Photoshop CS3 beta to be available soon

Largely to satisfy this request, Adobe is releasing Friday a free, downloadable public beta of new the Photoshop CS3. The beta of the popular image-editing software will be available for Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Windows Vista operating systems. Adobe plans to release the final version in 2007.

Here's the catch, though. You have to be a current Photoshop or Creative Suite CS2 user with a valid serial number to use the beta. If you're not, you have two days to check it out before the trial expires. New users looking to try Photoshop for the first time have a pretty short window to do so.

New Photoshop CS3 features include a quick selection tool that can select an object (such as a person) with one click as well as the ability to apply nondestructive (in other words, editable) filters and effects. And while Photoshop CS2 lets you edit shapes (such as cans and boxes) in three-dimensional perspective, you are limited to moving in angle-increments of 90 degrees; the new Photoshop CS3 lets you work in finer increments. Plus, the new Photoshop is supposed to be faster than its predecessor.