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Considering for the past decade Microsoft has yet to release anything that would even resemble a competitor to Photoshop this could get interesting. However, considering the momentum Photoshop has with photographers and Lightroom is now just as much a staple application even as it comes up on version 2.0, Microsoft has miles of ground to cover. It seems to me the best they could hope to achieve, at least within the next 5 years is to gain some market share against Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro. I can’t foresee a time when serious photographers are going to give up Photoshop or now Lightroom.

What’s Microsoft want with Adobe Photoshop guru Mark Hamburg, who recently joined the Redmond juggernaut?

Hamburg a programmer who has been part of the Adobe Photoshop team since version 2.0 and helped lead the Photoshop Lightroom one, is now a Softie, as News.com’s Stephen Shankland reported on April 28.

The official word from Microsoft is Hamburg will be working on unnamed “user experience” efforts. My bet is Hamburg will be instrumental in helping Microsoft bring to market its Photoshop Lightroom competitor, which is codenamed “SmartFlow.”

Microsoft’s competitor to Adobe LightRoom gets another champion

Other Articles of Interest:

• What would you change (first) about Windows’ look and feel?
• Microsoft still working on an Adobe Lightroom competitor
• News on Adobe Lightroom at Lighroom-news.com
• Adobe releases beta of Lightroom 2.0 photo editing tool
• Adobe Lightroom 1.3.1 update
• The hills are alive with the sound of Photoshop…
• 10 Best Things About Adobe Lightroom 2.0
• More on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 brings 64-bit compatibility
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 hits the Internet