Jim Hoerricks of Forensic Photoshop wrote yesterday an interesting post where he compares the approach of Photoshop plus forensic plug-ins versus specific purpose built software.
This is just a small excerpt, but I suggest reading the full post:
All this being said, the developers at Amped Software have been very responsive to the Forensic community. If there’s something not in the program, and it’s a valid addition, they’ve found a way to get it in the next update. From Color Deconvolution to working with Channels, user submission and solutions to specific problems have found their way into the program sooner rather than later. Best yet, these additions are included in the price of the software – there’s nothing else to buy.
As an artist, I still love Adobe products. But as an Analyst, I find myself needing a more purpose built solution. Thankfully, I have one –FIVE.
We are very proud about this post because we really strive to be attentive to our users requests: bugs, improvements, new features and maybe even new products. We don’t promise that we will implement everything, but we take note of everything and sort it by priority, usually according to these factors:
- how critical is the request (i.e. very common bug)
- how common is the problem you face (i.e. proprietary DVR conversion)
- how easy is it to implement the function (sometimes a very easy addition on our side, maybe half an hour of work, can save you days automating some easy task)
- how many users ask for it
- if I have to work on a case needing it
Presently our features requested for Amped FIVE and Amped Authenticate are a few hundred items, so if you need something it’s very likely that we already have it there, and your request can help to push it to the top!