No, I think your preferences are valid. The real problem is a lack of quality low end software. I refuse to believe that it is impossible to make an inexpensive product that gives you a good amount of control over everything. I would think it would be more difficult to write all that template-making crap.

Like I said, I use JASC's Paint Shop Pro over Photoshop. It's a preference that has to do with ease of use and the fact that Photoshop just has some higher level features that I won't use. PSP costs $80. I get by better in PSP, and I still have a good amount of control over the product. I'm not using MS Paint here.

So analogously, there are plenty of MS Paint programs out there (Ulead), and plenty of Photoshops (Studio Pro), but no PSP's.