Adobe brings full Photoshop to Chomebooks using the power of streaming
Chromebooks may not be the most powerful computers, but they are portable and cheap – which is why it is surprising to learn that Google and Adobe will be bringing full Photoshop to the platform.
Now don’t get us wrong: This isn’t simply a big screened Android app like Photoshop Elements, this is the real deal – the same app you’d get on a Windows or Mac desktop computer. The way it works is rather clever: Rather than try to run the app on your Chromebook, it instead runs in the Cloud, and all of the hardware processing is done there. Instead, all your Chromebook has to do is display the screen and send your commands back.
It’s even directly integrated with Google Drive, for storing files.
It’s a similar technology to the way that streaming gaming services like OnLive and the forthcoming Playstation Now will work with games. Of course, the service will not work offline.
At the moment access to Photoshop for Chomebook is limited only to US Education users who subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud – but presumably the service will roll out much wider eventually. No wonder a nervous Microsoft has been making bitchy TV ads.
