Alternatives to photo editing software POLL

footfootfoot • Dec 7, 2011 11:52 am
Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that you can't find the disc with the photo editing software you like, and you are totally hating this paint.net and gimp.

And let's say, one day you opened your mail and there was a disc with photoshop cs5 on it and lightroom 3.3.

And when you went to install the software you had to copy and paste two small .dll files into the appropriate folder to activate the program.

How would that sit on your moral high ground?
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 12:07 pm
That's all well and good, but unless you set up your hosts file you may still have trouble.


[size=1]i guess this shows where i stand on the issue[/size]
footfootfoot • Dec 7, 2011 12:16 pm
how does one go about setting up their host file?
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 12:20 pm
I'd tell you, but then I'd have to ban myself for using the Cellar to break the law.



...but you could download the torrent and let IT tell you.
footfootfoot • Dec 7, 2011 12:25 pm
I get about 85%™ through those tutorial before I become lost in terminology. I was reading one about setting up your port or connection so that your ISP can't shape your traffic (which mine does after I watch three you tube videos) and I got about 85%™ done when I hit a wall of Huh?

I will search for the torrent of wisdom you describe.
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 12:26 pm
Making your search easy, it's linked to in post #2.

If you don't have a bittorrent client it will be considerably more difficult, install that first
footfootfoot • Dec 7, 2011 12:38 pm
Undertoad;778491 wrote:
Making your search easy, it's linked to in post #2.

If you don't have a bittorrent client it will be considerably more difficult, install that first


Oh that. Well, I've already got one, you see?
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"]I was thinking of sending a disc of that file to monster[/COLOR]
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 1:57 pm
Everybody may be doing it, but that doesn't make it right.

Most of my life I've made my living by working for companies that sell software to consumers. So my salary gets paid by the people who buy the software. It's easy to think you're sticking it to the man, but you're sticking it to all the people who work for that company as well.

I don't work for Adobe, but I have friends who do. Can I make this issue any more personal? Can I make it any more clear?
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 2:03 pm
Photoshop Elements is $55 at amazon.

If you can't afford that, check out some of these free alternatives:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelbasedwin/tp/freephotoedw.htm
glatt • Dec 7, 2011 2:12 pm
gimp is really good and is only difficult to use if you aren't used to it. Once you spend a little time with it, it is very easy to use. It's free, open source software and is better than the last (admittedly several versions old) copy of Photoshop that I legally owned.

You can do cool stuff with it in mere minutes, like this:
GunMaster357 • Dec 7, 2011 2:22 pm
Moral ? What's that ?
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 2:28 pm
I don't work for Adobe, but I have friends who do


Apparently their software has been utterly pirated and they still work there, so perhaps the issue is more complicated than you make it out to be?
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 2:48 pm
They can, so far, manage to pay the bills and the employees on what they make from the people who pay for their copies. Those who don't pay are riding the coat-tails of those who do.
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 3:21 pm
Zak'ly: it's not the man you're sticking it to, and not the fine people at Adobe, but the people who can afford to pay $1900 per seat for design premium or $2600 for the suite.
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 3:44 pm
So it's ok to harm Adobe and employees because it's still standing? [Hey, they still made some money] What kind of logic is that? [I only cut them a leetle.]

And you admit to ripping off the folks who pay for their copies. And that's ok because?
infinite monkey • Dec 7, 2011 3:52 pm
Occupy Adobe!

:bolt:

kidding...
Undertoad • Dec 7, 2011 4:10 pm
A) I would never pay that amount. What I would do instead would be to purchase a long-outdated copy for near zero and then buy an upgrade to CS4 off eBay or CL. The money outcome would be similar, no money to Adobe.

B) Adobe thinks that pirates are a help. For the price they charge, Adobe could easily put together a hardware dongle, if they wanted to completely prevent piracy. Instead, they've put in simple DRM, easy to go around with a little effort. The pirates then become a part of the CS5 infrastructure, and are not developing a support system for the other image programs.
monster • Dec 7, 2011 4:31 pm
I can't get to grips with gimp or paint.net either. i was my old stuff back that came with the old digital camera. :(

belonga me, no moral issue........
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 4:41 pm
Undertoad;778598 wrote:
For the price they charge, Adobe could easily put together a hardware dongle, if they wanted to completely prevent piracy.


It's a trade off. I did the dongle work for the Russian version of PageMaker back in the day. Adding a dongle adds substantially to the manufacturing costs because each dongle has to be set and each copy of the software has to be modded to match the key in the dongle.

Above and beyond that, your argument is still that you're not hurting the victim that much and the victim isn't bleeding much. Call Adobe and ask if they'd like for you to pay for your copy.
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 4:41 pm
monster;778601 wrote:
I can't get to grips with gimp or paint.net either. i was my old stuff back that came with the old digital camera. :(

belonga me, no moral issue........

Do you remember what it was called?

Paint Shop Pro, maybe?
footfootfoot • Dec 7, 2011 8:52 pm
Undertoad;778598 wrote:
The pirates then become a part of the CS5 infrastructure, and are not developing a support system for the other image programs.


What does this mean?
monster • Dec 7, 2011 9:01 pm
Pete Zicato;778609 wrote:
Do you remember what it was called?

Paint Shop Pro, maybe?


that sounds familiar.... beest could tell you, but he's just stepped out to retrieve the mermaid
monster • Dec 7, 2011 10:05 pm
No, it wasn't PSP, It came with a Canon camera
Pete Zicato • Dec 7, 2011 11:00 pm
Maybe if you called Canon, they would send you another disk?

If not, and if you can't find your disk, Corel has a free 30-day trial of PSP here

http://download.cnet.com/Corel-PaintShop-Pro/3000-2192_4-10001995.html

Might be worth trying. The Ultimate version is $50 at amazon.

or as glatt says, you could pick up a gimp book from the library. It really is quite powerful.
monster • Dec 7, 2011 11:10 pm
thanks. Beest uses PSP at work and I have used the trial before, it is quite good I think I recall. i will try that trial (if it will let me). Gimp I mostly give up on because it wants to load loads of stuff and takes to long to start up, and then isn't intuitive... I just want to do the cellar advent calendar -I'm no pro!
Undertoad • Dec 8, 2011 12:38 am
footfootfoot;778660 wrote:
What does this mean?


If a product is more expensive, there is more interest in either A) developing a quality free alternative, or B) pirating it.

Therefore: if the product is pirated, there is less interest in developing a quality free alternative.

There's more to it than that; for example, how many blogs offer a tutorial for your image product explaining how to develop nicely rounded edges? Googling for "rounded corners photoshop" = about 617,000 results; "rounded corners gimp" returns about 82,900 results. This is the infrastructure; these represent people trying to do real work in these programs, and creating tutorials and discussing it on forums.
footfootfoot • Dec 8, 2011 11:21 am
Ah, that makes a lot of sense. The untold ways in which the corporations are profiting from our free input.
Gravdigr • Dec 12, 2011 5:09 am
The first time I priced Adobe PhotoShop, I literally laughed out loud.

Later, I was offended.
glatt • Dec 12, 2011 9:04 am
Photoshop was ground breaking when it came out, and I think that it was a reasonable price back then. But with the competition today, there's no reason for it to be that expensive. I got it way back in the day because a full version came bundled with a flatbed scanner I bought. That was back when I had a disposable income and I had no dependents, so dropping $800 on a scanner with bundled Photoshop seemed like a good idea. They were both cutting edge technology back then, and I could easily scan images that were too large for my Mac to handle.

Anyway, today with cheap fast computers, cheap memory, cheap scanners, and free image editing software, it's absurd for Photoshop to be as expensive as it is.
Pete Zicato • Dec 12, 2011 10:21 am
I don't have a problem with Adobe charging what it does for Photoshop. It's a professional tool designed (and priced) for professionals. Most home users don't need Photoshop.

I am, admittedly, at the shallow end of the gene pool when it comes to image editing. Once a year when I create the Zicato family photo Christmas card, I fire up Gimp and muddle through. The rest of the year, I get by just fine with Preview - an app the comes with OSX.

For those with more mid-range needs there are lots of free or low cost alternatives: Paintshop Pro, Pixelmator, etc. A google search for Photoshop alternatives will turn up lots of choices.
Gravdigr • Dec 12, 2011 6:28 pm
I get by ok with Arcsoft PhotoStudio 5 (bundled w/scanner), an old version of Serif PhotoPlus SE, and Windows Live Photo Gallery. Occasionally, I find I want to do something I just can't do with any of these, and I daydream about winning the lottery and PhotoShop.
Gravdigr • Dec 12, 2011 6:29 pm
Gravdigr;779554 wrote:
The first time I priced Adobe PhotoShop, I literally laughed out loud.

Later, I was offended.


I want to remember it being $699. Maybe it was $599, it's been a little while. And it was a computer store.
monster • Dec 12, 2011 9:23 pm
It was ArcSoft! We just found the disc for Macs (which we never used.......) and all the manuals etc...... but not the gd disc.....