Yes -- the Golden Arches was a bit unfair, but I wanted to get my message home loud and clear.

Let me use one where price doesn't factor in as much. The current market share leader in beer is "Anheuser-Busch InBev".
Does this mean the beer that "Anheuser-Busch InBev" manufacturers is the best? Note: ABI owns brands like: Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Bass, Boddington’s Stella Artois, etc...

Here is another example where price doesn't factor much. Personal computers. In 2017, the market share leader was HP, followed by Lenovo, and then Dell. Because HP is the market share leader in personal computers? Does that mean that HP makes the "best" personal computers.

The answer is it depends on the person.

There are lots of thing that factor into making a company a market share leader. Leadership, execution, distribution, operations, manufacturing efficiencies, products, brand, etc...

You are confusing market share leadership with having better software.

Yes, Adobe is the market share leader by revenue in graphics software, and McDonalds is the market share leader in revenue in hamburgers and fast food.
Are McDonalds burgers the "best" burgers?, better than "Wendy's"?, "Jack-in-the-Box"?, "In and Out Burgers"?, etc... For me I like all the above mentioned burgers and they each have their unique pros and cons. There is no "best".

Being the market share leader doesn't mean you are the "best" and -- best anyways is a subjective term. Best for you may not be best for me, because my needs and wants are different than yours.

You like Adobe and use their software and I like PaintShop Pro and use their software. Neither of us are wrong. We are both entitled to our opinion. There is no such thing as an absolute best in the PP market.

And I'm all about choice -- about helping those just getting started to learn about the different pros and cons of the different PP programs out there at make a choice that best fits their needs. If that choice is PS/LR then that's fine, or if its PSE, or Affinity, Luminar, or Capture 1, etc...

Yes, I probably can.

In that whole long email you never did. All you said is that InDesign and PhotoShop are better integrated than other programs (i.e. work better together).

Yes -- I get it. You work at a newspaper. Your use case is probably less than 1% of the photographers here at UHH. Yes, editing directly in CYMK would be useful if you worked in a print house. I don't -- that feature is not useful to me at all.

Beyond the two examples I gave: Directly editing in the CYMK color space and native photo stacking. Like what? What feature does does PS have that allows me to do something that I cannot do in PaintShop Pro?

They are both very mature and advanced programs.

Note: My company does not use Adobe products and does not provide me with any Adobe products at work. I hardly ever do any DTP work, but when I do, like a flyer or a newsletter, I have a copy of Serif PagePlus that I bought for $60 (a perpetual license), which is a pretty fantastic product. Never needed anything else.

btw: If your company provides you with something -- then I agree no need to go shopping for something else -- for you Adobe is free -- because your company is paying for it.

Yes, but $5000 miles is about 1/3 of your total annual mileage. That's 4 months worth of gas. That's really good IMHO.

Actually with a Prius my example even gets better.

Let's assume $4 for a Gallon of gas, and let's assume your Prius only averages 60 mpg.

$360 / 4 $/gallon X 60mpg = 5,400 miles. That's a lot of miles. :-)

I don't care what they drink. Like you I only want to make sure they know the water is there -- and that they have choice.

Information is important. Every PP program has it's pros and cons. I think we are doing a service in putting information out about a products pros and cons.

In the end, I don't care if a person uses PS/LR, PSE, Affinity, Capture 1, GIMP, Luminar, Paint Shop Pro, Picassa, Google Photo, FastStone, etc...

Heck -- my Dad still uses Picassa, and for him and his needs -- he's completely happy with his choice.

Yes -- PSE is a great option.

The comparison here would be that there are 5 brands of darkroom equipment -- and that one brand (Brand X) is 5 times more expensive than the other 4. (i.e. $360 versus $50 over a 3 year period).

For arguments sake, lets even say that Brand X is slightly better ("Better" being a subjective term, than the four other brands. Do you go with Brand X or not? Maybe, maybe not.

By all means hold onto or buy your darkroom equipment, but why not go with Brand Y or Brand X, and save yourself a lot of money. :-)

Why not pay $2 or $3 a month (over a three year period) instead? i.e. Affinity, Luminar, PaintShop Pro.

The best we can do for the newbie is let them know there is choice, and plenty of great choices -- and that every choice has their pros and cons, and educate them on those pros and cons.

The newbie is then able to make the optimal choice based on their needs, as everyone has different needs. There is no "best".

Hmmm. I'd rather have the three tanks of gas.

As always MHO. Over a 3 year period that nine tanks of gas -- or around $360. ;-)

One because that's just your opinion.

And two because Adobe is expensive. I'd rather spend my money on other things.

You are right that the subscription model isn't really the issue the real issue is that Adobe is very expensive. What the subscription model does is it makes the true cost harder to calculate (you're the first Adobe user that I've seen in a long time that has actually said that it costs $360 over a three year period. Yes -- folks Adobe costs $360 over a three year period!

I have nothing against Adobe, it's actually decent software, however I do not want to pay $120 a year (or $360 over a 3 year period), when there are so many good alternatives.

I've been using Corel Paint Shop Pro for the past 6+ years and it is only $50 for a perpetual license, and I typically upgrade once every three years. So $50 over a three year period versus $360 over a three year period. :-)

And believe me there is very little that PhotoShop can do that PaintShop Pro can't. The only two things I know that Photoshop can do that PaintShop cannot are directly editing colors in the CYMK color space and photo stacking. And photo stacking you can do for FREE with programs called CombineZ or Enfuse, and if you want best of breed photo stacking you can pay a one time perpetual license of around $80 for Helicon Focus, and Serif Affinity has focus stacking native like Adobe has.

In your post you are comparing Adobe against Adobe with re: to price. But the price comparison Adobe fans don't like making is Adobe versus the competition, because no matter how you stack it $360 for a three year period is a LOT more expensive than $50. :-)