You are right about Photoshop, but I would argue that Octave is an acceptable, free, and Matlab-compatible substitute for Matlab. I did my entire Masters degre

You are right about Photoshop, but I would argue that Octave is an acceptable, free, and Matlab-compatible substitute for Matlab. I did my entire Masters degree in Octave -- it was good enough for me. (The one thing I know Matlab supports that Octave doesn't is a Matlab-to-C compiler)