nospam wrote:

> the serial numbers are only for *existing* *customers* who need to
> reinstall it, since the activation servers have been taken offline and
> their actual serial numbers will no longer work.

The difference between you and me, nospam, is everything you do is
purposefully unhelpful and I am trying to help the guy, unlike you.

Here, for example, is what I was talking about, with the caveats:
<https://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html>

And here, for example, is a great (IMHO) free PhotoShop replacement:
<https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/121643-paintnet-50-is-now-available/>

You were completely oblivious of all that, nospam, because you simply lie
all the time so you feel you don't need to know anything whatsoever.

Why should an iKook look anything up when he can just lie about it?

> not that it matters since it's nearly 20 years old and won't run on
> anything made in at least the last decade. those who are still using it
> are using *very* outdated hardware (i.e., slow).

Why must you lie all the time nospam?
Seriously.

What is wrong with you?
Do you think I don't have it myself?

What's wrong with you that you feel you must lie about everything, nospam?

At least I provided him a solution to the problem he stated which was the
current programs he was using were more difficult than they needed to be.
<https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/122276-paintnet-503-is-now-available/>

You provided nothing but your constant purposefully unhelpful lies, nospam.

>> The difference between the iKooks and me is I know what I'm talking about.
>
> you have that backwards.

You low IQ ignorant uneducated iKooks always respond as if you're a child.

It's clear I helpfully provided Joel with a viable solution for Windows
which is free & which does most of which most people need it to do.
<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases>

You purposefully unhelpfully provided nothing for anyone but lies, nospam.

I not only helpfully provided a working current solution to him...
But I am using that solution myself as we speak (as I'm not like you).
<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases/download/v5.0.3/paint.net.5.0.3.portable.arm64.zip>
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.portable.x64.zip
Size: 91282350 bytes (87 MiB)
SHA256: 4B5384BBD2C41525A27F1CFDC66526852754DCF680CF2ABF8916B88A944E77D4

<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases/download/v5.0.3/paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.zip>
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.zip
Size: 73082211 bytes (69 MiB)
SHA256: FBA5DBE88C4791A37B10587A7F93520FAEB4C3594960F1B5A1088441F6121756

That zip contains this one file:
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.msi
Size: 73469952 bytes (70 MiB)
SHA256: 20AAF754A65C544029E5DA76024275CB16C9189157EBAFC6FDE32C31C7C9DC16

Those links are helpful because there are _many_ links out there that
do NOT get you to the free stuff (which is Microsoft's doing mostly).

While I'm being helpful, all you iKooks care to do is lie, nospam.

For example, you've never been a developer - you simply lie about it.
You've never used any of these tools either - you simply lie all the time.

Your odious unhelpful attitude is why you're an unprepossing human, nospam.

This is you...
<https://img.yumpu.com/6936343/1/500x640/standouts-the-beat-within.jpg>

Joel wrote:

>> nospam wrote:
>>
>> >> I have to admit, while I would never give Adobe my money, it is
>> >> frustrating using Paint, Paint 3D and GIMP, they just don't make it
>> >> easy to do things that ought to be very straightforward. I can't and
>> >> won't support Photoshop, but it might make my life easier.
>> >
>> > probably, depending on what you need to do.
>> >
>> > the gimp still doesn't support some features that photoshop had 20+
>> > years ago and they're not on their roadmap. it's also much slower than
>> > photoshop.
>>
>> It's no longer shocking how little these iKooks know about anything...
>>
>> We all know of "The GIMP" (which is the proper way to say it anyway), and
>> of how difficult it is to do the simplest of things (e.g., draw curved
>> arrows and text without having to define text box sizes beforehand, etc.).
>>
>> PhotoShop does work well but it too suffers from a steep learning curve.
>>
>> In stark contrast to the tradeoff between functionality & learning curves,
>> surprisingly, the Windows Photoshop replacement (which Microsoft picked up
>> from a student project, as far as I recall), is shockingly easy to use and
>> rather powerful (IMHO) in terms of doing things the way they should be.
>>
>> An example is texting. You just text. You don't have to draw a box.
>> You don't have to guess where to put it or what size it will be.
>> You just text and if you want to change anything, you change it.
>>
>> Likewise with drawing curved arrows. You just point to the start and finish
>> and then you can modify any portion of that curved arrow any way you like.
>>
>> Given that it's free, the "closest" thing to it on macOS is "preview"
>> (AFAIK, from threads on this from the past) and I forget what the closest
>> Linux equivalent was when I last asked for this functionality.
>>
>> Digging into the archives...
>> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.mac.system>
>> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.mac.apps>
>> <http://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.linux>
>>
>> Here's a clear reference from
>> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.mac.apps/c/KbY7X04ocbY/>
>> What is a good app for editing screenshots that does the
>> 3 critical things well?
>> 1. Crop and size the screenshot
>> 2. Text the screenshot (with and without underlying white space)
>> 3. Easily circle and arrow as needed to highlight sections
>>
>> When you look at the answers, the free Windows' solution prevails
>> over the free macOS and Linux solutions (although they're not all that bad
>> being in second or third place - but nothing like what Windows provides).
>
> What do I Google to find this "replacement"?

Hi Joel,

I apologize for not having listed that link, where I listed it in another
post which you found and I see you've already installed it, to your credit.

For the lurkers, it's important to note that Paint.NET is incredibly hard
to find nowadays, if you don't know a few tidbits of information first.

The reason isn't known to me why, but the original author having sold it to
Microsoft (apparently) probably has a lot to do with why it's hard to find
the _free_ version and so easy to find the payware ($10) version from M$.
<https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/paintnet/9NBHCS1LX4R0>

If all you do is run a normal search for "Paint.net download" on Google/DDG
<https://www.google.com/search?q=paint.net+download>
<https://duckduckgo.com/?q=paint.net+download>

The first hit (which most people will choose, I suspect) takes you here:
<https://www.getpaint.net/download.html>

As far as I can surmise, the page is designed sort of like how those "free
download" pages are designed, where every button that is obvious is the
wrong button and last I checked the right button doesn't even exist.\

It's especially pernicious a page if you consider there _is_ a free
version, but if you click on the link purporting to be that, it sucks.
<https://www.dotpdn.com/>

You just have to know that the "real" free version of this excellent
PhotoShop replacement tool for Windows only is at the github web site.
<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases>

Namely, these files:
<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases/download/v5.0.3/paint.net.5.0.3.portable.arm64.zip>
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.portable.x64.zip
Size: 91282350 bytes (87 MiB)
SHA256: 4B5384BBD2C41525A27F1CFDC66526852754DCF680CF2ABF8916B88A944E77D4

<https://github.com/paintdotnet/release/releases/download/v5.0.3/paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.zip>
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.zip
Size: 73082211 bytes (69 MiB)
SHA256: FBA5DBE88C4791A37B10587A7F93520FAEB4C3594960F1B5A1088441F6121756

That zip contains this one file:
Name: paint.net.5.0.3.winmsi.x64.msi
Size: 73469952 bytes (70 MiB)
SHA256: 20AAF754A65C544029E5DA76024275CB16C9189157EBAFC6FDE32C31C7C9DC16

Please do let the rest of us know what you think of Paint.NET as I have
tested _every_ single free editor/viewer ever suggested on the Windows and
digital photo newsgroups, including exif editors, 3D CAD editors, vector
graphic editors, and every _free_ photo & image editor ever suggested.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to disseminate useful information
which, in this case, is to give advice on avoiding the $ trapware links.