Have done due diligence as suggested, without finding solution.
OS is Windows XP SP3.
Using Inkscape 0.47 was able to copy from Inkscape and paste directly into Photoshop 6.1,
e.g. create a path in Inkscape, enter some text and put text on path, select text, copy and paste at original size.
Installed Inkscape 0.48 and copy/paste no longer worked.
Thought it might be a bad installation, so uninstalled, d/l'd a new copy of 0.48.1 and reinstalled.
Still unable to copy from inkscape and paste to Photoshop or to GIMP.
Can paste svg image (not text) to Expression 3 as path. Can copy and paste from Expression 3 to Photoshop with choice of as path, shape or bitmap.
Can use Irfanview to capture screen shot and then copy and paste to Photoshop as bitmap. Limited to 1:1 screen size.
Could export as png and reopen in another program, but, like the above, takes much more time and RAM than simple copy and paste which worked in v 0.47.
Since there are no large numbers of others complaining about this, assume it is not a bug but something which can be fixed.
So the question is how do I make copy and paste work in v 0.48 like it did in v 0.47?
God bless you all always, all ways.

Welcome pjschleitwilerfcm!

Hhhmm, interesting..... I thought I had copied and pasted to GIMP in the past, but now can't. I have only 0.48 though, not 0.48.1 yet (and this is on Windows 7, 64-bit). (In the past I was on Windows XP sp 2 and 3 with Inkscape 0.47 and below.) But some more details: I drew a rectangle in Inkscape, duplicated it, and converted to path. Plus I also drew a raw path with the Pen tool. So copied rectangle, rectangular path and Bezier path, and pasted all into GIMP (version 2.6.8). All were pasted, however, the paths are no longer paths in GIMP.

However, I should note that when I thought I had been able to paste from Inkscape into GIMP in the past, I probably had no idea what I was doing. So it's possible that paths were not actually pasted as paths then either, lol!

And unfortunately, that's all I really can offer. I don't have Photo Shop, or any of the other programs you mentioned. So I can't test on those.

But there may be other ways to achieve your goals. For example, I saved my Inkscape image as regular Inkscape SVG, then opened in GIMP. There was a Render SVG dialog, with an option "Import Paths". And that did preserve the paths I had made in Inkscape. However, it also converted my original rectangle to a path as well, lol! But that said, I don't know why one would want to use GIMP, or any other raster/photo-editing program, to edit paths, if one already has Inkscape installed. Inkscape is really the (far) better SVG editor!

For Photo Shop and all the other programs you mentioned, there may also be other ways to achieve your goal. Although I suspect it will be slightly different with each program, depending on the features and capabilities of each.

As for the specific problem you mentioned -- put text on path then paste into PS -- I'm curious why you need to paste into any raster graphics program. Is it something that Inkscape can't do, or that you can't figure out how to do? Or do you just mean to point out a possible short-coming of Inkscape?

Thank you, brynn.
The reason for using Inkscape is because it is good vector program.
Text on path only one example of uses. Method with this is to copy raster image into Inkscape, draw a path along shape within image, enter text and put it on the path, then copy the text only and paste 1:1 into original raster image. An effect I cannot do with only raster or only vector.
Photoshop and GIMP, of course, do raster better, so that is why use them for raster images.
But, if I cannot copy and paste directly, it takes much more time and RAM to accomplish.
Could do it in 0.47, so why not with 0.48?
Is there something inadvertently uninstalled when 0.47 uninstalled that needs to be installed along with 0.48?
God bless you always, all ways.

Well, I just don't know about that! Hopefully ~suv will see this and offer some comments.

So text on path is not possible with raster graphics, I guess? Could you import the text on path back into the raster image? I know text on path is just an example. But maybe importing would work instead of pasting?

Select a path in Inkscape (text has to be first converted to path) copy and paste into GIMP works with windows xp. Not sure about Photoshop, but in GIMP your pasted path can be found in the paths palette. To make it visible on canvas you have to click the 'eye open' on the left of the path you want to see or it will remain invisible. In the invisible state you can still convert to selection and paint along path though.
Does this help?

brynn wrote: Well, I just don't know about that! Hopefully ~suv will see this and offer some comments.

Not much I could share (can't test problems occurring in Inkscape on Windows myself) or further comment on pjschleitwilerfcm's clipboard issues except that the regression with Inkscape 0.48 seems to be specific to the local Windows installation (or some installed application/tool/helper app which modifies how the system clipboard works) and has - to my knowledge - not been reproduced or reported by other Inkscape users (or developers) on Windows (a related (yet unanswered) question was also asked in Inkscape's Answers section at Launchpad: "copy and paste from Inkscape to other with Windows XP SP3").

• About needing a vector editor to put text on a path:

  pjschleitwilerfcm wrote:An effect I cannot do with only raster or only vector.

  AFAIU this is doable in GIMP: see for example this GIMP tutorial "Text to Path", or the GIMP documentation of the text tool options.
  
• About transferring paths from Inkscape to GIMP, the topic "Re: Import SVG into GIMP" has my comment about tests I did earlier (possibly outdated with newer GIMP versions, I haven't revisited the issue since then).
  
• About transparency and filter effects being lost when pasting from Inkscape into raster graphics editors, see Bug #404826 in Inkscape: “copy an object from inkscape to system clipboard doesn't keep transparency” (as far as can be visually investigated - unconfirmed yet from the developers' side looking at the code execution - Inkscape unexpectedly uses the 'Cairo PNG' output extension instead of its internal renderer to serve a bitmap copy for the system clipboard).

Thank you, ~suv and druban.

Did review the materials suggested re GIMP and paths. GIMP method not as easy as Inkscape, but that probably because need to learn new way.
The

related (yet unanswered) question was also asked in Inkscape's Answers section at Launchpad:

is mine. Thought to post it here also, to reach more eyes.

Tried uninstall and reinstall a fresh copy of v0.48.1-2 again, as nothing suggested a change in copy/paste from 0.47 to 0.48.
Still does not copy from Inkscape and paste into Photoshop, but, now it works for both path and bitmap copies from Inkscape to GIMP!
So, something about installation?

Only difference from last previous install was I kept preferences from last install to this one.

So my current workarounds are
For images less than monitor display size, use Irfanview for screen capture and copy/paste to raster program;
For larger images, copy and paste into GIMP for further work there or to copy/paste into Photoshop.
Both take more RAM than just having Inkscape and Photoshop open, and first workaround adds some time to workflow, but I can work.

Should I risk another uninstall/reinstall or wait for v0.49?
God bless you always, all ways.