Both things are true - today we are back to good alternatives.
In the 90s and late 2000 there were more software options and they all died out.
Look at Macromedia Freehand which was able to do what Illustrator + InDesign does lol …
In the past year I switched to Gravit online which is a web based Inkscape / Freehand like app.
It lacks tools like text styles etc but I can collaborate online and later export as PDF and then finalize in other apps.
Also the way how we work is changing.
How safe are online web apps like that?
How can I guarantee (to a sufficient degree) to a customer that the work won´t be intercepted/stolen/servers compomised with online apps like that?
I mean, I use AWS where theoretically the same thing could happen but I know that AWS security is pretty tight.
So how do you check, for example Gravit, for securitiy issues?
As far as i know, the cloud features of Gravit are only active if you turn them on. The tool itself works perfectly offline.
I say: let’s all go back to the Amiga, and use DPaint! 
Actually…
https://thecompany.pl/game/Deluxe+Paint+5.2
Download and run! Brings back memories…
Because I either work with layouts which aren’t that demanding, or with layouts where I need absolutely fine typographical control, and very long documents.
The first I can easily do in current version of PhotoLine, which offers 80% of the features in Scribus (and many basic layout workflow thing just work better and more efficient in PhotoLine), nor do I need to leave the app for image adjustements and prep - all in one really is helpful, and a time-saver.
Unfortunately the second type of documents are so demanding, that Scribus just can’t reach what I require - or at least, InDesign is just way more flexible. InDesign’s paragraph composer and typographical control is out of this world, and Scribus, while quite good, can’t hold a candle to it.
And I also produce interactive epubs, something InDesign is actually quite good at. I’ve been investigating possible alternatives in the past two years, but this market is overflowing with tools and platforms which take advantage of designers’ inability to code and publish to mobile platforms, and the prices/rents asked are just ridiculous. I am a good web front-end coder, so I’ve been contemplating writing my own tools.
I wish this were otherwise, but as I mentioned before in this thread, I am a pragmatic, and so far nothing (but for Quark and InDesign) offers what I need in terms of typographical control.
They simply are king - thats a fact.
I love Gimp , especially after the release with the single window interface.
But lately my favorite photoshop alternative is …
Blender
I was making a 2d GUI and the plan was to rely a lot on Gimp but ended up doing everything with Blender compositor and flexible render layers. I am impressed of the hidden power. Blender is insanely flexible , although it can be tedious to setup thing properly at first.
But once you do, it just flies
I can’t imagine a more powerful image editor.
I used to work with DPaint on a daily basis for about 10 years, creating graphics for commercial games and television shows. Some time ago I ran it again using the FS-UAE emulator, using it on the Wacom Cintiq I had at the time. It was magical to really be ‘in touch with’ DPaint. 
Affinity Photo and designer are great tools to kick out adobe cancer from your life for good. They still lack of some tools, but its second best professional suite for image editing and vector graphic.
Also they have done same in few years adobe took centuries… so the big fat is getting lazy and milking their customers with no shame.
I’ve run Photoshop with Wine since 2009 (initially CS4, now I’m using CS6), and lately I’ve started using InDesign under Wine as well. I used to run ID in a virtual Windows machine, but no longer.
Someone needs to make a robust PIL built into blender.
Lucky you, I am in contact with the devs and I am about to start doing that, expose the inner functionality of blender images as part of Blender Python API
As a combo “suite”, PhotoLine and Inkscape arguably present themselves as “second best”, with Photo and Designer coming in on a third place (in my opinion). Compared, Designer and Photo still lack too many basic functions at this point.
I have no idea why me mentioning of the Image Python API, has been moved to “Photoshop alternatives” thread.
Its not even user related, but code related hence not related to “Photoshop alternatives”.
I am not here to question the judgement of dear mods, which are doing an amazing job I dont have the tolerance level to endure if I was in their place, but I mentioning this not to mislead people that my contribution will make Blender an “Photoshop alternative”. It won’t, it will allow addons a bit more flexibility on image processing , that’s all.
When I was a kid, the one thing I wanted more than anything else was an an Amiga (well, that and a 4-wheeler). The machine seemed a nigh magical miracle during its heyday back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, well ahead of just about every other computer on the market. PCs at the time were only capable of displaying 4 colors while bleeping out single channel sounds at you on its janky internal speaker. Macs were way too expensive, and were primarily focused on spreadsheets and desktop publishing. The Amiga was in a class of its own.
I never did get an Amiga. My parents were way too damn cheap, and it’d take me 5 years of mowing lawns to be able to afford one for myself. To this day, I feel like I was deprived of something great.
But I did get a 4-wheeler at least.
Our parents got us a snazzy complete Amiga 1000 setup a five months after it was released, including a memory upgrade.
I remember playing Marble Madness and Defender of the Crown for the first time, and I was blown away by the graphics quality and sound and overall experience. Those were some magical moments, and in those years many more embedded themselves in my teen’s memories.
I’d hate to have missed those experiences. Great times, and having been part of the whole scene back then feels somewhat special. Kids nowadays don’t really know. It’s all laid out for them, and I feel kinda sad for them. No real surprises, really, even with VR. But hey, you don’t miss what you don’t know.
Well, mostly. Your parents should’ve gotten you that Amiga!
For more efficient lawn mowing for your parents? 
I wish! They made me use a push mower.
On a somewhat brighter note, I did end up getting a used Atari ST from my uncle around '92 or so. It was alright. I had a bit of fun with it. Though I never could quite shake the feeling that I was saddled with a poor man’s Amiga.
To make you feel a little bit better, in the first year and a half of the Amiga’s existence, many games were direct ports of Atari ST games and didn’t really make use of the superior capabilities of the Amiga.
It got better after that, though.
I wish Commodore had managed themselves better; we would might have had a fourth main brand of OSs to select, aside from Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Could have, might have,… Dust in the wind, my friend. It is what it is. Where’s Doctor Who when you need him most?
It was what came a short while later that made it so appealing. The games, the production programs. It had it all. I remember talking to a friend of mine about all the awesome things we could do with a Video Toaster. The Amiga was the thing to have back when.
…not that I could’ve used any of it back when. But the dream was there!
