So this weekend I was playing with my new MacBook Air, getting it all set up with MAMP and whatnot, and one app I debated was Photoshop.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never owned a copy of Photoshop – in college I “acquired” a copy, and since then whoever my employer was at the time has always purchased a license for me to use.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never owned a personal copy.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve almost bought it at one time or another, but it’s just so staggeringly expensive it’s always given me pause.<\/p>\n

So there I was this weekend, trying to decide, do I install the copy from work on my laptop? (quite legal, I asked the Adobe reps last time they were at work, and they said it was fine, as long as it was only running on one machine at a time, I could install it both places)<\/p>\n

On the other hand Photoshop is a beast of an application, massive and bloated, with other unused applications (Bridge?\u00c2\u00a0 Adobe Updater? WTF?)\u00c2\u00a0 dangling off it like engorged ticks.\u00c2\u00a0 Did I really want all that on my fresh new laptop?<\/p>\n

Yes, I know, GIMP.\u00c2\u00a0 The GNU Image Manipulation Program, open source and fully functional, without the bloat.\u00c2\u00a0 But not quite the same.\u00c2\u00a0 Obvious in places, ineffable in others, it just isn’t as good.<\/p>\n

I was excited about GIMPshop, GIMP modified to look and feel more like Photoshop, but unfortunately from what I can tell, that project is dead, and hasn’t been updated in a while.\u00c2\u00a0 It wouldn’t run under Snow Leopard – even after upgrading and downgrading the appropriate libraries that were supposed to coax it into running.<\/p>\n

Seashore is nice, a simplified GIMP compiled in Cocoa to be more Mac-like… that might be good enough, but lacks some things and I believe is also based on an old version of GIMP.<\/p>\n

Pixelmator I had from a bundle deal, it’s pretty good but lacks the layer blending options I use a lot…<\/p>\n

I dunno… is Photoshop a necessity?\u00c2\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n<\/a>\n