[FourierMakesFunk]

There is a lot more to the newer Photoshops than the older ones, especially if you are using the rest of the CS suite as you get a lot more capabilities swapping files between them. CS 4 seemed like a strange upgrade since it added video and more 3D work... in a raster image editing program... then again, I'm one of those people "in the industry" so I guess I don't count

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Gimp should be fine for most's needs.

 

[krmathis]

For simple photo editing (cropping, cut/paste, and such) I find Seashore to be quite nice.
Its GIMP based, and totally free.

 

[robojack]

I use Adobe Lightroom 2 for batch editing. Incredibly useful and versatile when I do photoshoots or event photography, and I need to edit 50 or more pictures in a short period of time, and works effortlessly with Adobe Photoshop CS3 (for even finer tuning).

 

[freakydrew]

If you use google, gmail and all that I recommend Picassa v3. Best part is that all of my pics are backed up online, plus I can share my albums with anyone I want, they go to the website instead of emailing the individual pics or albums which takes space and slower connections can take a long time to download. If you are editing in RAW or something fancy, you should spend some money.
For my 7.1 megaxpixel Kodak, Picassa 3 works great.