Adobe Photoshop, the image editing software that became so ubiquitous its name became a verb is 20 years old. So congratulations and Happy Birthday to all those clever people in involved in its development, particularly Thomas and John Knoll the brothers who invented and developed the first version. It is a testament to the fact that more than just being the industry standard software, it has no real competition, that the purchase price remains so high. Photoshop is also the second most pirated piece of software ever, just behind the various versions of the Windows operating system.
I’ve been using Photoshop pretty much daily for the last 12 years or so, which rather tragically makes it one of the more significant relationships in my life, and like all relationships brings that heady mix of joy and sheer frustration. Those 12 years have been an intense and continual learning curve. I probably still only use about 50-60% of its capabilities. It truly is an awesome bit of software. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of CS5 later this year to see what new toys they’ve added. So here’s to the next 20 years.
