Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

20 Years of Photoshop

Posted by timothy on from the worth-it-for-the-screenshots dept.

benwiggy writes "Photoshop turned 20 on 10th February 2010. Here's an excellent history, including how the Knoll family created one of the biggest apps of all time. The article also has screenshots of the workspace through the versions."

3 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. May be a good time to discuss alternatives by rduke15 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not being a graphics designer, I never liked Photoshop which was too slow, bloated and complicated (and expensive) for my simple uses. In my Windows days, I first found Paint Shop Pro (of which I still have some prehistoric version somewhere), and finally ended up mostly using IrfanView and XnView, + occasionally PhotoFiltre.

    While I'm sure Photoshop is a fantastic program for professionals, let's try a list of things normal users (like myself) mainly need in a graphics program:

    - Rotate (losslessly for Jpeg)
    - Resize
    - Crop
    - Print
    - Convert to another format (Save as)
    - Adjust brightness, contrast, white balance

    Then maybe
    - Edit metadata (Jpeg comments, Exif description, maybe IPTC tags)
    - rarely convert a color scan to black and white.
    - and maybe once or twice a year add something on a picture like text or a circle etc.

    Obviously, Photoshop is really too much for this.

    For Windows users, I know what to recommend (usually XnView; + PhotoFiltre if needed)

    But I still don't know what to use on my Ubuntu desktop which has been my main machine for over 6 months. The Gimp feels just like Photoshop: too heavy and complicated (though the price is fine), and all the others I tried too limited (gThumb and the like). Is there a gem I missed somewhere?

  2. Knoll family not just programming geniuses by cronb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While the sons may be known as the creators of photoshop their father is a giant in the field of nuclear engineering. His book "Raditation Detection and Measurement" is considered the bible on the topic for all nuclear engineers.

  3. Keyboard shortcuts are better than scroll wheels by Piata · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Out of curiosity, why would you use the scroll wheel to change a value? Most values like transparency or opacity can be quickly changed by hitting numbers on the keyboard. I'd much rather hit 5 to set the opacity of my brush to 50% rather than scroll half way through the spinner. To each their own but if you're using Photoshop all day, using a scroll wheel to change values seems terribly inefficient.