cmarshall - 1:22 pm on Mar 11, 2007 (gmt 0)

$650 or $FREE

"Free" is in the eye of the beholder.

Time is money. Sometimes, significant amounts of money. My engineering team costs my company hundreds of dollars an hour. If we have a fifteen minute delay that ties up three of my engineers (like compiling an OSS package), then it can easily cost the company as much as a shrink-wrapped Photoshop package. I would bet on a lot more than fifteen minutes, though.

If it takes two hours to learn the new package, then look out Nellie. Especially if the new package doesn't even have decent color management, a keystone of pro photography workflow, and one of the most heavily patented areas of digital technology.