I don't know about you, but the GIMP does almost everything I need. I did use Photoshop recently for some very small buttons because sometimes the GIMP's text handling isn't exactly right for very small fonts.

I mostly use the Linux version, which is the best one, but I do sometimes use it under Windows, and it seems fine on a 300MHz Pentium 2 Windows 2000 computer with 128MB of memory.

It took me a while to learn it (I got very frustrated at first, but I was determined), but now I can use the same features I used in Photoshop: layer masks, paths, etc. Actually, now when I use Photoshop 6, I get annoyed with some of its quirks (like how when you double-click on a layer now it brings up all kinds of crazy properties, but you have to right-click to rename the layer).

The only features I ever used in Photoshop that are missing are CMYK color and the "Actions" panel. You can make your own plugins for the GIMP pretty easily, though (in Scheme or Perl), which is probably why actions aren't there. It also doesn't have layer effects (oh darn). The only real problem with the GIMP is that it can't read Photoshop 5.5 or higher files, and it can't export Photoshop files at all. It saves ".xcf" files.

Anyway, if you are paying for Photoshop and don't want to anymore, try it. This program is what started moving Linux out of the closet and onto peoples' desktops. It's useful and it has a cute mascot. I like it.

Roz the Big-Time GIMP Fan