Initial Review of Microsoft's Acrylic BETA 283
Geuis writes "I'll admit, I'm not a big Microsoft fan. I'm an old-time user of Adobe Photoshop, and I love nearly everything it can do. However, in the interest of science, I decided to try out the new beta for Microsoft's answer to Photoshop, Acrylic.
My review is posted on my blog.
Final recommendation: Stay as far away from Acrylic as you can. It needs so much development work done, it shouldn't be out of Alpha testing. If this is anywhere close to the final product they are planning to release, then Microsoft should be prepared to eat another few million in lost development funds. There's no reason you should have to eat it too."
Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not a particularly big fan of MS, but having seen Acrylic, I can assure you that that guy has no clue about what he's talking about.
Anyway, I wrote a detailed rant in reply to his blog entry [thetechgurus.net].
Man, since when did Slashdot starting posting ridiculous reviews from Joe Schmoe off the street?
Move Along (Score:4, Insightful)
So... (Score:5, Insightful)
Photoshop competitor? Hardly.
Nifty little tool? Sure.
This article? Jumping to conclusions based on a beta showing that doesn't even pretend to be anything more than a test run.
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:3, Insightful)
This dude doesn't even know what video card is in his computer, and it doesn't seem that he tried to actually, you know, *produce* anything with the app.
Blogs as news now on slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
What?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
THEN, we hear about a few lame attempts to use bitmap functions of the product, comparing it to Photoshop. Not one word about the vector functions. Come on! This isn't going to be a Photoshop replacement. The whole point of Acrylic is drawing clean vector-based objects with a pressure sensitive digitizer.
My review of the reviewer? Stay away from their blog at all costs.
Go figure. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:5, Insightful)
Misses the point! (Score:5, Insightful)
I thouhgt all software will have its own constituency of people it satisfies no matter how good or unfinished or unpolished it is...just like Linux distros do satisfy some. So why go on advising a potential customers to like "Stay as far away from Acrylic as you can...?" This is not fair.
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:5, Insightful)
He keeps comparing the pixel editing aspects with photoshop, completely ignoring the other side. And half his/her rant is spent on crazy stuff pertaining to how s/he could not download it?
If you notice, the reviewer has failed to mention vector editing in any form or comparison - makes you wonder if they are even aware of that.
And yes, I agree with you - it's probably nothing more than a stunt by MS, but if you are reviewing a product, at the very least be aware of _what_ you're reviewing it against. If I took up a street Miata prototype and started comparing it against the virtues of Ferrari, folks are gonna laugh at me. Both are entirely different, and made for quite different purposes.
Reviewing beta software... (Score:5, Insightful)
While I wouldn't expect Microsoft to touch Photoshop with a beta version of a graphics package, I'd prefer to reserve judgement until the packages is shrink wrapped on the shelves. As it stands, it's a cheap shot at Microsoft which is undeserved, especially if you consider the large number of open source projects which are continually being worked on that would be equally at home under the label 'dodgy beta'.
People - Microsoft included - that put betas out tend to do so for constructive criticism, not for review.
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:4, Insightful)
Missed that little File-->Export menu option, did you?
Re:Blogs as news now on slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh....
Slashdot IS a blog. Run by Rob Malda and friends. It just happens to have Weapons Grade commenting capabilities.
Re:Writing non-buggy software is hard! (Score:1, Insightful)
"This guy who wrote this review is a nobody" (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Blogs as news now on slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because it's content posted in a blog doesn't mean it's not news, or not reliable. Should I avoid reading what Bruce Schneier has to say just because he posts it in a blog [schneier.com]? Or maybe I should wait until next month for him to release his Cryptogram where he basically reposts the same stuff?
Like any other source, you have to evaluate it based on its merits. But dismissing it out of hand because it's a blog is silly.
Jason.
i didn't know what acrylic was (Score:2, Insightful)
i'm glad that it's not meant to be a replacement for microsoft, though, because many PHBs would require that we use this instead of photoshop since microsoft "works well with office".
Re:Blogs as news now on slashdot (Score:2, Insightful)
A blog-esque Web site consists of postings representing the views and thoughts of an individual, or tiny group. Not so with Slashdot.
If you broaden the definition of 'blog' tom incorporate the likes of Slashdot the definition becomes too broad to have much meaning.
Re:Reviewing beta software... (Score:2, Insightful)
Would you want reviews like that suppressed? I would not.
I'm going to be a lone voice in the wilderness defending this reviewer. It does seem like the program was publicised as "Microsoft's answer to Photoshop". The fact that it is actually a vector program is reduced in importance by the red eye removal function, which makes it clear that they are trying to move towards Photoshop.
It looks to me like the people who know this is a vector program are those who've heard of it in its previous incarnations. He hadn't, and so he used it like Photoshop and found it lacking. That may not be the program's fault, but it is surely the fault of Microsoft marketing, and quite honestly they're big boys over there and surely deserve to take criticism.
There are quite a few programs in the world that have been taken as both vector and bitmap graphics programs, and this appears to be one of them. I've noticed that none of them have made much of a dent in the market. Mighty Photoshop rules all, especially since Photoshop Elements gives you most of what you really need if you're not making the big bucks doing this stuff.
That being said, I would have downloaded it if I'd had a Windows machine handy. Always a brainy scheme to check out new things. But based on the screen shots shown by the reviewer, it really doesn't look like it has what it takes to woo me out of Photoshop and other Adobe products.
D
Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)
If the Gimp had both as reasonable an interface and as powerful features of its commercial competitors, it'd be used more. However, it doesn't. Even JASC Paint Shop Pro -- a not terribly expensive product -- had a far better interface and more features, last I checked. That's in addition to well-done documentation and support.
The Reviewer's Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Since Creature House bought it back and since MS bought CH, I've had a chance to putz around with the program to see what is up.
Similarly, I've used Photoshop since v.3. Heck, I used version 4 for years without once regretting that I didn't upgrade.
The point in mentioning these things is that I can tell you what kind of Photoshop user that reviewer is and that he didn't even break the surface of Acrylic.
He's one of those Photoshop users who thinks PS is all about the plug-ins and about cutting and pasting images together. I'd wager he's never created anything from scratch in PS besides maybe a beveled button for his crappy website, circa 1997.
Two, even though Expression was in Beta when Creature House was bought by MS, it is a complete program...now. It is a general purpose illustration program...now. It can be used to create the sweetest vector lines...now. What MS is doing is adding raster pixel editing functions. The chances that MS Paint code is being chunked into the Acrylic program are pretty good
The reviewer's problem is that he is so used to PS making whatever he does easy for him that he's never had to use an illustration program. He probably can't draw or design to save his life. He probably hasn't done photo processing in a darkroom before. He's probably never used any of PS's tools to work on a blank document, starting with nothing. And ending up with something except the aforementioned website button...Start with a rectangle and fill...
He also didn't take the time to realize that the program's zoom i/o feature makes more sense than any other graphics program and gives you precise and dynamic info on the page size and zoom percentage. I'd love that GUI option in *any* program I use. It is a good use of the mouse or stylus. It is like dialing up or down....
Now...
I hate MS and I hate the notion that they might think that they can just buy their way into a market. Or that any market with some growth potential is a market that it must dominate. That's bullsh1t! They should innovate and create new markets instead of trying to play catchup, lock-in and smash.
I'll forgive MS for not releasing a Mac version of Acrylic because I have Expression 3.x, gratis courtesy MS.
But, that reviewer is a chump. The kind of chump you use to make examples of for future generations who you don't want to see resort to chumpery.
Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)
Because they want to get some actual work done and not spend their day fighting the interface, or compiling code? Because they want to be able to exchange files with their peers and other companies that require PSD files?
Because Photoshop is better?
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:4, Insightful)
An example: The guy says there's no intuitive way to scroll around the image because there are NO SCROLLBARS.
Anyone who's used Photoshop for five minutes knows that to drag around an image, you hold down the spacebar to toggle to the hand tool. This works in just about any other graphics app, including Acrylic.
Another: He regurgitates the gripe that it can only save to XPR format, while the slightest bit of intelligent poking around reveals that -- again, JUST like Photoshop -- it EXPORTS to JPG, PNG, etc etc.
And that's in the HALF of the "review" that talks about the program instead of the logistics of downloading and installing the thing.
One thing a lot of us tech nerds have to learn is that our initial feelings do not opinions make. Something about our proto-Asperger's Syndrome compels us to try to make cogent arguments out of what we KNOW are just bare impressions.
After this guy learns that, he also needs to learn not to compensate by parading his malformed non-arguments in front of all of Slashdot.
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:2, Insightful)
My verdict after 20 minutes? Pretty good. The functionality seems to be all there (although there's always room for more), and the only thing I can see that's crying out for a little love is the UI -- changing stroke widths, etc., is accomplished through some sort of strange "analogue digital display" (like counters on old tape decks) rather than sliders, the indication of which tool is selected is a little non-obvious, and it all feels a bit like whoever wrote the code for some part of the app also did the UI giving it no coherent feel.
In summary, I'm not sure who's lamer -- the guy who wrote the review, or Slashdot for linking to it. I'm going to give it a thorough going over tomorrow, and shall post my own damned review...
Re:Blogs as news now on slashdot (Score:2, Insightful)
As for the difference between some dumbass posting and "real" news like Dvorak or Cringley, what exactly makes someone a "somebody" and someone a "nobody"?
God knows that "real journalists" are no smarter than Joe Blog posting on his website.
This is
Heck, I was the first person to email Taco and let him know when the
As for the editors, don't ask them for anything but dupes.
Re:Wow, so much nonsense in one blog entry (Score:4, Insightful)
Why did /. post this? (Score:5, Insightful)
What the fuck has happened to this industry? The bias is sickening, whether it be for or against Microsoft, open source, or whatever.
What happend to the real geeks that can look at something and judge it by merit?
yes, Microsoft will fail (Score:3, Insightful)
Absurd! (Score:3, Insightful)
He's done the developers of the original Expression a terrible disservice by not even performing a cursory examination of its featureset. As mentioned by many others here who spent enough time to actually learn the purpose of the tool, this is not an image-editing program in the same market space as Photoshop!
What makes Acrylic/Expression novel is not the "redeye" tool (the hell?) but the fact that it is a vector-imaging tool that allows a variety of amazing ways to render natural media (e.g., oils, acrylics) or photographic source material (ropes, chains) along an editable vector curve. This is really, really cool enough on its own, but then these rendered curves can then be rasterized on the fly and blended as though they were native pixels. The blending tools are no Painter 9, but this is a Beta and I'm still impressed.
And his response in the comments is BS. Saying that the review was "fair" for a "first look" at this tool is like saying it would be fair to do a "first look" review of Photoshop and then never use (or even be aware of!) its filters. How fair would a review of Photoshop be if I acted as though all it could do was crop, resize, and rotate the canvas? The heart of Acrylic has been completely missed, ignored, or some combination.
And what does he mean, what is MS "trying to pull"? By letting people play with a technology preview of an innovative piece of illustration software for free? He acts like they owe him something!
I hate Microsoft as much as the next Linux-running coder geek, but alpha/beta/whatever, they're just letting people see and test what they are developing. Even after 20 minutes I could see the interesting new utilities provided by this app without having to accuse MS of attempting to do something ignoble.