As many of you know, I’ve been looking at different pieces of software, web hosts, and etc.

I’ve been getting a bit agitated when I keep reading how “something is an alternative to something else,” and then the writer of the article claims that it does not come up to par.  The main area I’ve seen this in is Graphic Programs.  Adobe is probably the best when it comes to a top-notch graphics program, but there are other great graphics programs out there.  I’ll admit, I’d love to purchase the latest realease of Adobe CS Suite whever they release a new one, but I can’t afford to.  But I don’t always like using Adobe products due to how bulky they are.  Whenever I search for a light-weight photo manipulation program, I find a lot of posts where the author states that the program is much lighter than Adobe Photoshop (or Adobe Illustrator), and then they go and say how it doesn’t have all the features of Adobe’s products.

Not to be mean to those types of people (I used to be like that too), but it’s not trying to be Adobe Photoshop (most of the time).  Most are trying to target there own user market.  Adobe is pretty good at making everyone want a copy, but seriously, how many of the features are there that you don’t use?  I still don’t know how to use the Pen tool in most graphic applications.

So just to stick on the topic of graphic editors, I do have a few installed.  Adobe Photoshop, Pixelmator, GIMP, Pixen, and a few others.  None of them are equal.  Pixen is for pixel editing, and I haven’t really found another program that can be considered related to it…

So many people have been comparing Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, and Pixelmator to each other.  I can understand why.  The interfaces are somewhat similar, the features are somewhat similar, but the target market is different.  So Photo manipulation is a part of all of them, but the way the goal is attacked is different.  Alright, so there is quite a bit of overlap, but I don’t like how they keep getting compared, especially when people are looking for a Photoshop alternative.  If Photoshop costs hundreds of dollars, and they can keep selling it at that price, I’m pretty certain there’s a reason it’s at that price.  You won’t find a cheaper alternative unless you change how you want to tackle your projects.  Anyone who uses a majority of Photoshop’s features will find that there’s no other program that offers them.

But yeah…  That’s the rant for today.