Adobe Ilustrator Contendor?

[soulja90]

Is there an alternate to the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator products. Something just as powerful but cheaper.

Adobe products are amazing but alternatives are always in need. I tried soft32.com for products but nothing comes close. What do you guys think?

Thanks

Melissa Cooks
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[edited by: korkus2000 at 1:43 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2004]
[edit reason] No signitures please [/edit]

[benihana]

hi melissa

a lot of people use macromedia products, which i belive are a little cheaper (but not much)

fireworks performs many functions of photoshop, but is geared specifically for web design.

freehand is very similar to illustrator.

these are still expensive products, maybe $70-$80 cheaper than the adobe ones.

many people use the GIMP instead of photoshop, which is free and supposedly quite powerful, but ive never really had much joy with it.

it could be worth looking into buying older versions of products secondhand, e.g. photoshop 6 would be a lot less than CS, but youll need to look very carefully at the licensing issues before spending money.

welcome to WebmasterWorld!

ben

p.s. no need for the url.

[joebiff]

Mellissa-

Another alternative would be to take a class at a local junior/community college. Once enrolled you could qualify for student pricing (be sure to read the usage agreement first). This should save you hundreds of $$

[yowza]

Actually, you can buy student software at many universities without a student I.D. However, I believe part of the student licensing agreement states that you cannot use the programs for commercial purposes.

Additionally, Macromedia products are much cheaper than Adobe. For instance, Photoshop 7 is $650 and Fireworks MX 2004 is $300. You could buy the whole studio MX 2004 for little more than Photoshop alone.

[Harry]

The exact competitors for Photoshop and Illustrator are Corel Photopaint and Corel Draw. Interms of power and usage, they are as good if not better in some ways.

They are cheaper and buying the Corel Draw Suite includes Photopaint by default.

I know many people hate Corel products, but in this case they are the best out of the box, and tenured contenders.

I have an article on my site comparing the two. Sticky me for more.