible to move palettes to the second monitor as it was in previous versions. You just can’t put the new *docks* of palettes onto the second monitor. In other words, nothing has been taken away; we just didn’t get to take the new stuff even farther. –J.]
I want PHOTOSHOP for OpenSuSe Linux!!!!
PLEASE!!!! I hate windows
Hi, all great, fantastic products but why have Adobe done the dirty on us?
IN CS2.3 we got Indesign, Illus, Photoshop, Imageready and Dreamweaver etc. This means we could do graphics using Illus/Indesign and also web, and export via Imageready, slice up, do rollovers, and use in Dreamweaver.
My business is graphic and web based but there is now not a package to suit me.
Design Premium incs Indesign but not Fireworks.
Web Premium incs Fireworks but not Indesign
This is a dirty trick. You replaced Imageready with Fireworks, then put it in the web package.
[It isn’t a dirty trick. 90% of ImageReady is now inside Photoshop, per clear feedback from users. The only significant thing that didn’t make the jump are image-based rollovers. The cost of re-implementing them just wasn’t worth it, given that this technique has fallen into disuse. –J.]
What do I do now?!
[Keep using ImageReady if you like it. I don’t know why people seem to think that IR being discontinued will cause existing copies to stop working. –J.]
Buy the web premium and update indesign separately, or can I buy design premium and update Imageready CS2 to Fireworks?
Its just another expense on top of the high premium price.
Still having problems with my CS2 premium key. Get a message stating CS3 can’t recognize any valid software my system and wants me to input a key (which doesn’t work).
Re.: Your reply to simon. Does the web design functionality of PS CS3 extend to layer based rollovers (w/o image maps)? How about slice based htm url links?
This is important to me as I’m about to make a cross platform upgrade which means that I’ll probably lose ImageReady CS2 in the manditory distruction process.
While this may be to no avail, it will at least show there is desire for it: Photoshop for Linux!
Palette Dock Question: I want to move it to my second monitor and have it dock to the left side of that screen — is this possible? I’m hoping it’s been addressed since Ian Shea raised the question in 2006.
[It is not possible to use palette/panel docks on secondary monitors, though that’s obviously something we’d like to enable. We just didn’t have time to get there this cycle. –J.]
I need Flash and Photoshop for Linux, specifically Fedora. Gimp sucks. Windows and Mac suck. Come on, we are willing to pay full price for it.
We want Creative Suite For LINUX!!!!!!
what we have to do to have a port of CS3 or CS4 to linux ditros???!??!? why mac os? linux is also a graphical rich UI??? NEED CS PORTED!!! I will pay full price but not for win or mac version!!!!!
I would like some help… Not sure if im even asking in the right place. I basically need to know how to go about making a request for adobe to port CS3 or make CS4 run native in ubuntu. Neither CS, CS2, nor CS3 run in Wine, or Crossover Office. Linux users need modern tools too.
i would really like to see photoshop for linux
the gimp and inkscape are great tools and i enjoy using them but i would really like to see the availability of loads more design tools for linux
while linux on the desktop is not the most popular platform it is for webservers. many sysadmins are familiar with linux so this i think real area for potential growth
i want the serial number for photoshp CS3 because i’ve download it from adobe but they gave me 30 days if i dont put the serial number so please can u send it to me or tell me what can i do..
thanks 🙂
[BUY A COPY. –J.]
Poor “noor” — I’m a bit more sympathetic to your sad plight than Mr. Nack, so here you go: 1234-5678-9101-1121-3141.
[Think he’ll fall for it? –J.]
Why does it take forever to download adobe flash player on windows vista.
[Given that even the new FP10 is just 1.76MB, I have no idea. Something is wrong with your configuration. –J.]
Come on Adobe, supporting Linux will free millions of people from Windows lock in and increase Linux users by millions. It may even allow them to sell their software twice to studios upgrading to Linux! Wow.
Just don’t be evil like Microsoft by causing people to have to use a retarded OS like Windows.
If you want quality porting help, let us know and we’ll send you our stinkiest bearded nerd who will have it finished in a few days.