This product review is strictly the opinion of the reviewer, who is not necessarily a Farba Research employee.

Product:	Paint Shop Protm v5.01
Category:	graphics/paint program
Manufacturer:	JASC, Inc.
Vendor Website:	http://www.jasc.com/
Rating:	superior; priced right
Reviewer:	E. Nicholas Cupery
Review Date:	31 March 1999

Introduction

Paint Shop Pro is both a paint program that one can use to create new images, and a graphics program that one can use to edit existing images.

Pros

• does every graphics manipulation function I could ever stand to learn
• imports/exports from/to a large number of graphic file formats
• has never bombed on me (ie, no "illegal operation" errors)
• has very good speed
• can add text to an existing graphic
• very reasonably priced, at about $69 street
• includes a GIF-animator companion utility program
• includes two very nice printed manuals
• a shareware trial version is available

Cons

• moving window borders have exact same color as background
• no way to remove an entry from the recently-used-files list
• view/ImageInformation does not show disk space used
• File/Browse window always reverts to non-maximized

Discussion

I almost never create a drawing by hand, so I cannot say a whole lot about that. However, I find myself manipulating existing images (to include images on paper that I scan) almost every day.

One thing I find very interesting is the fact that the particular field of graphic image manipulation spans such a huge range of sophistication. Even for one vendor, this range is enormous. For instance, we have Adobe PhotoDeluxe^tm at the low end (about $50 but bundled for free with many cameras and scanners), and Adobe PhotoShop^tm at the high end (list price of about $1000 and street price of about $600)! I have looked at PhotoDeluxe (and similar products from other vendors) and I find it demented, incomprehensible, and woefully inadequate in any case. I have looked at PhotoShop and find it monumentally complex (people devote entire careers to the use of this one program) and I'm not about to pay that kind of money for a program anyway. So, what is needed is something more reasonable, somewhere in the middle of this range but preferably nearer the high end. JASC's Paint Shop Pro is such a program, and the best I've seen. (I used to use Lview Pro^tm, but it is nowhere near as friendly and approachable as Paint Shop Pro.)

Paint Shop Pro does everything I have ever needed to do with a graphic image, and does it all well. It comes with a very nice printed manual that does a fine job of explaining graphics manipulations in general. It also comes from a vendor that actually answers email questions (within hours), and even provides a separate email address for a specific person to handle complaints. I have never had any occasion to try the complaint route, but I have emailed many suggestions and a few bug-reports, and JASC promptly responded to them all (and indicated that every one of the bugs will be fixed in the next version). I find it really really nice to deal with a company that does not hide from its customers (as so many others do).

Conclusion

Try this program. This is the best deal on a graphics/paint program I've ever come across, and the vendor is responsive to suggestions.

Copyright 1999 Farba Research All Rights Reserved

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