While I research digital cameras, I'm also researching processing software.

Lightroom and Photoshop are the main programs people talk about - but these are both adobe based programs and I don't have a good history of working well with their software.  They also cost money... every...single...month!

Since Canon is at the top of my camera list, I want to learn about their free software for sorting and editing photos: canon digital photo professional 4.  

Well, I say free.  It's included with the camera.  

Since I already have a canon, I was able to download it and start playing with the photos.  I'm having a lot of fun, but I could do with some tips on how to use it.  

https://www.gimp.org

It's a photoshop like program but free and there's tons of info/tutorials out there for it. I originally found it because I run Ubuntu instead of windows/mac. I prefer open source. Gimp comes with Ubuntu and is free but I think most gimp users are windows users that just can't afford photoshop.

I've been using gimp for a few years.  It's nice for a free program, but I find it difficult to use. I can't find a way to use it to organize lots of photos - like the way the lightroom does.   But there's a good thread about gimp around here somewhere.  

I'm more interested in learning about the Canon program as it does both workflow and editing.  

Photo management is something I'm keen to learn before getting an interchangeable lens camera.  RAW photos are supposed to be big files, so I want to make sure I have good photo hygiene before I start working with these.  

When I insert my SD card, I get a popup asking me if I want to use file manage or digiKam Photo Management Program. I've always just used file manager and drag/drop them to a folder but I just clicked digiKam this time. I'm sitting at the welcome/start message since it's my first time running it.

https://www.digikam.org

Runs on linux, windows or mac. Been around since 2006 and will likely be around forever. Canon however might decide to drop their program someday if they decide it's costing them too much to maintain and support.

Meanwhile, here's Canon's video tutorial playlist for that program

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp-znpQge8HyCid9sKN4lUeMb25_WkPlY

I'm really enjoying the workflow aspect of this program.  I can see at a glance each of the RAW pictures and the camera data like F-stop and shutter speed, as well as which camera I took it with, what day, which lens.