What makes Adobe Photoshop so special?

What makes Photoshop so special that it has to cost around $500+? Can i still make decent art without having to fork over that much for this program?

What makes Adobe Photoshop so special?antivirus software

To be viewed by all browsers, a graphic has to be in either the .jpg or .gif format. Almost any graphics program can save in this format.

Photoshop has a dazzling array of abilities that no other graphics program I am aware of has. If you are planning on doing professional level graphics, Photoshop is the only way to go.

OTOH if you simply need to create good graphics for the web, Paint Shop Pro can do some really good stuff. It doesn't come cheap either, but you might want to check it out and perhaps download a free trial version at http://www.download.com/3000-2192_4-1058...

If you need a completely free program, you can try the Gimp at http://www.gimp.org/ and/or Paint.net at

http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html

You can download a trial version of Photoshop at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ The latest version is Photoshop CS3.

What makes Adobe Photoshop so special?computer virus

because it is big and it has more options for editing photos
Paint Shop Pro can still make decent blends, maybe some extra work is needed but it only costs about $100
I think it's the ability to be viewed by all browsers.