The Freeware Expertise of "Dr. Ron Polarik"

In his expert declaration back in December, "Polarik" described his technological expertise thusly:

"I have worked with document image scanners since 1982 and with digital images and digital editing software since 1987. I have received professional training in the use of Adobe Photoshop and Image Ready software with a particular focus on creating web graphics."

While "Polarik" has been steadfastly silent on the specific origins of his alleged academic expertise, he has occasionally provided specific mention of the software and technologies that he uses in his "research."

First, on June 30, 2008:

"[P]rops to the GIMP development team (http://www.gimp.org/) for providing the software used to examine these images."

GIMP is a downloadable freeware program, a no-cost alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It's a little strange that an expert in digital software and web graphics wouldn't own Adobe Photoshop.

Then on August 15, 2008:

"One of the Kos COLB image clones that I created was done with Microsoft Paint -- a very basic image editor"

Microsoft Paint, of course, is a free program that is bundled with Windows.

And now on July 14, 2009:

"Since November of last year, I have conducted a number of sophisticated image analyses using new software that was not available to me last year. One is called, JPEGSnoop,"

"I also re-examined the photos with a software program called JMicrovision"

JPEGsnoop is a downloadable freeware program.

JMicrovision is, also, a downloadable freeware program.

Yes, for all his alleged work and professional training with digital editing software, "Polarik" only seems to use free software in his research. Make of that what you will.