[slpdLoad]

I'm curious to hear what you guys think about the thin client model. Adobe is looking to move Photoshop online, and says maybe they would make money through ad dollars, like Google does.

-Do you like the thin client idea, where your computer just acts as a display and the program is run on a server?
I've had some experience with this at a university, and it is a great way to make software available, but it's not nearly as easy as using it straight from my machine.

- Professionals: Would you trust your applications to be hosted by an external server?

- Do you think the average user would support a thin client model (using our current internet infrastructure) if it gave them access to big applications (Photoshop and company, etc) for free?

Discuss.

[Big Mac]

I don't like rental wear, and I'd probably just opt to stay with Elements. But if it could be demonstrated that I would benefit from using a rental version of Photoshop and the price was right, I'd consider it because of the high price of Photoshop.

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally Posted by slpdLoad 

I'm curious to hear what you guys think about the thin client model. Adobe is looking to move Photoshop online, and says maybe they would make money through ad dollars, like Google does.

For starters, I think we can expect this to be a very trimmed-down Photoshop Light. The workflow and feature-set won't compare to normal Photoshop, but it might be enough for people that want to crop photos and run simple filters.

-Do you like the thin client idea, where your computer just acts as a display and the program is run on a server?

I hear it works okay on a local network so long as you're not moving too much data around. Latency does get annoying.

Professionals: Would you trust your applications to be hosted by an external server?

No. I don't even trust an application that needs online activation.

More importantly, this sort of thing won't work into a professional workflow. With photoshop, you can drag a dozen files onto the dock and have them open immediately, or run a batch script on a folder. I work mostly with keyboard shortcuts and can be very quick and efficient.

Also, I don't think stuff like CMYK and colour profiles can work without normal access to the local machine.