edjh wrote:
I’ll disagree a little. CS is wonderful but I would say that 90% or more of what I do in it could be done easily in PS 6.0.1 . And of course, you need a machine that can handle it. If money is a consideration you might be better off sticking with 6.0.1 .
If you could only do 90% with version 6.0.1, then it would be very inferior.
But Photoshop from at least version 5 can do everything any serious photographer wants do do, be it a amateur or a professional. There is no need for an upgrade.
The "upgrade mentality," where it is assumed that every software program needs to be upgraded and changed serves no one but the software industry’s present business model.
Why should we change something that works well enough to fulfill all demands for a professional-grade photo editing program? There is something wrong with a business model for software which presupposes that the users have to shell out vast amounts of $$ over time in order to acquire all the upgrades. The next logical step would be software as a service, where the software we use does not reside on our own computers, but on central servers. This software subscription model is certainly the big software companies’s wet dream: To hook us up so that we cannot edit even the smallest picture without having a software subsscription.
A first step on that road is of course Product Activation. With Photoshop CS, you are dependent on the software manufacturer and the availability of their activation service, and of their willingness to activate your installation forever, in order to install and run the program.
This latter factor is the reason why I personally will never use any Photoshop beyone 7.01 until Adobe abandons Product Activation, but that is a personal choice. However, we are all wise in saying "no" to any kind of software which needs "permission" from the software company to be used. If we accept this, soon we will sit with computers filled with activation-crippled software. Therefore we need to say NO and to refuse to use such software.
Per Inge Oestmoen, Norway