Little Shop of Adobe Horrors
To quote an old friend, “Since when does Adobe CS4 exist? I JUST F:CKING BOUGHT CS3.”
Oh, Adobe… you’re like a hungry, hungry hippo, gobbling up new program ideas and features and doing everything you can to jam them into your current line-up until a system overload forces you to create new software bundles out of the overflowing mess of leftovers… just to be able to charge a nice, big chunk of change. And you know the people will pay.
But the thing is… they don’t even change many of the features with each upgrade. In fact, it takes quite a few upgrades to see any kind of significant change… they seem to just make them bulkier and reorganize features… maybe add in a new program that the combination of all the others can handle already O_o
Plus the prices.
Those prices just have to be geared toward design companies, don’t you think? Anyone who can afford an individual license or upgrade must be REALLY dedicated and miss eating food for a few months or they work for a design firm that auto-updates their stuff.
Adobe, the little people have spoken!
Rather than just complain about how outlandish and overbearing your programs have become, we have a solution for you: Littleshop.
No, not Little Shop of Horrors, just Littleshop.
A compact, lightweight Adobe-made Photoshop. Sure, there’s tons of small image editing programs with the same functionality but PS users know there’s a certain je ne sais quoi here that can’t be easily duplicated – plus, the entertainment industry (magazines, music covers, victoria’s secret, etc) has helped us coin the household phrase “Photoshopped” for every airbrushed face, pinched waist, and blurred naughty bits. We still wanna be able to use that phrase T_T
Littleshop would contain all of the necessary editing features that we use blindly (filters, liquidation, layering, and defining tools) but lose all the splicing, slicing, web-editing, note-making, stamping, video-embedding, special fruitcake highlights… And for the reduced number (not quality) of features, would come a reduced price.
An on-the-go PS tool geared towards the designer who just wants a really nice image editor without all the crap so it loads faster and performs better resulting in stronger, smoother usability. Like going “oldsk00l” but with a new “fierceness” to those old favs (thanks tyra).
Sure – not everyone will agree on what to add or take away but every great, minimizing solution has to have some compromises.
So, how ’bout it? Is this anything all you home/freelancing PSers would use? Cheaper buy, cheaper upgrades, same old Adobe -> all the things you love about PS, in a travel-size package.
edit: We’ve received a few suggestions since this morning so here’s a quick overview:
Photoshop Express
In theory, a great idea, however it seems to be a little too lightweight for our previously described Littleshop and geared more for social networking, offering up a means to upload, slightly modify, and share images in gallery format.
Aviary
People interested in a similar solution, where everything is managed and edited online might take a look at Aviary’s Phoenix. Aviary is also used as a community-based tool but it offers a wider range of PS-like qualities. Heavier, and online-managed, this is a good investigative starting point for designers who travel often and find themselves away from their personal computers & software. However, since this is all run 100% online and not necessarily lightweight by online-app terms, keep in mind about load times as they could be slower depending on your connection. (slower defeats the purpose)
Photoshop Elements
Well, okay… Elements is not lightweight for one, for two -> it’s geared more for photo editing though it could be Photoshop’s little sister. It has some interesting features that differ from Photoshop as well as some “reduced PS functionality”, so it can be justifiably sold as it’s own unique program but ultimately it’s just another extension for Adobe products. It’s also more affordable and currently has a trial version.
GIMP
Another old friend mentioned GIMP, which is trying to keep up and compete with Adobe… that means it’ll continue to “bloat” just as much and definitely doesn’t offer a compact solution. One big pro? You can’t beat the price.
So… the more people who join the discussion here increase my curiousity: Is there already a Littleshop out there? I haven’t stumbled on a solution that works for me yet, but if you find something similar, let us know…
