I have been learning a lot in the last two years. I can safely say that Photoshop CS is industry standard. It comes with ImageReady CS. It is the best, and has the most power to offer. I have developed three Album covers using it. I from time to time need the use of vector graphics. Illustrator CS is the way to go there to. It is noticeably better than Macromedias equivelant. I dont know, personnaly because I know Illustrator like the back of my hand and would need to use anything else. Vector graphics requires Illustrator. Adobe takes the lead in most area. I do however believe the GoLive may not be as good as Dreamweaver MX 2004. But QuarkXpress is being replaced by Adobe InDesign. I am going to start learning that in about two weeks. So. Adobe has my vote for most software titles. But everyone is different. You might like somethign else, because of its design.