Adobe buys Pixmantec

The latest news of the day, and worthy of posting, is that Adobe (www.adobe.com) has purchased Pixmantec (www.pixmantec.com) which is in no doubt an effort to pull the throes of people who use the Pixmantec RawShooter into their fold. Pixmantec published a press release on their web site, which states, in part that:

“With high quality digital cameras now within reach of every photographer, customers are gravitating to RAW file formats that allow them to get more control over final results,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at AdobeĀ®. “By combining Pixmantec’s raw processing technology and expertise with our own, we’re continuing to deliver on the promise that even your existing RAW files can be processed with increasing quality as our software technology evolves.”

While this is clearly an effort to woo the aspiring prosumer market, for whom the costly Photoshop Creative Suite 2 (retails at $649) and purchasable from Adobe directly from ther website here, is out of reach, one can hardly blame them for finally taking more than a passing interest in the “lower echelons” of the photography market.
I just hope this does not prevent them from losing focus on the always dauntng task of improving load time on their premiere product!