Ask HN: Is there a Photoshop rental service?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3553375

by bkyan • 14 years ago

8 21 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is there a service where I could remote to a server (either Mac or Windows) with Photoshop installed where I could use it for an hour or two for several dollars or euros per hour?

benologist• 14 years ago

You can rent individual applications from Adobe's Creative Suite directly:

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/cssubscription.h...

I don't think you'll find any hourly-based software usage although that would be really interesting to see ... something like EC2-running-x-application boxes.

bkyan11• 14 years ago

Thanks -- it looks like this is the only viable option for me.

NonEUCitizen• 14 years ago

Not a service, but you can go to Kinko's which has retail locations everywhere. And they have high-end printers next to the computers.

mapster• 14 years ago

exactly. or use Gimp.

bkyan11• 14 years ago

The problem I run into when trying to use a different image editor, like Gimp, is that sometimes my clients send me PSDs with complicated photoshop layer masks/filters that come across wrong/weird in anything else.

bkyan11• 14 years ago

I've used Kinko's for this in the past when I lived close to one. Unfortunately, it's kind of a long drive from where I live now, so it's not the most economical solution. Thanks for reminding me, though; I had forgotten about that as an emergency option.

gigantor• 14 years ago

Have you tried pixlr (http://pixlr.com/editor/)? It is a very scaled down version of Photoshop, but if your needs are basic it can fill your need and is free. It even has support for .psd files and can preserve layers.

bkyan11• 14 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion! I just tried this with a recent PSD that a client sent me, but it came back with an error.

bradhe• 14 years ago

>remote to a server (either Mac or Windows) with Photoshop installed where I could use it for an hour or two for several dollars or euros per hour?

Nope, against the EULA too. http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/pdfs/Photoshop_On_a_Serv...

bkyan11• 14 years ago

Oh! Well, that would explain why I can't find a service like this...

zeynalov• 14 years ago

If you only need some hours, why you don't use 1 month trial version? http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photosho...

bkyan11• 14 years ago

Unfortunately, my clients send me PSDs at random points throughout the year, so I can't squeeze my usage into a single month. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

batista2• 14 years ago

Hmm, the question makes me think that rather that wanting to use such a service, the asker wants to build one, and tries to see if there are any competitors.

bkyan11• 14 years ago

I get clients sending me PSDs, every once in a while, that I can't just export as-is with Wenovo PSD Viewer. It's kind of a pain to have to chase down a designer pal just to have him or her turn on/off a layer or two and export to PNG for me. I do this maybe 8-10 times a year, so it's hard to justify paying for a Photoshop license just to perform some exports.

batista2• 14 years ago

Get Photoshop Elements then. Way cheaper.

And it's ironic that I would get downvoted for proposing this, but you can get a copy of Photoshop for free of the intertubes.

(I say, ironic, because in other threads I would get downvoted for saying that "freely sharing" commercial software should remain illegal and it doesn't matter if it's "only a copy" and "you wouldn't ever buy it anyway". Make up your minds people...).

Ask HN: Is there a Photoshop rental service?

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