The next version of Adobe Photoshop, which may not be called CS4, and may not come out in October, will indeed have a new user interface, at least on the Mac version. The big change is this element called the application frame, as seen in the above screenshot.
Reaction to the new UI element has been mixed, including early protestations by an Adobe gentleman, who has since been won over by the new design.
But for all of this, know that the new UI element is completely optional. If you don’t wanna use it, then don’t. Problem solved!
The reason behind the new UI element, Adobe says, is to achieve consistency between its different products. An enviable goal, yes, but one that should have been properly explained before the peanut gallery went into full-on freak out mode.
Well I’m glad it’ll be optional. I’ve never like the Windows™ windowing convention that puts all of an apps windows and palettes into a confined space. That setup encourages the user to view each app as a walled city. To me, letting everything float free over the desktop better facilitates me switching between apps while keeping my focus on the images or text at hand.