This is just now being released and incorporates major enhancements over the previous version. It's getting some pretty rave reviews, such as http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/reviews/7690298/Adobe-Photoshop-CS5-review.html

I only have CS2 but I think the time has come to upgrade. Is anyone else interested in going into the purchase of CS5 and sharing the cost?

that's not kosher.........one license,one machine.

klcman, I've never known anyone that bought a legitimate copy of photo shop.
one copy, 1000 blackmarket copies.

Especially in Belize!

Well, I may be the first, as I'm investigating the myriad of ways one can buy this product and think I've found a legitimate way it is affordable.

i bought an online copy of Nikon Capture NX for about 100US from Nikon.
for another 5 bucks they mailed me the CD.
the post office charged me 100 BZ duty on that CD!!!
think i'll do that again??? NOT.

I would have refused the CD. I've done that with several things that arrived unsolicited. In two instances the local PO just gave it to me anyway.

It's small wonder that people pirate Photoshop. The price charged is absolutely outrageous for a casual private user, and is designed for large corporate buyers. Adobe themselves are perhaps the worst organisation there is for dealing with - I've just been reading a thread on a specialist photographic website where it's clear that most people absolutely hate them, but given their effective monopoly have no choice but to deal with them. It's actually a lot more stress-free to use a pirated copy, as one disgruntled customer actually told them.

They sell to students and clubs at greatly reduced prices. I think if they sold to the general public at a reasonable price they would have a lot more sales.
I tried and tried to learn their video program (Premiere)and it was just too complicated. I bought Pinnacle's Studio 9 and then 12 at reasonable prices and very easy to use.

My first experience with photo editing software was Photoshop Elements. A friend has it and even after some courses, still hasn't mastered it (but that's partly his fault too).

Then I downloaded GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It can do more than PS Elements, but not as much as the more advanced versions of PS. I know people who have switched from Elements to GIMP.

I also discovered a site called "Meet the Gimp". For almost 3 years, this site has offered a weekly video tutorial about how to improve images using GIMP. And there are other tutorial sites.

The best thing is the price: BZ$0.00 (US$0.00). The program is a free download, and the tutorials are free. GIMP is open source software for Linux, but there are versions for Windows & Mac.

Here are the relevant sites:
Current stable version is GIMP 2.6.7
http://www.gimp.org/

http://meetthegimp.org/

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

http://www.gimpusers.com/news/2009-02-28/exceptional-plugin-photo-restore.html

i have a version of both elements and photoshop, and i find them way beyond what i need to process a photo.
keep it simple,,,