Quote Originally Posted by catnapper
Don't justify yourself. Why do you need Photoshop in the first place? There are penty of legally free photo editing programs out there. Just because you can download something like programs and music doesn't make it right. Imagine you posted something here that you were really proud of... say a photo you took. Someone else came along and said "oh, what a great photo!" and they simply clicked "copy" and pasted it to their own computer. Then they entered it into a contest and won thousand bucks. Thats YOUR photo. They got it FREE from the internet and justified stealing YOUR work by saying it didn't matter because it was easily obtained. Wouldn't you feel they stole your property? Wouldn't you feel they had no right and should have paid for the image, especially since they were taking it for the purpose of entering a contest or using it to show others as their won work? You took Photoshop not to just enjoy photo editing in your own privacy, but to make images that you now share with the world.

Why is Photoshop $1,000? to offset the cost of people who steal their program. The people who pay for it have the pay the price for those that steal it. Adobe is really starting to crack down on people who put the software up for downloading purposes and those that download it. I have Photoshop -- legally obtained from a client who bought it for his company and he gave me a copy since I am a designer and would do an occasional job for him. I never use it because I no longer do work for him... in fact a few weeks ago I contemplated taking it off my computer to free up some memory. Ironic, huh?
Why I needed it was because PSP didn't really fit my expectations, and Photoshop did. So I downloaded it. I legally own PSP though, got it for a gift for good grades. But I've learned my lesson, and I'm saving up my money to get Photoshop Elements.