Review by Michael McKee

It was a mistake for me to get this software, not that it’s bad, but because I knew that I didn’t have time really get into it. I did anyway. I am an old hand a Photoshop but needed a competent illustration program. Corel Draw is certainly that. Out of the whole package, that’s the one I routinely use. Corel Paint is competent, but feature wise is a couple of versions behind Photoshop, at least in the features I use. For someone who only wants to use one package and save a lot of money, I can recommend Corel Paint. What Corel lacks is that it is not cross platform. Since so many graphic design firms, not one person business, but ones that have teams of artists are Mac centric, Corel will not gain a real foothold at the pro level as a Windows only program.

I use a Mac. However, with a little help, Macs can run Windows programs, I do use Corel Draw for graphic layout. I used to use Freehand but that didn’t survive Adobe’s purchase of the company that made it. I’m not fond of Illustrator. Corel Draw is closer to Freehand and I like it.

I’d say that Corel Draw is excellent. Corel Paint is quite good, but the rest of the programs probably wouldn’t stand on their own outside of a suite. That’s okay. The bundle is a great value and can serve a lot of graphics needs.