First - I don't want to start a war like Photoshop is better or Gimp is better. I just wanted to answer the question with which program someone should start out, and there's a clear winner - let me be more precise ...
Lunakiri said:
//shrugs
Mine
My fiancees
A friends
Yep. They count for nothing =P Gimp is just a bit of a crap shoot. AND they don't save .PSD files right. They flatten images. Plainb and simple. You make folders, save as PSD, it is FLAT. I've seen it happen. //cries
Never had a problem with it on hundreds of configurations. I don't save as PSD in Gimp, because it has xcf as file format which worked fine. Additionally, Gimp CAN open PSD while Photoshop can't open xcf.
And I can supply a 1oo% completely legit $7o USD copy of Paint Tool Sai to people. I bought it years ago. XD
Or they could just use Gimp for free and because both Gimp and Photoshop have similiarities, they will have it easy if they later switch to a more advanced program.
Also, Piracy is a bloody thing. I don't get why it's such a hush-hush topic.
Person A wants X program [or movie, or music, or whatever].
Person A is too fucking cheap to buy it themselves.
Person A Googles free options. Torrent sites come up.
=P
I think it's ridiculous how people come down on others about that [I know you aren't, exactly, but still].
Piracy is here, live with it - that what you are saying? Piracy is a problem of ease of availability of products. If you have a common plattform where you can get stuff easily for a reasonable price, let's say .. netflix .. crunchyroll or steam (allthough the former 2 have their country restrictions which make them obsolete in other countries), less piracy will occur. Who in their frigging mind has 500$ to pay for a photoshop license? Of course they pirate it. But if you offer them the product for a really fair price they can use it to grow and don't need to pirate it. Adobe is making a ton of more money because they made it available to everyone. And this is a practice we should support - not undermine with more piracy because then we are back to the old system and someday there will be a DRM (oh and there are ways to permanently stop pirating - they just hurt legal consumers even more than pirates) and nobody gets to use it.
One last thing. WHAT are you disagreeing with me on?
Program options?
Program usages?
Or are you just saying 'no' to the whole torrent option? XD [And I never said get a cracked copy. Even for legit programs, I get a torrent of the file since it downloads better for me. Reason for example. I have a 1oo% legit copy of reason, but the program is SO fucking large that a torrent is the best way to go about it. I can pause it or whatever easier than if I were to use my browser, which would be the default. I just said torrent it, NOT crack it =P. Semantics, I know]
Both. I'd probably not had said anything on the piracy thing if there wasn't a good offer from adobe like that, but I will always advise people starting out to not invest a huge amount of money and test for a couple of months if you really like it. You don't buy a 500$ Tennis racket for your first training, don't you? No, you either lend a racket or you get a cheaper one so you can get used to it and upgrade later.
Photoshop might be a bit overwhelming the first time you start it - Gimp is a lot easier to handle in the first couple of months so I'd advise everyone to start there. If you have fun and think you have advanced a few skill levels, then by all means, consider that monthly Photoshop CS subscription.
But I would never, ever tell someone new here "Hey, you can steal this expensive software from that company" - they have to earn money as well and feed their families. Software Engineering is pretty tough nowadays that everyone pirates it. So at least support the good guys.