Well that's true, and that's where GUMP comes into its own.

Dude, if you are using paint shop "pro"...

um... never mind.

It didn't cost me anything. Oh wait, yeah.

I accept your point but it's still rubbish.

The job I wanted to do has now been done in Photoshop, though I did struggle to draw a curved arrow :-$

Fair point, but something is rubbish when you need a plugin to do a very simple task. And even with the plugin the simple task isn't simple.

It was a highly time consuming experience, a waste of time in fact because I couldn't get done what I wanted. I'm all for using FOSS/Freeware, but when it's promoted as a viable alternative I have to disagree.

He's whingeing about GIMP. I agree both programs could be easier. Photoshop has been bloated up with stupid computer tricks to justify frequent version releases, but it's hardly improved since version 6. Of course the difficulty with designing software is anticipating exactly what all users want to do, so do you make a few features that are really polished, or many features that are pretty rough around the edges? It's probably the latter that is going to win you over new customers, since you can't return the product for a refund, when you find out it's not all it was cracked up to be.

Like Windows, Photoshop has a big installed base of people who have invested years in learning how to use it, so Adobe doesn't have to really try to improve it -- unless some competition comes along (which is why they bought Macromedia).