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View Full Version : Any non-bloated alternatives to photoshop cs3?

AlphaWolf_HK
05-18-07, 03:29 PM
I was about to install the photoshop CS3 trial but then remembered just how much adobe software really pisses me off.

I mean honestly, what the hell is this crap?

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=25729&stc=1&d=1179515845

Which one of their moron engineers decided "Uh yeah, lets require half a gig of crap to be on the startup partition no matter what for no particular reason."

Then I also thought about how long previous versions of photoshop take to load, and how much I hate adobe acrobat (thank god I don't run that anymore) and thought "do I really want to allow this sh*t to touch my computer?"

So thats that, and thus begs the question, what should I use instead? Is there any good (preferably free) software out there that is similar in usage to photoshop? And don't say gimp, because its nearly as bloated and its UI is a PITA.
evilghost
05-18-07, 03:32 PM
And don't say gimp, because its nearly as bloated and its UI is a PITA.

GIMP.
retsam
05-18-07, 03:32 PM
gimp?
Capt. Picard
05-18-07, 03:34 PM
yeah, gimp!

I've never used it but how is Paint.net

I have it on a PCFormat DVD.
ragejg
05-18-07, 03:34 PM
Paint.NET

http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html
evilghost
05-18-07, 03:35 PM
Not sure if anyone mentioned this or not but I was thinking the GIMP may be a good alternative.
ragejg
05-18-07, 03:42 PM
yeah, gimp!

I've never used it but how is Paint.net

I have it on a PCFormat DVD.

Paint.net is a bit on the basic side, I'm not sure what your exact needs are. It runs pretty quick and has a decent UI.
AlphaWolf_HK
05-18-07, 03:48 PM
Not sure if anyone mentioned this or not but I was thinking the GIMP may be a good alternative.

It would be ok if you didn't have to use that GTK+ crap.
superklye
05-18-07, 03:52 PM
Paint Shop Pro?
j0j081
05-18-07, 05:33 PM
well I don't know why you are bitching about this one to be honest. yeah it uses a lot of hdd space but not like we don't have enough to spare these days anyway. also, cs3 only takes a few seconds to start for me and my pc is pretty slow compared to most people's here.
Banko
05-18-07, 05:57 PM
An older version of Photoshop?
Shamrock
05-18-07, 10:45 PM
This one isn't free, but it's close...$38

http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/?page_id=12
jcrox
05-19-07, 12:14 AM
Not sure if anyone mentioned this or not but I was thinking the GIMP may be a good alternative.
:udawg:
AlphaWolf_HK
05-19-07, 04:39 AM
well I don't know why you are bitching about this one to be honest. yeah it uses a lot of hdd space but not like we don't have enough to spare these days anyway. also, cs3 only takes a few seconds to start for me and my pc is pretty slow compared to most people's here.

Are you sure? I've never seen anything from adobe that loads in less than 1 minute on any computer.
Viral
05-19-07, 06:38 AM
1 min? Is that just an exaggeration? Our crappy G4's at work load CS2 (ps/illustrator/indesign) in around 20 sec max, my E6600 seems to do it in a matter of seconds. I'll have to check exact time, as I've only tried it a couple of times.
lightman
05-19-07, 06:49 AM
Are you sure? I've never seen anything from adobe that loads in less than 1 minute on any computer.

Bull****. Utter bull****.

And, yes, I just timed it. CS2, 8 seconds straight.
AlphaWolf_HK
05-19-07, 06:51 AM
Bull****. Utter bull****.

And, yes, I just timed it. CS2, 8 seconds straight.

Well, do you have a scanner installed? That does make a difference. In fact, it can make a huge difference, depending on the scanner drivers.
lightman
05-19-07, 07:00 AM
Well, do you have a scanner installed? That does make a difference. In fact, it can make a huge difference, depending on the scanner drivers.

I have an Epson V750 Pro and a Nikon Coolscan 5000, although the latter is usually switched off when I'm not working with slides. And yes, when it's on PS takes a little more to start up, I'd say two or three seconds more...

Mind you, the system is clean, little programs installed and the hd has almost no fragmentation. A fragmented file system goes a long way to skyrocket the startup times of PS. I know it, I've been working with PS for more than 7 years. ;)
Shamrock
05-19-07, 07:06 PM
Alpha, just look at the link I posted above. It has a free trial, if you like it, buy it for $38. It's very comparable to CS2. It's Pixel Image Editor.
stncttr908
05-19-07, 07:10 PM
GIMP with GIMPShop.

I've always found Photoshop performance to be acceptable.
Scunner
05-19-07, 07:18 PM
I would have thought that having paid so much for an upgrade or full version of CS3, you might look past its apparent "bloatedness" and just get on with using it?

(lee63) Pass the rum, mate.

Photoshop CS3 takes up about 300MB, Bridge CS3 143MB, and Device Central CS3 about 100MB on my machine.
Shamrock
05-20-07, 12:25 AM
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/img/winxp.png

works on all these OSes:
Windows, Linux, Linspire, MacOSX, BeOS, Zeta, QNX, MorphOS, FreeBSD, eComStation, OS/2, SkyOS and even old plain DOS, for both x86 and PowerPC architectures
AlphaWolf_HK
05-20-07, 03:27 AM
I would have thought that having paid so much for an upgrade or full version of CS3, you might look past its apparent "bloatedness" and just get on with using it?

(lee63) Pass the rum, mate.

Photoshop CS3 takes up about 300MB, Bridge CS3 143MB, and Device Central CS3 about 100MB on my machine.

You can download it directly from adobes website.

http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/Photoshop/CS3/Win/ADBEPHSPCS3_WWE.exe
Scunner
05-20-07, 09:15 AM
You can download it directly from adobes website.

http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/Photoshop/CS3/Win/ADBEPHSPCS3_WWE.exe

I take back the (lee63). I forgot about the trial version. :o I went that way, too, and bought a licence key at the end of the trial. The only thing I'd like better is to have the box on my shelf for bragging rights.

Sorry for the accusation.