[cw-discuss] Photoshop CS[23]?

[Derek Fountain]

Andrew Douglas Pitonyak wrote:
> Derek Fountain wrote:
>> Given the importance of
>> Photoshop to many people, and the fact there's nothing like it in the
>> free software world, 
> Depends on what you want to do.

Um, no, really, there's nothing like Photoshop in the free software
world. You might be able to do most of the lower-end things that
Photoshop is capable of using free software tools, but there's no
integrated system that comes anywhere near it. I use GIMP occasionally,
and estimate it covers about 10% of what Photoshop does. If you're
prepared to use other non-integrated Linux-native tools, then you might
get to 15% of Photoshop. If you need to go beyond the basics of image
processing then there really isn't any substitute for Photoshop on any
platform.

> There are also free tools for converting raw images to JPGs. Personally,
> I opted for BibblePro (a not free product) and then I paid the extra
> license for NoiseNinja (which is built-in to Bibble). You don't happen
> to know if NoiseNinja is available as a plug-in for Photoshop do you?

I've no idea about NoiseNinja. I tried the Linux native version of
Bibble about a year ago, and although I was impressed with it, it's just
a tool that provides the top features required by digital camera users
to make their photos look good. That's all that most people require, but
it's no use to anyone who wants to get in any way creative.

> Have you tried the "elements" version? Does that work? It is likely
> closer to the latest version and I suspect that it has fewer
> "protections" that would cause problems.

No, PSE wouldn't be of any use to me even if it did work.

Ah well, the second machine will clearly be staying put on my desk for a
while yet!