JohnnyL’s Blogic

When the daily challenges of running a business bog me down, the best pick-me-up is to go out and talk to (and hang out with) customers and partners. There's no better real-time feedback of how well, or poorly, you're doing. One great place I love to use for getting a finger on the pulse of our digital imaging busines is Photoshop World. It's a well-attended, growing, and fun event that rotates coasts every six months. And it's run by a bunch of crazy, passionate, lunatic fringe folks. My kinda people.

I did the keynote at the most recent event in Boston. The enthusiasm for Photoshop CS3, and the newly announced Creative Suite 3 was amazing. It was the FIRST time ever that they sold out the show. Every breakout for every track -- sold out. There were people lined up in the halls trying to get in to some of the most popular sessions. And the first ever Birds of a Feather session for medical and scientific pros had more than 80 people show up for it!

As proud as we are of Photoshop CS3, and the new Extended version, it was clear that just as important to our success is the ecosystem of complementary technologies that make Photoshop World a "world" and not an "island". Walking the show floor was a great reminder for me of how our partner offerings continue to grow and support new and innovative ideas for designers around the world. Many of our long term partners were there showing their newest products, which was great. But as we passed one booth, an employee handed me a flyer for their new product and said it was "brand new... just 2 hours old". They were launching their company's first product right there on the show floor at Photoshop World. Their press release went out as the show opened. At another booth, I got a demo for a new input device that was just a prototype, but is expected to ship early next year. Brand new company. Brand new product in development. Brand new ideas all adding to the value of our products to our customers.

And the sudden flood of 3D companies that are coming out of the woodwork with products that support and expand the new 3D capabilities in Photoshop CS3 Extended is just mind blowing. John Nack has already blogged about some of these. Check it out.

We strive to build wow products. At the same time, we want to provide an open ecosystem that creates opportunities for new growth in the community that makes a wow product become a wow platform. This open approach, including using techniques like the very successful open public beta of Lightroom has proven incredibly valuable and we hope to do more along those lines.

Amazingly supportive customers. Incredibly innovative partners. Adding the zaniness of Scott Kelby, the president of the NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) performing Motown's greatest hits -- backed up by the "Histograms" (a geek version of the "Pips") made my trip to Boston a worthwhile venture. I'm just thankful I was not asked to lip-sync with Scott and the Histograms. I only play one musical instrument. The stereo.