14 DAY TRIAL // The "download Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta today" announcement was posted on the official Adobe website. As Adobe was reconfigurating the website to account for the release of the Adobe Reader 8, the update process revealed the announcement featured in the adjacent image. Long Zheng of the IStartedSomething came across this announcement from Adobe, according to which Adobe Photoshop CS3 Beta is available for download today.
Adobe Systems has since then failed to confirm the matter at hand. Also, the generic time reference "today" helps a little in trying to determine an actual official release date. In this context, the announcement cannot be regarded otherwise than erroneous.
Adobe has resolved the issue since then and the announcement was removed. The update, although the result of an error, indicates the way Adobe will revamp the website to take into account the release of Photoshop CS3 Beta.
According to speculations circulating across the Internet, Adobe plans to release Photoshop CS3 final in the second quarter of the upcoming year. This further confirms the fact that a beta version of Adobe CS3 is very close to being made available for download.
In this context, Adobe's slip concomitantly with the release of Adobe Reader 8, when the website experienced a traffic jump, may be more of a publicity stunt designed to build anticipation than an accident.
Image courtesy of Long Zheng.