I'd love to avoid it but the competition is far behind !

I've used Photoshop for Windows professionally in all its versions since 5.0. Moving to the mac, I was looking forward to finally using the app on it's 'home turf'. But somehow they have managed to make Photoshop even less pleasant to install, configure and use on Leopard than it was on Windows. That's got to be some kind of engineering miracle.

Leaving aside the myriad interface woes, which there is not enough time in the day to describe, what galls me most about Photoshop CS3 on the mac is how un-neighbourly it is. After installation I found my Applications folder cluttered with Adobe subfolders, one for each component of the application - including several I hadn't agreed to install (Adobe Bridge, anyone? Adobe Device Central? Adobe Stock Photos? "Adobe Help Viewer 1.1", an application I am never going to run separately in my life?) Each of these folders was full to the brim with licensing agreements I'd already agreed to, and support files that should be living in /Library/Application Support/. None of these folders or applications can be renamed or moved after installation, otherwise the applications stop working. None of these components can be uninstalled without uninstalling the whole application - and you cannot even start the uninstaller without closing all your browsers first. This same casual, careless contempt for the user and their system extends to the design of the entire application.

After 7 years, trying it on the mac was the last straw; I have come to thoroughly resent this application and Adobe's attitude to software design. I'm frantically exploring alternatives because I do not want to be beholden to Photoshop for another minute of my professional life.

The only way Photoshop will get measurably better, faster or more pleasant to use is if they start again with a clean sheet of paper. I'm not holding my breath.

This fu%#&ing app is still completely broken on Leopard.

The cursor disappears and selecting anything is impossible.

Do not buy. Do not use. Adobe has no respect for their customers.

Huge and expensive, great if you know what your doing, overwhelming if you don't. I wish there was a more consumer version of this application that was a Universal Binary.

Hehe. This is a fantastic program. Submitted v3 icon.

I'm all about open source and indie software, but there are times when you can't deny how great an application is. As much as I've looked for alternatives to Photoshop, I've yet to find one that wouldn't leave me jealous for those still using photoshop. Even with the price, I can't imagine using anything else for serious design work.

Sorry Gimp and the others, you're just not there. Sometimes you just need professional grade software. There are great open source/indie text editors, you just don't find it in Photoshop alternatives.

I use Photoshop a lot and I don't think I'll be replacing it any time soon. There is nothing out there with it's relative usability or versatility. It is however a beast, as the comments below confirm. For basic image editing I use ChocoFlop. Yes its still in Beta, but it looks very promising. Oh and its fast.

It's so slow on my macbook so i run it in parrallels desktop

I still use CS which (unlike CS2) doesn't act like a virus by inserting itself everywhere. It's also a lot smaller.
Edit: briefly used GIMPshop on my other powerbook.......it seemed a lot faster than CS, but DIDN'T have all the functionality.
eg, I use individual style effects in individual layers a lot. This isn't included with Gimp. You have to download extra scripts and extra files to make it work and all the PS ones aren't available (yet).
To avoid the hassle I switched back to CS

Apple should make a competitor to Photoshop. Put some of the Aperture design team on there and poof! A universal version of photoshop with that Apple Application integration that we all know and love.