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20 Years of Photoshop

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."

14 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. So good it's a verb by pwnies · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kudos photoshop. You know that you've done well with a piece of software when it turns into a verb.
    That said, spread some lovin' over to the linux side of things. Right now that's the only thing that's keeping me from using linux as my main OS (using win7 right now).

  2. Photoshop anniversary contest suggestion by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Photoshopping photos over 20 years old to show people using Photoshop. Then claim they are legit. "Photoshop is over 20 years old, you can clearly see here they were using it during the Civil War!"

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    The enemies of Democracy are
  3. This must be fake. by Cowclops · · Score: 4, Funny

    This article looks totally photoshopped, its probably fake.

  4. 4chan by cosm · · Score: 4, Funny

    pics or it didnt happen

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    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  5. 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?

    1. Re:May be a good time to discuss alternatives by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've had a lot of luck with Krita.

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      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    2. Re:May be a good time to discuss alternatives by vurian · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, we are: interim results at http://wiki.koffice.org/index.php?title=Krita/Benchmarking and weekly updates at http://www.krita.org/ Boudewijn Rempt -- Krita Maintainer.

  6. Obligatory XKCD Refence by Temujin_12 · · Score: 4, Funny
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    Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
    1. Re:Obligatory XKCD Refence by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm starting to think Slashdot is just an index for xkcd.

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      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  7. 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.

  8. Sort of a weird feeling about it by TheModelEskimo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Photoshop instructor here. It's a great app, but really is overkill for most needs. I actually used GIMP to design my Photoshop class websites, since I like some of the GTK conveniences better than Photoshop's relatively primitive widget set (can't hover over a spinner and use the scroll wheel alone to change the value, being one example).

    Of course, I don't really advertise GIMP in my classes, but I do give extra credit to students who are willing to give it a try and write a review (they can also choose to try other software, like Aviary).

    Anyway, it's nice of Adobe to keep improving Photoshop, but it's amazing how many millions of dollars have gone into this software, and it is still getting a bad rep for tons of crashes, expensive third-party plugins, weird bugs, etc.

  9. Or should we say... by zoom-ping · · Score: 4, Funny

    Twenty years of lens flare.

  10. 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.

  11. Re:Gimp vs. PS by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What PS has what GIMP does not have?

    A grammar check?