Microsoft pulls off an extraordinary feat reinventing desktop application design, but it's only the taste of things to come regarding the web.

For years now there has been talk of Microsoft’s determination to move into the design software territory normally associated with Adobe. Now, with the launch of the Expression Studio suite, the talk is over – so how does it shape up?

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VERDICT: Powerful and award-winning new versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator – and now Acrobat 8 Professional too.

So here they are – the new professional platforms for both print and web design have arrived...

Tom Arah explores the vector and bitmap capabilities in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop and how to make the most of them.

Photoshop and Illustrator are the twin graphical pillars of Adobe’s Creative Suite. As standalones they each offer their own unique mix of state-of-the-art vector and bitmap-based handling but, for maximum creative power, their respective strengths can also be pooled.