rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Are you certain that you own them. Most software has wording which says that they retain ownership of the software and allow you to use the software

pego101

Ditching is a mistake

LP9

The problem sounds more computer hardware related than the program. I would check drivers, hard drives, USB connections, etc. I would also look at your installed RAM and how much video ram is on your video card. Also, there are Photoshop CPU requirements with new, specific instruction sets to make PS run correctly.
My point is, it may not be Photoshop actually causing the problem.

ricardo00

Because? I haven't regretted my decision 5 plus years ago after struggling with a minor issue that took multiple calls to Adobe (though they never charged for them) and hours on the computer trying to get it to work. But personally I am not a tech guy and never liked spending all the time on the computer working on my photos, rather be out taking fresh ones. And yes I had taken lessons on Photoshop, etc.
I would be curious to hear how hard it is these days to get personal help from Adobe. With the changes since COVID it has been extremely difficult to talk to a real person at most companies (just having struggled getting a real person to talk to with our land line phone company, ATT as well as our utility). Anyone had real world experience calling Adobe and talking to a live person who helped them with an issue?

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

I ditched Lightroom and got ON1 and am totally happy with it. And updating cost only about $60.00 a year.

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

I have used Lightroom for many years and can't live without it. It's like my second nature. However, I recently acquired Luminar Neo and really like it. Excellent software. It hasn't replaced LR in my post-processing, just augmented it. I can access it directly from LR when needed. Several functions in it are better than in LR, like erase for example.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Good idea! I've had apps ask me to do something with the GPU setting - no problems, though.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I doubt you qualify to make that statement.
How many years have you used Affinity, Gimp or any number of full blown photo editors?
I've used PS for many, many years and Affinity and the ACDSee editors for a number of years. I can't say any of them are better than GIMP, ON1, or or any of the other editors often mentioned, because I've never used them, or never used them long enough to make such a statement. Best I'll say is if an editor doesn't do layers, it's useless to me. LR doesn't do layers, so I'd not use it myself. PS is great stuff, but so is Affinity, and Affinity is a one time payment with plenty of free updates. I don't think PS does anything Affinity doesn't do that would make me want to pay a monthly ransom to use it. I edit all the time and never think Affinity needs to do something that it doesn't already do.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Reminds me of when TV first came out. A TV salesman said to the store manager, "Why do not have any TVs on display?" The answer was "haven't had much call for them" I did not "Have much call for Photoshop" either until I started using, and now it is a great addition to my processing of photos

TucsonDave Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Affinity Photo, Version 2

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The Adobe apps only connect to the Internet to check in monthly and see whether you've paid your bill, AND to check for updates and upgrades.

We LICENSE software, no matter how it is paid for. We don't buy it. The terms of the license vary from package to package. Read the End User License Agreement that you have to agree to before installing...

When we went to the computer store and "bought" packaged software, we were really just paying for a license and all of the distribution costs of manuals and discs. Now, all manuals are online, either in the Help menu or as downloadable PDF files. The license is either perpetual FOR ONE VERSION of the software, or an ongoing subscription.

Professionals generally prefer the subscription model for the predictability of the expense and the "always up to date" drip feed of new features. Security fixes, bug fixes, updates, and version upgrades can be installed as soon as they are available. The learning curve for new features is shallower and easier to handle.

The downside is that you can't keep old hardware and old operating system around for a decade or more... The latest subscription software requires fairly recent hardware and software if you really want it to run efficiently.

Rick Garside

I'll keep this short and sweet: per the OP's request, the alternatives I have landed on are:
Affinity Photo for editing - only about $50, no subscription fees and basically does everything PS does.
ACDSee for photo management - does a great job organizing, has facial recognition, key words, etc.
I use a Mac system, but both softwares are available in Mac and PC.

I have been very happy with both, though there was a 'transition' learning curve on Affinity. They do have tutorials to help.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

My suggestion is choose the one you like best after having tested them.

Others will be eager to hear the results. Please post the results of your search.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

If you quit, how is it that you are still here, replying?