Gimp is, and I think always will be my favorite image manipulator but Lyle's epiphany about the Adobe stuff opened a whole new world to me and I've been soaking up all the knowledge I can find about it. I know there are folks here who use it and it's them I'm directing this question to.
Photoshop has a tab to send images to Imageready and Imageready has a tab to photoshop. I thought Photoshop was the king of its kind, so what is Imageready and what is it good for? It looks like a stripped down version of photoshop.
Also, to avoid getting tomatoes thrown at me does anybody know of a FRIENDLY photoshop forum where I won't get bashed for not being a professional? I know this is gimp country and I feel like I'm among family here, but if anyone doesn't want to have tar and feathers all over them feel free to answer via pm.

ImageReady was originally for quick edits of web site images. It was good for image-maps, rollovers, gifs, compression, etc. I don't even know if it's still available.

Don't look at me GMS. Except for ACR and some tweaks afterwards for my RAW files, I don't even use PS. GIMP's my main crutch.

GMS, feel free to soak up all the Adobe you want, they come back and teach us how to do some of the effects using gimp, ;-D

Why would anyone consider you a traitor? Knowledge is power. Know thine enemy etc. Go forth and learn about PS.

I have installed CS6 Extended 30-day trial just to see firsthand to what extent vector graphics integration in
PS6 has taken place and how good is its 3D engine. Also wanted to play with rotating canvas in PS and Live Paint features in AI and see
if they really are so much useful functions.
And I've been using Adobe Illustrator 12 because Inkscape can't do certain things.

A lot of good gimp tuts came from PS
I was going t download the "free" stuff but turns out Adobe isn't giving anything away for free

Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2. What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don't require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download). You are only legally entitled to download and install with that serial number if you have a valid license to the product!

So Adobe is not providing these products free to download and if you didn't purchase licenses of these products, downloading and installing these products using the above mentioned page will be considered as illegal.

askvg.com

I still prefer Xara Designer to everything else although I use inkscape sometimes.

it was there so I grabbed it, I might delete it.

It was kind of a joke.

Well, I am an illegal because I downloaded the free Photoshop just to try to learn it. I have only played with it once so far, I really don't have the time to learn it right now.

Dear mr. traitor,

Please report to the barracks to be hanged at dawn.




Just kidding! I have a copy of PSE that came with my tablet, but it's on windows and I never use windows anymore (booting to it is just too much of a hassle to use a subpar and outdated os), so I never use it either. But it's not like I'm even missing a lot, from what I remember it was like a stripped-down toy version of PS that lacks the extensibility of GIMP. Not sure if the real PS is better, but between GIMP, Krita and Inkscape, who even needs it...

And also, Adobe announced that even though they're offering the download for free, you can't actually download it without buying the license, or else... something bad happens, I guess.

I know several people including myself who have downloaded it and activated it for free. The activate button is greyed out and the registration worked. It's about a 7 year old version. I've done some research on this before I downloaded it. If it wasn't activated it wouldn't say my name on the splash screen, the registration wouldn't have worked and the activate button would work. I've worked with computers since the late 70s, I'm not some noob.

You gotta dig a little deeper, PS CS6 Extended has impressive vector graphics arsenal and 3D engine now. It's more correct to say...between GIMP, Krita, Inkscape and Blender, who even needs it....

Right, I don't see anyone calling you a "noob", but anyway... Adobe has announced that it is only offering this version of PS for free because they no longer have an activation server running for it, so they made it so it can be downloaded (and activated I guess) for free by anyone, to satisfy their existing customers, and that as far as they are considered it's not allowed to download and use it if you don't own a valid adobe license (although they probably aren't going to enforce this).

I'm just saying what you're doing is probably technically illegal, unless Adobe has recanted their position without my knowledge. It's not likely going to matter in practice, unless you want to use it for professional use, but you know, just saying.