Adobe likely to make Photoshop free to everyone on web

SAN FRANCISCO: Software major Adobe has started testing a free-to-use version of Photoshop on the web as it aims to open the service for everyone.

According to The Verge, the company is now testing the free version in Canada, where users can access Photoshop on the web through a free Adobe account.

The software major has described the service as "freemium" and eventually plans to gate off some features that will be exclusive to paying subscribers. Enough tools will be freely available to perform what Adobe considers to be Photoshop's core functions.

"We want to make (Photoshop) more accessible and easier for more people to try it out and experience the product," Maria Yap, Adobe's VP of digital imaging, was quoted as saying.

Adobe first released its web version of Photoshop in October, delivering a simplified version of the app that could be used to handle basic edits. Layers and core editing tools made the jump, but the service did not come anywhere close to including the app's full breadth of features, the report said.

Instead, Adobe framed it primarily as a collaboration tool -- a way for an artist to share an image with others and have them jump in, leave some annotations and make a couple of small tweaks, and hand it back over, it added.