4 stars (COREL DID NOT DISAPPOINT USERS WITH THIS PAINT SHOP PRO X) - Many heads, (including mine), turned in dismay when Corel acquired Paint Shop Pro from Jasc. And although some sad changes have been made, Corel still receives my kudos for keeping this software on the esteemed realm where it belongs.
The first two things previous Paint Shop Pro users will notice in this edition is that it spots a new interface, and has gotten significantly faster. Though, this increment falls short of the 50% speed increase, which Corel proudly advertizes. Also, this acclaimed speed came at a price: the software's recommended hardware requirements almost doubled as a result. And, unless you are running a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 equivalent processor or faster, with an absolute minimum of one full gigabyte of RAM to swing it around, you may not even notice this so-called 50% speed increase.
Again, Corel's near-complete overhaul of the more familiar user-interface, (which Jasc endeavored to maintain in the earlier editions), means that even well-established users have some new lessons to learn now.
For a complete new user, there is absolute nothing to fear. The learning curve for this software is not steep at all. And unless you are already familiar with Adobe's interface, you will discover that this software is much easier to learn when compared to either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. It is as well much more powerful and more robust than the Photoshop Elements. In fact, amongst all the photo-editing suites currently on sale, only the main Adobe Photoshop can defeat this software in a supremacy battle. But do remember that Adobe's outrageously over-valued Photoshop costs approximately twelve times of what Paint Shop Pro costs; despite the fact that Paint Shop Pro can do more than 90% of what it does. This may explain the reason why some newly graduated professionals, (who either could not afford the high price of Adobe Photoshop, or just want to keep down their own operational costs), put their faith in Paint Shop Pro.
That said, Photoshop Elements may be another good and upcoming alternative; but it is certainly no match for Paint Shop Pro: both in speed and in sheer power. Know it now that this latest Corel Paint Shop Pro X have the capacity to trounce the latest Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week! It is also the photo-editing application suite, which offers the best all-round support and compatibility with the widest variety of digital cameras. It is even better than the main Photoshop in this aspect.
3 stars (No Major Upgrade Here) - I have used Paint Shop Pro since it was FreeWare available for Windows 3.1, that's a long time. I have watched this product grow and progress from a simple editor that only handled .gif images (since that was all there was) to what it is today.
The people who worked long and hard to build JASC Inc.(the company bought out by Corel), built a solid broduct and a SOLID customer base. It is sad to see Corel abandon all that in order to capitalize on a great product.
This latest release of Paint Shop Pro is faintly different then the last. The best improvment is the implementation of the browser interface as a toolbar in the main GUI. Other than that, there are a couple of tweaks here and there, some good like the "flash fill and background fill" filters, and some bad like no more Gamma adjustment.
If you're new to Paint Shop Pro and want to buy a copy, What the heck, go for it, you won't be disappointed.
If you allready have Paint Shop Pro 9, Don't waste you'r money. Wait until they REALLY come out with an innovative upgrade that's worth the money.
5 stars (Very Please) - This is best version of Paint Shop Pro that I've seen for a long time. It is very easy to use, even for the first time user. |
