This program tries to make it easy to start a project (with a walk through wizard) but with any publishing software, you have to know what you are doing. That includes understanding your printer settings, etc. Yes, printer settings can be changed with the program (as with most any software) so it will take some time for inexperienced users to understand how to use it properly.

I must say, this program offers a ton of nice clip art, photos, etc than most other programs in this class. It has 2 CD's full of clipart but you'll need a lot of disk space to install it all. The broadband version of PrintShop accesses the clipart from the internet but with big hard drives available these days, save yourself some headache and buy the regular software, not the broadband one. If you don't have a lot of harddrive space (a few gigs to spare) I wouldn't suggest buying this.

There is no user manual included and the help files are not as in depth as I would like. I find it hard to believe that a complicated program such as this does not have at least a printable copy of a user manual. So be warned, if you not an experienced software user this product might not be for you.

I also saw some negative reviews on photo editing/printing. I haven't tried it so I can't compare. (I use other software for photo editing and printing). There are a lot of great photo editing software packages available. If you're purchasing this for that reason, you might want to look somewhere else. This thing is for printing out greeting cards, postcards, and things of that nature. I guess you can be thankful that there is photo editing features with this at all.

Final take - For someone who has used software since they were young and does for a living, I could figure most things out on my own. If you are inexperienced, you may find this product frustrating. But for the price, you get a lot of nice clipart and wizards to help for most basic home desktop publishing needs (greeting cards, postcards, calendars, etc).

"Very passable for what it is....."
Anyone buying this product with the idea of competing with higher end products (Photoshop, Coreldraw, etc..) will be bitterly dissapointed. If you buy it for relatively simple graphics applications you will love it. I do all our company's fliers, memos, and counter stands with this program. It is quick, it's easy, and I don't have to spend a great amount of time to get simple projects done. I use this in conjunction with the Works Portfolio and have had great success. It is also really nice to be able to "save as" in .pdf format. Good Job Broderbund!

"Not a lot of bang for the buck"
I have previous versions of the Print Shop and thought it was good. I purchased PrintShop Deluxe on DVD, Ver. 15 because I couldn't get my old program to work on my new computer with WinXP. The new version seems to rely only on its built in graphics, photos and templates. There are not a lot of tools to do your own thing. I also had immediate problems with the software in scrolling through the fonts -- the program freezes. This is apparently a well-known problem to Broderbund as their "fix" on the web page is to delete several of the fonts. When I asked why (through their customer service site) there was no fix and they thought it was acceptable to delete fonts, they blamed it on XP and then invited me to buy their newest version. I guess I thought that's what I was doing when I was at CompUSA. Now I know...they keep the old [stuff] out there until it's sold out.

"Overrides you printer's settings!"
I installed this without any problems on my XP run system. Tried printing envelopes on my brand new Canon i950 ink jet. The Print Shop overrides your printer's settings, so I had to keep the printer set on "Paper" mode, but there's a lever in the printer carriage that must be changed when printing envelopes. If it this doesn't match what the software settings are, it won't print! I tried going along with the settings recommended by The Print Shop, and didn't switch the carriage to "envelope" mode, and the ink came out in splotches. It also prints about 2 inches down into the envelope, so if you want to add borders or art in the corners, it ain't happening. I didn't have this problem with Works. According to the self help section on the Broderbund website, this margin is not the fault of the software, but is a printer problem. I called Canon (who answered immediately and were very helpful BTW), and I determined that I was setting the printer correctly according to Canon's instructions. The problem goes back to the fact that The Print Shop overrides your printer's settings. The link to the website in the software works intermittently, and I'm using a broadband connection and it's always on. Sometimes I click on it and nothing happens. So, I've uninstalled it and I'm sending it back to Broderbund this week (they have a 90 day money back guarantee). What a hassle!