I can't help thinking how those graphs conveniently ignore the damage such improvements have on the environment, on which they themselves depend. Damaged environments -> scarcity -> war.
But I agree it's nice to have that happening away from home.
I'd say it was more like a joint effort. I agree with your points, but I was related to the industry for some time, and sometimes money was spent on things like renting a Concorde flight for some exec in France because he was making it late to a meeting in NY.
Thanks for the insight. From my layman point of view, 10%-20% savings in the long run still looks like something to go for, taking as a reference the multinational I work for, where a 7% saving on whatever is seen as a triumph. I'd say the greed point still stands, the additional logistics involved are just how it works.
I've tried Inkscape and GIMP. I'm sure they must be great pieces of software, but their usability is so awful it renders them useless for me. And they're not great options if your client provides/asks for adobe proprietary files (psds, ais...)