Wednesday, April 14 12:00 AM ET

Adobe Tweaks Photoshop EULA to Protect from Substandard Computers Using CS5

By Brian Briggs follow me on Twitter or Buzz.

San Jose, CA - Adobe has updated their service agreement for their just released Creative Suite 5, so that the software cannot legally be used on a computer with a multi-touch mouse, a computer with a battery which can't be removed, or any computer that comes pre-installed with iLife software, as these items could result in substandard creations.

The Adobe changes come just days after Apple changed their iPhone developer license to exclude a feature of Flash CS5 that could be used to create iPhone and iPad applications, though Adobe is not specifically mentioned in the announcement by Apple. Adobe said that their changes were not targeted at any specific platform, but just made to protect the "sanctity of CS5."

Adobe product manager Vance Smith said, "We can't just have anyone using CS5 to make Flash animations or Photoshop images, there have to be standards we uphold. We're clearly not targeting any specific platform, because no company name is mentioned in our new licensing agreement."

Developers who use Adobe products on Macs see the change differently. "It's laughable for Adobe to say this doesn't target Apple products. They might as well have said that it can't be used on products made by a company whose CEO is known to wear jeans and a black turtleneck," said Steve Landon of ASCII House Design.

Smith from Adobe said, "We tried that language, but our lawyers rejected that one. I mean, ahem, why would we say something like that?"

The battle between the two companies could alienate users of Apple and Adobe products alike, leaving an opening for a competitor to swoop in and gain market share. It's rumored many of the larger design houses are considering moving to GIMP on Linux machines or the equally powerful MS Paint on Windows-based computers.

Stocks of both Apple and Adobe were down on the news.