Paint.NET (hereafter called PDN) does have transparency as an option, does have negative zoom, and does have the "render clouds" option that seems so darn useful for randomizing one's coastlines and such (I've been memorizing tutorials since signing on a few days ago). Oddly, since folks have suggested Corel PSP and others, I've been hunting through my programs and test-driving them again. Turns out I have used Corel before, but hang me if I can find the clouds option or any random render, fractals, any of that..!

Those more familiar with other programs may want to help us beginners, by http://www.getpaint.net/ and giving us a comparison with GIMP and the rest of them.

The only thing I haven't found so far in PDN is a layer mask, but I seem to be able to approximate them (or at least, what I think they're supposed to do) without too much trouble.

Cheers!

Also, from what I'm reading here, GIMP supports user-made scripts and such, yes? PDN does also.