Photoshop CS6 last version to support Windows XP

An early announcement by Adobe’s Tom Hogarty, in an official blog post, confirms that Photoshop CS6 (13.0) will be the last version to support Windows XP. He adds that Photoshop CS6 does not support Windows Vista. “In addition, all subsequent Photoshop feature updates specifically for Creative Cloud members will no longer support Windows XP. Leveraging advances available on newer operating systems and hardware allows us to deliver significantly better performance, and focus our innovation efforts around the areas of the greatest benefit to our customers,” he adds further in the blog post.

Photoshop CS6 is the last version to support Windows XP

Hogarty notes that the existing version (Photoshop CS6) “already demonstrates” that by using a modern operating system, graphics cards/GPUs and graphics drivers, users can experience noticeable improvements in 3D, Blur Gallery and Lighting Effect features -- something that is not available to Windows XP users. 

In April this year, Adobe Incorporated announced the Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended software, the new releases of its professional digital imaging software.

Packed with new features and enhancements, the software aims to deliver new levels of creativity and increased efficiency. Photoshop CS6 Extended integrates state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and graphic design capabilities of Photoshop CS6, as well as advanced tools for 3D design, image and video editing, and quantitative analysis which address the unique needs of the graphic design, video, web, architecture, medical, manufacturing and engineering industries.

Reports at the time had indicated that since Photoshop CS6 was released as a public beta on March 22 for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows platforms, there have been nearly one million downloads of the software worldwide – surpassing any public beta in Adobe’s history. With this launch, Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended can either be purchased as stand-alone applications, key components of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family, or as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud offering, that has also been announced.

Photoshop CS6 features include:

• Content-Aware Patch – Allows greater control by letting users choose the sample area used to create a patch.
• Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine – Takes advantage of the graphics processing unit in modern hardware to speed up imaging and editing tasks, and process large images faster.
• New and Re-engineered Design Tools – Type styles enable consistent formatting; vector layers apply strokes and add gradients to vector objects; custom strokes and dashed lines are easily created; quick layers search and more.
• Intuitive Video Creation – The full range of familiar Photoshop tools and an intuitive set of new video tools to create and enhance any video clip.
• Blur Gallery – A simple new interface with on-image and in-context controls allows users to quickly create photographic blur effects including tilt-shift effects, blur everything with one focal point, or vary the blurriness between multiple focal points.

Hogarty goes on to add that by way of an early announcement, users will take note of the company’s current decisions pertaining to the OS support. He urges users to begin making their migration, so that they can benefit from the future Photoshop innovations as soon as they are available.