Some time ago I had to search for an alternative for Photoshop, my basic use of Photoshop couldn't really be worth the cost of a license. For a graphical designer there isn't really an alternative worth while for Photoshop but for a basic user that just wants to have a look and validate PSD files or just do some basic changes there has to be an alternative. While I was looking for one that suited my needs I stumbled upon Paint .NET that did all the basic stuff I needed to do with images except one important thing it couldn't open those darn PSD files that I get from the graphical designers. Happily I quickly found plug in that did exactly this. I've been working since about 3 months now with Paint .Net and I'm a happy user, I found an alternative for Photoshop and even more important it's totally free which is also an important advantage.