The noob population (that Apple caters to in particular) getting access to powerful, easier tools is growing almost daily. These noobs are getting more and more powerful tools placed into their hands. This trend has become especially noticeable over the last few years. The noobs then become Pro-sumers. Pro-sumers displace the so-called "Pro" market because things that formerly only Pros could do are much more accessible by Pro-sumers.
So, soon enough, most of us will learn and do your "work", having gone through less of a learning curve, and doubtless with some of your work already automated.
The "Pro" "graphic designers" of today might well be out of a job down the line. It's all about greater accessibility and making complex technology easier to understand.
Yes, soon Joe Average will edit just like the Pros.
Your denigration of designers is a slap to the face to all those who spent hard time getting to a point of status. Your bias for being pro-apple and anti-anything else is overwhelming, ignorant and offensive. Keep in mind when I say offensive, because I make this clear throughout this reply.
That said, you need to learn a lesson;
NOBODY in the industry uses pixelmator. Waltz into any professional agency or studio and 100% of the time they will be using Adobe CS and I stress the word PROFESSIONAL because I strongly believe you don't understand what professional means in the real world.
In the 10+ years I've worked as a graphic designer, be it as a freelancer, on contract or permanent, I have never seen anything used except for Photoshop. You *could* use your one-sided argument about 10+ years ago when Corel Draw had some kind of presence, but that is not the case as Pixelmator wasnt around then.
That said, nobody is going to use Pixelmator for the following reasons:
1) Not a standard
2) No support for all photoshop filters, effects, etc.
3) No support for older PSD formats especially with complicated layers
4) No studio is going to take the risk of having a potentially botched conversion of a PSD file when sending it out for a print job that costs in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
5) No studio is going to arrogantly ask for pixelmator-only compatible formats to work with. Just go look how far studios are getting by without adapting to Indesign and still using Quark. You'll have a hard time, because its not happening much.
The biggest one is the fact that its NOT a standard. Nobody is going to sympathize or side with noobs if theyre completely out of the standard loop. I know you absolutely adore everything apple has released, but not everything has gone out with record sales, for example.... FIREWIRE?? Not exactly the dominating interface apple wished it to be considering how widespread USB is (and will be more so with USB 3.0 given all the legacy support). Also, having software or access to doesnt make you a designer. Guess what, I have 3D Studio Max installed on another machine of mine. Does that make me a 3D artist? No. Does it make me a good 3D artist? No again. Again, an insult and offensive to think some schmoe with some 3rd rate software is going to be as qualified as someone whos worked on their craft for a year, 5 years, 10 years or their entire life. Dont be arrogant. You put apple on a high pedestal for anything they do (ive seen you make extremely biased comments on the forum) but I would hope that you know that the guys working on the UI at apple arent your joe schmoe noob capable of producing amazing aesthetics simply because he knows how to use a handicapped copy of photoshop. These guys are artists, and photoshop is a tool, a much more complete tool than pixelmator.
So how does Pixelmator stack up against the industry standard? The price speaks for itself. 30 bucks. You get what you pay for. No designer is going to use it. Ever. Unless Pixelmator does something drastic... like, i dont know, add 100% compatibility and feature set? Not likely.
I wish the mods on this forum would at least temporarily ban you for making such ridiculous comments for guest and other members to read. I mean it when I say your posts are OFFENSIVE. They are an insult to my intelligence and others. This one is especially an insult to every graphic designer whos spent more than 5 minutes and 30 dollars on getting to a professional status.