QUOTE(dakoreanchick @ Aug 28 2005, 2:32 AM)
nothing's free unless it's really crappy =S
The really good ones are for only buying..or free trials.
I second that. I used to download free programs that claimed that they "had all of the features of photoshop then some. Plus, it's free!". But none of them really did contend with photoshop or paintshop... Or even MS Paint for that matter (with the rare exception that sometimes the programs would come with a special effect... But you could never make your own effect and all your photos would look the same because the effect was always the same. You couldn't do anything different to tweak the effect).
If you want to be a real graphic artist you're going to have to live with free trials (I don't think they even let you save your images with free trials) or buy it.
In other news, people are somehow getting the program for free on the internet! I'm not about to say how but *hint*hint*