I have to agree.

The generally accepted best processing tool.

Says who? The 'generally' accept best word processing tool is meant to be Word, I think its crap. Go back a couple of decades and the 'best' one was supposedly WordPerfect, it was bleeding awful too. The 'best' spreadsheet program some would tell you is Excel, I saw better programs 20 years ago.

Back then everyone HAD to have WordPerfect despite the fact that the most they ever wrote was a letter to the bank. They had to have dBase IV to keep a database of their record collection, and Excel then and now is an absolute must to total up the weekly shopping bill.

you would say that :p

are you currently creating an alternative to CS3?

Interesting but we work in a higher dimension than photoshop :D. Our apps are more concerned with creating 3D objects than 2D shapes, but our vector 'Art' package sells from at least £7,500 but you can add extra modules to it, if you are interested.

A completely different market from the photo manipulation applications altogether. We would be considered 'Best in class' for what we do, but we are not necessarily the best choice for everyone, some people can get by with software costing a fraction of the price. That was the point of the earlier post, not everyone requires a relational database, few are capable of converting their data into 3NF. Not everyone needs a word processor with a 1001 bullet point styles etc. To my mind it is fundamentally wrong to suggest otherwise.

As Walwyn says, there is no 'generally accepted best' in this any more than elsewhere.

Most of us on this forum take photos for pleasure and the pleasure of walking and seeing the beauties of the earth is somewhat spoilt for me if it has to be followed up by having to grope for half a dozen essential tools from about five million on an interface that is a disgrace to the programmers profession.

Fortunately I don't any more as I find NX does what is needed on a clean interface just as Textedit on the mac does everything needed to deal with words.

But those that enjoy Adobe and Microsoft interfaces, please continue to enjoy them.

I will resist the temptation to comment on the boundaries of art.

I come on this forum to view exceptional photography, not someone's snaps taken on a country walk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My very personal perspective is that pressing the shutter is the start of a creative process that inolves me as "the artist" and the best tools I can master.

I'm almost in complete agreement with you. A few weeks ago I would have been in total agreement with you.

A few weeks ago a friend asked for help with his photography mainly the editing part. At first I was a litlle disillusioned to find he was using Serif Photoplus X2, that was until I run a CR2 file through it. Then my disillusionment turned to amazement at the versatility and wealth of available "tools", also the similarity to Photoshop.

The program was a joy to use and at £60 unbelievable value for money.

I use CS3 and Lightroom, but if I where a first time buyer looking for photo editing software I would certainly go the Serif way.

Harry

There are hundreds of reasons why people join WPF other than for being bowled over by competition style pics; for that I suspect Image Resource or pbase etc are much better.

The thing here is that at any one time there appear to be 10% with compacts wanting help easing up to DSLR and that, at the other end of the spectrum, those with the most extensive technical skills are among the most willing to share them. It bothers me more that I have had comment from folks yet to post "I am not sure if my pictures are good enough" than what software people use.

For what its worth, I think producing a competent landscape or building shot starts well before pressing the shutter and is a stage well worth pausing at before deciding on a personal style or further ambition, and certainly more sensible to pause at than following whatever fashion is running riot. Something as complicated as CS may or may not be necessary for the next stage.

The nicest furniture in my house, for comparison, was produced using fairly crude hand-tools and there is nothing quite as dead and unpleasant as reproductions made in squillion pound factories.

Sorry, but what is a competition style pic?