Graphics
Expression Design is the latest in a string of graphics programs from Microsoft; maybe this one will last longer than Picture It! or PhotoDraw.
high quality high quality Adobe Photoshop is the image-editing software that others are measured against, and much of the graphic-design industry runs on it. That's not to say that it's the best at everything, but if you can afford it, and you need a complete feature set, it's probably worth it. For those on a budget, PhotoShop Elements leaves out some of the high-end features for a lot less money. For Windows and Mac OS. my choice Windows Mac OS
high quality low price JASC's Paint Shop Pro began as a small shareware utility only a little better than the toy Paint program included with Windows, but in recent years has grown into a credible "poor man's Photoshop". While it's not quite as full-featured, it has most of the tools folks might need, including layers and plug-in filters. And it's affordable. A program for working with GIF animations is included in the package. my choice Windows
close match high quality challenge MS Adobe Fireworks has some of the same ideas that Expression Design is trying to implement, combining object-based (vector) drawing with (bit-mapped) painting by simultaneously keeping track of the vectors, but displaying the bit-mapped results on screen. It's particularly well-suited to producing graphics for the web (one of Macromedia's general areas of strength). For Windows and Mac OS. my choice Windows Mac OS
high quality low price high quality The GIMP's name is... unfortunate, but chalk that up to geeks with a fondness for silly acronyms; the program is anything but "crippled". GIMP is an abbreviation for the GNU Image Manipulation Program. The user interface is a little different from what you might be used to, but it's greatly improved in version 2, so if you hear horror stories about it, they might not apply anymore. It's the premiere graphics tool for Unix-like systems, and is now fully supported for Windows and Mac OS X (using X11), with independent ports (lagging behind a bit) for BeOS and OS/2. my choice Unix-like Windows Mac OS BeOS OS/2
close match high quality challenge MS ACDSee Canvas supports vector, bit-mapped, and text elements in the same image, and even adds page-layout and web-page capabilities. Its "sprite" technology lets you apply special-effect filters to both kinds of graphic elements. Available in both standard and full-featured "pro" versions, for Windows. Windows
close match high quality Corel Photo Impact is a tool designed specially for web graphics from a company known for its graphic tools, though it's useful for other kinds of graphics as well. In addition to the usual image manipulation tools, it supports a combination of vector, bit-mapped, and text elements, and even generates HTML and optimized image files for entire web pages based on those elements. Windows
close match high quality low price Ability Photopaint is available as part of a suite similar to MS Office (except much less expensive), or by itself. It's very similar to Photoshop in both its interface and its standard features, such as layers, filters, tools, and file formats. The "Studio" version adds support for Adobe-compatible plug-ins and vector-based graphics. Available for Windows, with a Linux version in the works. A free trial can be downloaded. Windows Unix-like
low price Megalux Ultimate Paint is a shareware program with an emphasis on features and efficient (small and fast) code. In addition to the many included filters (it also supports Photoshop plug-ins), there's a tool for modifying or even creating your own filters from scratch. Another nifty feature are the menu options to automatically load the Windows startup and shutdown screens for editing. Windows
low price Pixia is free shareware program for Windows. It was designed for the anime/manga (Japanese animation/comics) community, which gives it a strong user base, but it's useful for any kind of art, really. Versions in Japanese, English, German, and several other languages are available. Its main shortcoming is its lack of support for .GIF files, presumably due to the licencing fees required for that... which are hard to pay when you're not charging money for your product. Windows
high quality high quality Corel Painter is a professional-grade graphics program, intended primarily for simulating natural media, such as various paints, charcoals, pencils, etc. As such it's more for creating naturalistic images than editing them or creating techno-style imagery, but it offers unique capabilities that the do-it-all programs lack. Available for both Mac and Windows. my choice Mac OS Windows
close match a close match or substitute for Microsoft's product
high quality an especially high-quality alternative
low price an inexpensive (or even free) alternative
challenge MS offers a strong challenge to Microsoft's influence
my choice my personal selection
Runs on: Windows Windows, Mac OS Mac OS, Unix-like Unix-like systems, Java Java-compatible systems, Symbian Symbian OS, Palm OS Palm OS, Netware Netware, OpenVMS OpenVMS, BeOS BeOS, OS/2 OS/2, Amiga Amiga, RISC OS RISC OS, DOS DOS
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