Adobe Systems plans to announce new versions of its video-editing software Monday, including a Windows-only application that marks another high-profile defection from Apple Computer"s Macintosh operating system.
Adobe, a specialist in publishing and imaging applications, will announce a new version of Premiere, its main application for editing digital video. The new Premiere Pro will work only on PCs running Microsoft"s Windows XP operating system, ending years of support for the Mac OS.
Meanwhile, Adobe is updating After Effects, its software for adding visual effects to video. After Effects 6.0 will be available in Mac and Windows versions. Adobe also is adding Audition, an audio-editing program it acquired from Syntrillium, where it was known as Cool Edit Pro. Audition will be Windows-only, as will the Adobe Video Collection, a package that includes Premier Pro, After Effects, Audition and the Encore DVD authoring application.
David Trescot, senior director of Adobe"s digital video products group, said the new edition of Premiere is a complete rewrite of the application and it didn"t make financial sense to support the Mac anymore. "We were rewriting Premiere from scratch, and it would have taken a lot of work to have cross-platform support," Trescot said. The Mac already has several competing video-editing applications, including Apple"s Final Cut family of products, making for a small and crowded market, he said.