Photoshop is widely considered the best image-editing software in the world today by a long way, and it is not difficult to see why. Photoshop offers incredibly advanced effects which would previously have taken days or weeks to accomplish, and reduces them to the level of a few settings and a few clicks.



Although it is expensive, today it is considered an essential program for anyone working with graphics, whether it's in print, on the web, or even in television and movies.

This has resulted in the vast number of less expensive competitors (although none are really considered to be contenders), plus the piracy of the Photoshop software itself. In measures to counter this, a simplified version of Photoshop known as Photoshop Elements was introduced which has proven to be a perfect tool for beginners.

From where did Photoshop make its meteoric rise? The program was first developed in 1987 and was released on the market in 1990. Adobe has made sure to stay on top of advances since especially in relation to hardware power and has revamped Photoshop accordingly. Even now, to get the most out of the Photoshop program, you should invest in as much RAM as possible for your computer.

Adobe has had some help in Photoshop reaching the acclaim that it has. Photoshop comes equipped with a plugin design that has allowed for various plugins to be obtainable for more advanced work. This includes some plugins that in fact cost more and do more than the original program.

Due to this feature, Photoshop is many times used in the same way as Windows, in the manner of a platform. It would be a major endeavor to get these plugins to operate with any other software program, making the competition futile for those depending on a plugin.

Photoshop for Windows and Mac OS (both OS 9 and OS X) are offered today. Should you desire to use it on Linux though, you will have to utilize Crossover Office, Codeweavers' program that lets some Windows software to run on Linux however it will be quite slow.