Hi im a graphic design student with 6 months till i get my BFA. Ive used adobe for 10 years now and it really is all ive used. I dont own any software for graphic design yet... As such I am a blank slate and willing to look into any good professionalsoftware. I have several months to figure it out still and want to wait till at least january to make a decision.
I am coming here and looking away from adobe because of the adobe cc matter and a few things they have done in the last 2 years. I dont need to get into it but im not doing cc because the cost is more over time and lack of perpetual license. I see corel, xara and others have very good business plans. I have lost faith and trust in adobe over lies, lies, lies, greed, lies and not caring what customers want forcing cc on us.
If worst comes to worst i can get a student copy of cs 6 standard for 450 which can be used commercially but I would prefer not as I want something I can upgrade or sell and have return on my investment. I have not downloaded the trials for corel but will soon. I see corel and xara are both very good at import/export with adobe so no concern there. Saw serif software also but they had import/export trouble. The biggest thing is how well do they compare with adobe and i dont mean learning curve I mean effectiveness head to head with adobe. Unless adobe makes some big changes in the next few months to cost or options I will probably jump ship. Im leaning to corel though. Like the draw x6 option to get perpetual license + premium (wish adobe would do this).
How well does x company actually compare to replace adobe:
Photoshop photo editing
Photoshop digital illustration
Illustrator
Indesign (desk top publishing)
Dreamweaver/Muse (none/light code friendly web design)
Please list anything that might help. I would prefer companies with several products but willing to entertain stand alone items.
My findings are painter and corel draw are equal to if not better than adobes product. Paint-shop as mid grade between elements and photoshop. Muse vs web site creator i have no idea. Have not used muse and years since used dream weaver. Draw as a step below indesign but x6 is first edition that is text heavy so hopping x7 is comparable to indesign.