The future of PSP

[brucet]

Let me say from the very start that this thread is not about bagging PSP or Corel. PSP is still a great value for money product.

But.

But with the excitement on the web with the launch of Affinity 1.5 and the Launch of Photoline 20, I wonder how long Corel can keep polishing up PSP without a serious rebuild. Given the old Jasc platform is that even possible.

So what is the future of PSP? Will it remain a serious editor or will Corel be content to target the middle user? And if you were to be asked by Corel about PSP's future what would you tell them?

regards

[Grazie]

So what is the future of PSP? Will it remain a serious editor or will Corel be content to target the middle user? And if you were to be asked by Corel about PSP's future what would you tell them?

Yes, I agree and have been thinking this as soon as I got PIXELMATOR for my iPad Air2. I'm also using Procreate, another iOS app which has now busted the door open on Layers - though not with ALL the complexity and control of PSP.

. . PSP is still a great value for money product.

Is it? - As software becomes even more User friendly, allowing us all to get to our creative output without getting our way, I'm thinking that COREL will have squeezed just enough out of PSP to move on. Sell to MAGIX? Maybe MAGIX could use it to bolt into Vegas Pro?

If COREL want to reach out to me as a BETA tester - I'm here!

Love and Peace

Grazie

[photodrawken]

(...)
or will Corel be content
(...)

Although I haven't used PSP for a few years, I have paid good money to Corel for PSP X2, X3, and X5 as well as CDRGS X5 and WinZip, so I have good standing to comment on your question.

From what I've seen over the years, I think you can safely assume that Corel will be content to milk as much money out of their products as they can get away with, without providing significant and "top of the line" features. You and I have both experienced the extraordinary differences between PSP and PhotoLine, so I won't belabor that point .

But I've also seen that complacency with respect to their other products -- CorelDraw (and its raster companion in the Graphics Suite, Photo-Paint) haven't shown me anything compelling in their last few release cycles to make me want to upgrade, and WinZip has become a very bad joke. I mean, how fundamentally important and compelling is it to have the ability to post files to CrapBook from within a file extraction utility???

Fifteen years or so ago, I was a very satisfied user of Micrografx's Designer. Today, I look at the feature set of what is now Corel's (expensive) Designer, and it has lost some significant features and gained some marginal features. This is fifteen years later?

So, without getting into a "product vs. competitor's product" argument, I'll just say that since 1992 I've seen baaaad things from Corel and don't think that company will change. Just my two cents...

[pdxrjt]

In a way, unfortunately as I like the product, I have already "moved on" from PSP. There are some programs which do just about everything I want which are faster, easier, less buggy, do a better job and in the same price range. I continue to use PSP for things like add text (a rarity for the stuff I do) but not too much else (I forgot, I use it to add borders to photos too.)

[Rick_R]

My experience with Corel products is basically with PaintShop Pro and WordPerfect. I have been using WordPerfect since it was a DOS application from WordPerfect Corporation, through the sale to Novell, and then to Corel, and I've been using PSP since around PSP 9.

(I also have Corel Video Essentials X3, Fast Flicks, and VideoStudio Ultimate X9 but basically don't use them.)

Corel's philosophy on their low-end products is definitely "evolutionary change". The interfaces on WordPerfect 8, circa 1998 and X8 are almost identical. Unlike Microsoft in particular and to a lesser extent some other software manufacturers, Corel doesn't get into what most of their users would consider "feature bloat". Corel realizes that the vast majority of their customer base for those products are folks with beginner- to lower-intermediate level skills who don't use most of the features that the software already has.

Thirdly, Corel also realizes that the users of those low-end products who do have more advanced skills pretty much always also buy products from other manufacturers that have more features and are more "mainstream" and known to the general public--for instance Microsoft Office and Photoshop Elements. We continue with Corel's products because we prefer them. So also purchasing competing products doesn't negatively affect Corel's sales.

[brucet]

Very interesting! When I started this thread I thought it would become a hot bed of 'what ifs' and suggestions.
Seem that the lack of feedback indicates that Corel is in a happy place with PSP.

Maybe the vast majority of users have no issues or complaints. Good.

regards

[csh2000]

Very interesting! When I started this thread I thought it would become a hot bed of 'what ifs' and suggestions.
Seem that the lack of feedback indicates that Corel is in a happy place with PSP.

Maybe the vast majority of users have no issues or complaints. Good.

regards

Or maybe folks are enjoying their weekend with Christmas shopping and football games

[Joelle]

Very interesting! When I started this thread I thought it would become a hot bed of 'what ifs' and suggestions.
Seem that the lack of feedback indicates that Corel is in a happy place with PSP.

Maybe the vast majority of users have no issues or complaints. Good.

regards

I have few issues, and none of a serious nature.
I annoys me no end when people use other programs and admit that they never PSP but still need to air their voice here.
I don't voice my opinions in the Photoline forum or any other. I don't use their programs..

PSP is an excellent product, I use it every day, do photography for a local publication, graphics for a local association and lots of fun (alter this + that to make it something else) graphics for the fun of it.

Corel might not be the best software house on the planet, but that doesn't interfere with using PSP.

I think Corel and other image editing software producers are struggling to sell their products when it it harder to add something new every time.
Also everyone and his dog seems to push buttons on a phone instead of using a PC or laptop for proper editing.

Rant over.

Joëlle

[brucet]

Joelle I use Photoline AND PSP as my go to editors. Each has it's good and bad points. Using one editor and not another is not the issues. If someone likes XYZ then there must be a reason why they prefer XYZ over PSP. So 'venting' those issues can only help Corel see what it takes to 'improve' their product. Silencing the critics isn't a very smart why to learn.

regards

[Joelle]

My comment was not aimed at you and I am not silencing valid critique
I use other software too, but some who post here and who, by their own admission, don't use PSP at all, still feel the need to air their opinions in the PSP forum.

Corel (and others) is seeing the market for image editing software becoming less popular for reason already mentioned. this, sadly, is the way things go.
Adobe have lost a lot of customers because of their pricing.

I stick by what I said, PSP is a good product, quick and easy to use, it certainly works like that for me.
It's so easy to criticise a product, praise seems to be harder. A shame.

Joëlle

[JoeB]

First, I tend to agree with @Joelle for the most part. PSP is easily powerful enough to do the type of things that she does, which means it's powerful enough to do what (likely) the majority of PSP users need or want to achieve with photos or other creative image manipulation.

Second, I do also agree with @brucet's last comment, i.e.: "Seem that the lack of feedback indicates that Corel is in a happy place with PSP." It reflects my first comment that PSP is aimed at a market that finds that - for the most part - it's abilities match the results most people in that target market require or desire.

Third, while @Rick makes a few good points, I disagree with his description of PSP as a "low end product." I'm not sure on what criteria he bases that description. When I was in the business I did all my graphic work (similar to what Joelle does) including art work submitted to professional offset print shops who worked with Photoshop on Mac machines and always got excellent output results. There is nothing "low end" about PSP except the price.

And yes, there are now some free graphic editors - or at least in the PSP price range - that have the similar (and sometimes - in some areas - better) tools. But it all depends on what a particular person needs for their specific purposes.

Jumping ship just because a different editor might save a few dollars or seems to offer a few extra bells and whistles isn't necessarily a good idea for most people. You have to consider that (a) there is always a learning curve, and (b) you could still be giving up some little bell or whistle that your long used - and familiar - program offered that really does facilitate your particular workflow.

So I suspect that, as @brucet suggested, Corel has found it's "sweet spot", in that it has identified its target market, caters to that market, and is doing just fine within that market without having to change its marketing strategy.

JMHO, of course.

[brucet]

I think we have to be careful about 'wants' and 'needs'. Most us want everything but don't really need it. I liken it to a tradespersons tool box. One spanner wont do everything. A good tradesperson has many tools. I have two editors. several plugins ins and a number of specialised programs. I think that as long as Corel knows it's target market and accepts that it needs to make PSP work with 'other' programs then no foul no harm.

The reality is that when asked for advice I point everyone to PSP. Simply because, while it's not perfect, it is great value for money. And largely under rated. But that doesn't mean that having other software is a bad thing either.

If Corel was to ask me for advice I would suggest they concentrate on the 'middle/mass' market. But make PSP more compatible for users who want or need to use other software. ie make or market plugins that enhance PSP rather than bog it down.

regards

[flagpole]

If COREL want to reach out to me as a BETA tester - I'm here!

Love and Peace

Grazie

If Carlsberg made arrogance...

[PluginCreativity]

I don't think there haven't been any "must-have" features in upgrades to PSP or Corel Draw for quite a while. I've been with Corel Draw since v1.00 and PSP since it's shareware days (v3.12 I think) and then my company became UK distributor for Jasc for many years. We'd always look for the WOW feature in any new release, the feature that users simply couldn't resist. The last one I can remember doing that for me was the background eraser tool and that was a long time ago, the ability to select the edges of a selection is also pretty cool but it took me a long time to find a use for it. The problem is I can't actually think of anything I need to do with PSP which I can't do already and that may be the issue for Corel.

The cost of a complete overhaul and the risk of getting it wrong will stifle any desire for innovation in a business which is focused on risk-avoidance and revenue-maximization. If you can't think of an overhaul which would provide a radically different product everyone would flock to then it's going to be justify at least 18 months of development and very significant cost. (Not saying Corel haven't come up with that idea just saying it's a tall order)

So the upgrades become incremental in exponentially smaller increments and more obtuse features. So fewer users upgrade at longer intervals. So the pool of existing users is milked for as long as possible.

But let's not get mealy-mouthed about it - I've done a lot of good things with PSP over the years and still do and best of all I didn't buy it on subscription so I have my copy for as long as I want to maintain a computer capable of running it. I haven't upgraded for a while so might be tempted by the next one but I don't expect there to be a "WOW! feature" which will force me to.

Paul

[mc_peko]

If text and vector support get a very serious upgrade very soon maybe PSP can survive. But I feel more and more stuck in legacy land every day. And Corel don't seem to take my reports seriously enough.