Calling the shift a smart move on Apple's part, Chizen said Adobe plans to create versions of its Creative Suite for Macintosh to run on both PowerPC and Intel processors.

"We enthusiastically support Apple's new hardware strategy and believe Intel-based systems will deliver the high performance our millions of mutual customers demand," said Russell Brady, a spokesperson for Adobe.

Adobe products such as Creative Suite, Photoshop and InDesign are mainstays for the Mac community, Brady said. "Mac customers can be assured we'll support Apple's Intel-based hardware with products that take advantage of the new architecture," he added.

Adobe Systems Inc. has a strong grasp of both the Windows and Macintosh markets, said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. But he said it is possible that Apple Computer Inc.'s announcement will have limited impact on the company because Adobe does a larger volume of business on Windows machines.

"I'd say Adobe support is more important to Apple than Apple's support is to Adobe during the transition," Wilcox said.

In general, Wilcox predicted that the shift to Intel processors will cause somewhat of a ripple for all of Adobe's developers and users, as it will for many other companies.

"Any architectural change is disruptive for everyone," Wilcox said. "It looks like Apple has tried to make the transition as easy as possible, but that doesn't mean it's easy, period."

Click here for a column on Apple moving to Intel's architecture.

Many developers who use Creative Suite on Macintosh computers are still waiting for more details about the processor switch and application changes, but the mood is fairly upbeat, said Dave Feldman, president of Interface This, a Massachusetts-based software UI design consultancy.

"We're obviously eager to find out how this will affect us," said Feldman, who has used Adobe software since the early 1990s. "But it seems like Apple has a plan in place and that the shift won't be too difficult."

Part of what is keeping the developer and user communities from fretting is Apple's track record when it comes to major overhauls, Feldman added.

"Beyond all the rhetoric of official statements that are being put out right now, I feel that it's important to look at Apple's past as an indication of the future," he said. "And they've shown that they can make huge changes without causing a lot of pain."

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