I have Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Painter, Art Rage and Corel Graphics Suite. Why all those? Because they all have different strengths and different things they do well, if similarly. But Photoshop is my main program. I've been using it for years, before I was ever a graphics professional. Everything I do in Photoshop, theoretically I could do just as well in the Corel suite like Photopaint. Or PSP. And i do use all the programs. But the end product is refined and finished in Photoshop, if not started there. I make most of my textures in Photoshop. I have more options for handling and modifying fonts. I have Quark available, but I find myself doing most print layouts in Photoshop because it's easier in some ways, and I really dislike Quark. All website graphics are processed in Photoshop. It's the best. No question about it. If you become a professional graphics person, you'll be expected to have Photoshop and understand how to use it. It's the industry standard. What can i say, it just has more than any other similar program. Sure, there are things various other programs do better than Photoshop, but overall, it's the best.

Talent is God's gift to you. Using it is your gift to God.