Instant-on OS gets Adobe photo-editing support

Phoenix Technologies and Adobe bring instant-on Photoshop editing to Netbooks.

(Credit: Adobe Systems)

Back in January, Phoenix Technologies launched a lightweight instant-on platform named HyperSpace. Designed primarily for Netbooks, the little low-power mobile computers that they are, it allows users to immediately access the Web, e-mail, and IM, among other benefits. And thanks to Adobe, it now includes photo editing.

HyperSpace customers will have instant access to Photoshop.com for organizing, editing, storing, and sharing photos. There is also support for Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader on the platform.

The Adobe additions follow the March announcement of the Phoenix partnership with ThinkFree for its Office apps, which let users of the OS manage and edit Microsoft Office file formats for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, online.

I'm totally down with these instant-on OSes (though Ackerman maintains that no one uses them). My big issue with HyperSpace is the annual subscription fee attached to it. If you want to boot into either it or Windows it'll cost you $39.95 a year. To boot into HyperSpace and Windows: $59.95 a year. Three-year reduced pricing is available for both, but at these prices you really have to want it.