Most major software companies have non-for-profit licensing ... but for some reason Adobe continues to hold out and offer no discounts. That means forking out $700 for Photoshop which is the same as a descent PC these days...something many churches can't afford. And don't be misled by vendors trying to sell you the educational version...it's clearly listed on Adobe's website that "churches" and "religious organizations that are not accredited schools" do not qualify for educational pricing.
So what's a church to do? I get asked several times each year by staff members if they can get Photoshop on their PC. My answer is always the same..."sure, if you give me $700". In 99% of the cases that's as far as the conversation ever gets. Of course in most cases Photoshop is monster overkill for what people think they need it for, but there are those exceptions.
Enter GIMP...an open source (a.k.a. FREE!) Photoshop-like clone. Gimp has been around since '95, but until recently was only available on Linux type platforms. Obviously, GIMP isn't as all powerful as Photoshop, but it's well featured and did I mention it's FREE?. If you're familiar with Photoshop (and/or Fireworks) you'll be right at home with GIMP.
So if you're on a shoestring budget and need an image editor give GIMP a look. I've also heard very good things about Photoshop Elements ($90) but have no first hand experience with it.
I'm actually looking to include GIMP in the new image we're about to deploy church wide :-)
Jason we run into the same thing all the time. We started with GIMP as well but recently have found that Adobe Photoshop Elements is a whole lot cheaper and meets their requirements. Everyone thinks they need full-blow Photoshop but they really dont we have found.
Posted by: Terry Chapman | April 17, 2005 at 09:11 AM
I'm a huge Gimp fan. The main things Gimp doesn't have that Photoshop does are:
1. Vectors (well, actually it does)
2. color separation for print media
#1 can mostly be solved by using Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org). Gimp also has a vector plugin called Gfig.
#2 is irrelavant for web stuff. And if you use a DTP program like Scribus (http://www.scribus.org.uk/) is also irrelevant since it does the color separation for you.
Windows users tend to complain about the Gimp interface but now there is GimpShop (http://plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241) that looks a lot like Photoshop and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Posted by: Brian Glass | April 18, 2005 at 12:24 PM
If even the Gimp is to complicated or overkill (note the comment above about Windows users not like the UI which I agree with), you should check out Paint .NET. It's free and open source also.
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
Posted by: Mikel Berger | April 19, 2005 at 07:38 AM
Brian - Thanks for the GIMP links.
Mikel - Paint.NET looks really sweet...and can and is, according to their website, easily pushed to clients via GPOs. I'm def going to check this out!
Posted by: Jason Powell | April 20, 2005 at 12:49 AM
I've been a GIMP fan for a long time... especially since 2.0 came out. Much improved, IMO...
And I just can't beat the price... :)
Posted by: Rich Schmidt | April 28, 2005 at 01:58 PM