The truth about PS and Lightroom is that many of their users wouldn't really need them. A workflow of, for example, Rawtherapee + GIMP would be more than enoug

The truth about PS and Lightroom is that many of their users wouldn't really need them. A workflow of, for example, Rawtherapee + GIMP would be more than enough for basic to upper intermediate tasks to replace Lightroom with. ( No, I'm not talking bs, my wife is actually using this for work; just like Mixxx is usable for professional DJing. ) There is also digiKam, which is rather impressive; it is lacking a few features, yet, but not as many as you'd think. PS & Lightroom is everywhere, that is what's tought in schools; it's the MS Office of photo & design, and it shouldn't be. There are, of course, situations, when the all-in-one PS is needed, but it's really, really rare. Give digiKam and GIMP a go, but give them weeks, not minutes. Most of those who run away are only literally trying them for hours at max while these are utterly different tools.