Adobe Photoshop Express beta blurs the lines

The lines are blurring. Again.

Adobe has just launched a public beta of a new version of Photoshop called Photoshop Express, which allows users to upload and edit JPEG images through any web browser. Once photos are uploaded into the web application, you can crop them, distort them, remove red eye, and do many of the standard image edits you'd do in your computer-based image editing software. The service, which requires you to fill out a brief registration page, also includes 2 gigabytes of storage to upload images. What this means is that no matter where you are, if you have access to a computer and the Internet, you'll be able to make edits to your photos.

This is certainly not the first free online image-editing tool. There are many others available, including FlauntR and Picnik. So, Adobe's not the first to blur the lines between an image editor and what many call a Web 2.0 application, or a software app that runs via a web browser. But since Adobe sells such well known image-editing programs like Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements 6, it's able to make this type of web app more mainstream. The company has even designed the Express version with the same clean interface that appears on CS3 and Elements.

There are some computer requirements in order to use the web tool. You'll need Windows XP or Vista, or Mac OS 10.4 or later, a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 and 512 MB of RAM. Browsers that work include Internet Explorer 6 or 7 (for Windows), Safari 3.0.4 or later (for Macs), or Firefox 2 or later (for either platform). You'll also need Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.0.115 or later).

One potential drawback is that it doesn't have some of the elaborate photo-editing features found on CS3, such as the Lens Correction tool. Since you can't upload RAW files, there's no equivalent of the Camera Raw editor either. But since it is in beta, meaning it's not an official version of the app, perhaps there will be further enhancements that will add such features, including (one hopes) a full-featured help guide. At the moment, it only has a rather skimpy FAQ and online forum to find assistance.

But if it wasn't enough that Adobe has introduced an online image-editing tool, the app has been integrated with certain social networking and online photo-sharing websites, such as Picasa and Facebook. According to the app's FAQ, once you set up access to the other web services, the photos you have on those sites will appear in Photoshop Express. And the lines blur even more.

For more on Photoshop Express, click here.

—Terry Sullivan