When Adobe announced their price increase last year I was using the Photographer plan at $9.99 a month. I'd been thinking of dropping the plan because there wasn't really much in new features that I use. I could switch back to PS 6 which I'd picked up during a special offer for $150 when my Son started collage.

Then Apple dropped the public beta of Catalina. This was the final death knell for PS6. This upcoming OS only runs 64bit apps. Some might say that PS6 is a 64 bit app. Well, the main app is. but the installer and a number of the accessory binaries are 32bit and won't run on Catalina. Photoshop will attempt to start, then lock up. Those that decide to upgrade to Catalina will have to use Adobe CC.

For those that say, Why don't you just switch to Windows or Linux? I test alpha versions of Windows daily at work. I don't want to go there. Linux is a good OS with great open source apps. I just happen to like Mac OS for personal use.

I decided enough was enough and started looking through all the art apps on my machine, Clip Studio, Affinity Photo, Painter, Sketchbook, Photoshop, Kitra. Plus a number of others that I'd picked up here and there to try out. All useable, but I was not expert in any of them. So it was time for a choice.

After thinking a bit, I ended up with the following list:

Must be a one time purchase, didn't mind paying for upgrades.
Wanted a matching app on my iPad, so I could work remotely. It could have a reduced feature set as long as it covered basics.
Be able to create brushes when needed.

So, working through the list I have to disqualify Clip Studio, even though I really like it, because their iPad app is subscription.
Something about Sketchbook bugs me, so it's out. Krita is not available on iPad. I'd read somewhere that Painter has an Android app, but I'm not about to give up my iPad.

Final decision? Affinity Photo as my main app. It's available on iPad, OSX, and Windows. It's inexpensive at $50 for desktop. It does all that I need. Now for the learning curve to transfer my meager digital workflow and learn more effective ways of working.

So, after digging to find the Photoshop uninstaller, it's gone. Finally deleted. I thought of the many years I'd lusted after a copy of Photoshop. Time for something new.