DoctorJeff wrote:
Oh Yes, free Serif Software.
All you usually have to do is ring them for a registration number.
That will be ten minutes of sales pitch before you get your number.
Then you will get e-mails every day offering you more product to buy.
And, the regular phone calls asking how you are getting on (and do you want to upgrade?).

I actually bought some Serif stuff. I found that one package was actually painfully awkward to use (far worse than GIMP), took myself off their mailing list, told the next salesperson who phoned that I was not impressed, and asked not to be called again.

Then I got a patronising e-mail from their sale people telling me that new software could require some time to learn. At the time I was actually heading a software development project (World Class stuff, with some defence applications) and had about 25 years of computer use behind me. There was also a small matter of me teaching on HCI and other software topics - on BSc and Masters courses. So the next phone call I got was a case of me telling them exactly what I thought of their software, their company, and a very firm GOODBYE. It took the two more phone calles before they finally got the message.

They are harder to get rid of than Ashampoo.
There is other free software about, and you can always buy remaindered stuff - notably PSE - very cheaply.

Geoff

MarkTaylor wrote:
Unfortunately cheap commercial photo software doesn't come close to GIMP in terms of power. Unless you can afford some genuinely powerful commercial software - such as Adobe Lightroom - I'd recommend GIMP.

Rather than spending money on cheap software, I'd spend the money on a decent book to teach you how to use GIMP properly, such as this one.

Dangermouse wrote:
A good argument to stick with GIMP then - no aggressive pressure selling!

MarkTaylor wrote:
It's a matter of being aware where you have saved your work, in this respect GIMP is no different from any other software. Always make sure you choose a sensible place to save rather than letting the application choose for you, regardless which application you're using. The only difference with GIMP is that the file requester - the interface you use to select where your files are saved - is a little different in appearance from standard Windows or Mac applications because it's derived from GTK which is really a Linux user interface. However, if you take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with it, it is no more difficult to use than the Windows or Mac standards. Like any decent modern file interface, it makes it fairly obvious how to find your way to any given folder in your file system.

If you have saved a file in a default location and want to find it, it's usually just a matter of going to save another file because the default location will not likely have changed. In the case of GIMP you can see clearly where it's saving as the directory path is illustrated as a series of 'bubbles' with the names of the directories in them near the top of the window. If you really can't figure it out from that, then save a file with a unique name which is unlikely to occur anywhere else such as "mysearchtest1234", and then use the operating system's file search facility to locate it. You should find any other files you saved from the same application in the same location.

Either way, you should find your saved files in a couple of minutes rather than hours.

If you don't know enough about file systems and directory structures to decide where a sensible place to save your files would be - learn. Find someone who can teach you. Seriously, it's absolutely vital for any level of computer use but the very most basic, and not knowing it will hold you back hugely if you want to do anything with a computer at all other than play games.

wvbarnes wrote:
http://www.serif.com/FreeDownloads/

Nottinghma based Serif's PhotoPlus is excellent and here is a free version to try

DoctorJeff wrote:
Just a few thoughts:
- I tried GIMP V1 a few years back. Found that I preferred Photoshop. Gimp was more powerful, but much harder to learn.
- GIMP is software for Linux - then translated for Windows. Don't expect it to always do things the way that Windows standard software does.
- Take an image - any old image - and play with saving it - and see where it saves to by default.
- Try making a directory/folder for each batch of images, and copy the ones you want into it. Point GIMP at that directory > import an image > rename > save. One would expect the image to be saved back to that directory. If not, click on "Save As" and the popup box should tell you where it expects to save the new file.
- Finally, try the GIMP helpfiles (built in) or go to :
www.gimphelp.org

Geoff

philstaff wrote:
I have no plans to purchase any more equipment for some time. Hopefuly Ricoh wont try to fix something that is not broken and we can continue on as normal.
Ian