Adobe will release a free online version of its popular Photoshop image-editing software within six months, the company said Thursday. The online product will be a stripped-down version of the application that has become an industry standard for graphics professionals.

The trend to online versioning is part of a larger effort by companies to bring key aspects of their software portfolios online to draw advertising dollars and lure users into buying software upgrades. Until now, Adobe’s business has been based primarily on packaged software.

Adobe’s sneak peak at photography’s future. The company currently offers four versions of its Photoshop software, from the high-end CS2 package targeted to creative professionals to the free Album Starter Edition for the casual photographer. The online offering will be more like the consumer products, according to Adobe.

Last month, the company also publicized that it was planning on entering a partnership with image- and video-hosting web site Photobucket in order to give the site’s 35 million users free access to Adobe’s web-based video editing tools.

At that time the company said that it expects to announce more partnerships with Internet companies over the coming months, and that the ventures would be driven by Adobe’s pursuit of higher advertising revenue and increased software upgrades from existing customers.

The timeline for Photobucket features to become available to the site’s users is sometime in March. Adobe’s shift to free online applications follows similar moves by other software makers. Google (Charts), for instance, has released online word processing and spreadsheet software under the Google Docs banner