Until recently I was a dedicated Corel software user, specifically the graphics programs such as CorelDRAW Suite, Painter (v. 6, 9, and 10) Bryce (when Corel owned the software), and Paint Shop Pro Photo (v. X1 and X2) just to name a few. Promoted the software as affordable with a reasonable learning curve. However, over the years I've learned that the costs are subjective, especially when considering paying for new versions that are nothing more than minor upgrades.

CorelDRAW Suite v. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 cannot be said to be significant in their differences, mostly bells and whistles added along the way. Since Corel has offered their software on a trial bases I've seen no reason to upgrade from v. 11.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was when Corel tauted Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate as the cat's meow in photo editing. It's nothing more than a few tweeks over the just previously released X2 and included Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. In essence, I paid for X2 (again) and Essentials 4, which, in my opinion, is less of a program than Corel Photo Essentials 3.

I wrote Corel a letter stating my complete dissatifaction quite some time ago and have yet to receive an answer. Needless to say, I don't really expect Corel to reply.

Long story short, my response to Corel's lack of customer satisfaction and costly upgrades was to purchase Adobe PhotoShop X4. It's something I should have done some time ago and all the money I spent on Corel products could have paid for PhotoShop and then some, had I wised up sooner.

BTW, I'm a photographer and take panoramic shots as well as high definition resolution (HDR) photos. PhotoShop's features make stitching photos together easy, something which is labor intensive with Corel's Paint Shop Pro Photo program. PhotoShop aligns, matches pixels and lighting at the press of a button. Paint Shop Pro Photo, on the other hand, creates noise and artifacts in every one of the HDR photos I've created with it.

Adobe PhotoShop is expensive but, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.