I just came today and I must say that it looks slick in XP. It blends in nicely with the OS. And the new brushes are cool -- been messin' with them for a little while now. Got to check out the other features, but I must say it's a nice upgrade!

Really? I think Adobe was scraping the bottom of the barrel on this Photoshop 7. They had quite a few changed between 5.5 and 6. They didn't even have a v6.5 (that I know of). Jumped from v6 to v7 with very few new features. I'm still searching for any new features i'm unaware of. It is nice to be able to see the brush stroke and the file browser tab but the healing tool? Basically a clone tool with a twist. In Image Ready 7 they removed the rollover tab from the animation palette. As you can tell i'm not very impressed with it.

What about the natural media paint tools? I consider that a major feature addition.

Their new paint engine is the major feature but although it does allow for natural media (as other programs have for a while) but it still does not allow for different painting media as in Corel Photo-Paint, Painter, Deep Paint, etc. The ability to draw/paint using charcoal, pastel, chalk, crayon, watercolor etc. Don't get me wrong. I do like Adobe Photoshop and a host of other 2d and 3d graphics software. I can't survive a day without graphics. I was just not impressed with the amount of features being added after jumping from one whole number v6 to v7. Usually there are small changes going to the .5 version and big changes going to next whole version number.

I really don't understand what Adobe is trying to do with Photoshop...they should be very careful about what they add to a program that's essential for so many people. I'm not at all impressed with the new features and how it's getting increasingly bloated, spellchecker?!?! It should remain firstly an image editing program, improve the tools that are already there, put in an ADD mode! The layer folders in 6 were a good idea, but when you group layers like that, for some reason they move slower together then if you just link them. The effects panel in 6 also takes up way too much screen space. These are things they should focus on first, not a spell checker, new brushes, 128meg minimum req... At least if they would offer these things as optional add-ons that you buy. But they leave you no choice, perhaps in PS 8 there will be some features I like, and if I upgrade I'll be getting all the useless things from 7.

Well, I have to disagree on the problems with the layer folders and screen space. Layer folders are not to move several layers around together, although you can use it for that. They are for people like me, who often have as many as 90 layers in their work and need to simplify navigation of complex documents. Ever scroll through 90 layers? It's a nightmare. ;) As for the screen space.. well, Adobe set it up so you can customize which sections your tabs live in, which sections you can display, where everything goes.. I don't really see how screen space can be a problem with so much customization available. The spellchecker is a feature that a lot of people will thank Adobe for. Text management in Photoshop has been historically horrid; it looks like they are finally finding one direction they like and sticking with it. I think that all of this, along with their full support for OS X, warrants a full version upgrade.

Posted a reply, but didn't show... The effects panel is about 630 by 430 pixels, that's pretty big for a panel. I don't see a way of resizing it unless I missed something. That little preview box is pretty useless, you want to see the pic, not that little box. How you apply adjustment layers changed aswell from 5.5 to 6. Now when you choose and adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette it doesn't let you choose anymore if you want to group it. You have to close the settings window, group the layer, then open up it's settings window again. You have to pick an adjustment layer from the layer menu for the option window to pop up. I know, little things they change but they add up. If it ain't broke then don't try to fix it right?:) And if you work in PS for hours every day, it gets annoying. And it's a shame because some of the features they add are useful, and you use them more then once every 3 months, but they don't leave what works alone just so they can say, look we changed over 500 things in this new version...

oops, holding down Alt when you choose your adjustment layer lets you group it first...ok, but I still don't like that effects panel! lol..

It's fine to click Tab as toggle to remove palettes or Shift-Tab to remove palettes on right but I was hoping they would do what Corel did with palettes. They have tabs down the right side for some of the palettes and click to expand palettes... click again to collapse. It does save screen space without having to use (or remember) key combos.

The spell check is a fine feature for a TEXT program like Adobe Illustrator but come on!!! a graphics editing program?

The file browser sounds like a good idea but it does take up a lot of room. When I open this file browser, photoshop goes not responding. So I won't be using that fine feature.

I must admit they did also add a Pattern Maker which might prove useful.

Geez. Some of the things that I'm hearing I'm not liking. I'm using 5.5 right now but I've got 2 copies of the 7 upgrade on order. 1 Mac and 1 PC. Adobe gave me a sweet deal on a crossplatform multi license upgrade that I couldn't pass up. I like the fact that when I check the preview box in 5.5 that the actually image reflects the changes as I'm using the filters and effects. Are you saying this is no longer so? Please tell me this ain't so. I got to agree with dreamer101 on the spell checker. Just added bloat that's not needed. And the file browser. I remember when I used Corel Draw Suite. It had a browser. Never used it. As far as keycombos or clicking on tabs. I learned a long time ago that the best way around PS was to learn and use the key combos. I still don't know more then half of them and Adobe likes to change a few of them every version or two. Makes it hard for someone like me that doesn't use it every day. Still, I love my Photoshop and it's made me a few dollars to boot. Have fun Dave

You will love going from 5.5 to 7. The bigger changes happened between 5.5 and 6 (or so I think). I am glad they added the zoom and hand tool to liquify. The also moved liquify and extract to filter menu (which makes more sense). When using filters, there are some that you will see change on your image with preview checked and others you will see only in the filter dialog window. As for key combos ... I remember a few that I use on regular basis but those I use less often go right out of my head. Mostly the Tab and Shift Tab toggle and of course the space bar temporarily changes tool you are using to the hand tool. I hate using the navigator or switching to hand tool and going back to tool I was using.

The effects panel (layer styles) still updates the images as well, but the panel is so big you have to move it all the time to see the pic, change settings/move panel/change/move/.... Best change from 5.5 to 6 was the layer folders.

I have been using Photoshop since version 2, and I must say that since 4, this is the best Photoshop upgrade I have ever bought. The new painting brushes are nice, although I am also a long-time Painter user and their brushes are still better. The real improvements are in things that save the regular, every day, not-in-it-for-the-wow-factor, working stiff of an artist tons and tons of time. Examples: -The new incorporated file browser, which cancels out my need to keep Thumbs Plus running in the background for complex texturing projects. About TIME! -The stupid, stupid thing they did with Phtoshop 6, where in order to rename a layer you had to right click and choose "Properties" instead of simply double clicking like before has been FIXED and then some! Now all you do is double click the text and overtype. -The Healing brush is HEAVEN...it allows you to clone from any area and not worry about color, since it clones based on luminance and texture. This makes it an invaluable tool, and not like the ordinary clone brush, a sorta neat thing that requires a lot of touch up to be believable. -That imbecilic weirdness they never fixed on Photoshop 6, where the snap to guides was always one pixel off on selections, works perfectly now. -The distort, resize, skew, etc tools work a million times better than before, they somehow allow your image to remain crisper than they used to in earlier versions. -The palette docking well on the upper left RULES, especially for keeping a handy copy of the File Browser and Brush palettes. That's what I really appreciate the most after 4 days in Photoshop 7. I usually wait a few months to uninstall my old version of Photoshop once I have upgraded, but this is the first time its gone after just 2 days. I LOVE this upgrade, again, to me it really is the best yet since Photoshop 4.

I too have used Photoshop daily since its very inception. I make a living from this program. But from what I've used in PS7 beta, I rank it as Adobe's least inspired upgrades ever. What's new isn't terribly essential, only cosmetic, or mildly useful. For the first time ever, I'll save my cash, and wait till 2003 or so, when PS 8 is rolled out.

still dig the effects palette in 5.5 better, but the styles are more effective in 7

Will the upgrade, upgrade from v.5.0??