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Overall - I'm happy with the software, but can't recommend it due to their policies.

Photoshop elements is a mostly competent product aimed at the amateur user. As an amateur user I am satisfied with it as a piece of software, despite some minor glitches (getting face recognition to work seems hit-and-miss).

The item I really can't agree with is the DRM activation policy. After two installs it requires contacting Adobe for further installations. Fair enough, but the activation also requires repeating if you change your hardware, unless you deactivate it first on that machine. This is not an obvious thing to do with every piece of software you own before upgrading a computer. Also, the license is for two machines - I should not have seen this error as it has only ever been installed on one computer. Clearly, someone has a key generator crack that is used for piracy and Adobe would rather inconvenience their paying customers than solve their security problem.

I had a trial version which I thought was excellent so I bought a copy for my brother's 70th. birthday and he is very pleased with it also.

I really wanted this product but now I've got it, feel a bit disappointed about how complicated it is! I haven't had any of the previous editions but have used this type of product years ago. I am still no further forward, so need to sit down and spend a few hours at least trawling through the 'help' section. I pick up things fairly quickly so feel disappointed about how long-winded the help part is.

Excellent programme, easy to follow instructions and produces professional photos for all the family to enjoy.

I upgraded from PSE 6, as I thought PSE 8 offered some new features. The Editor menus work OK, though there's not much new that's useful, but the Organizer seems to be full of bugs. Sometimes it won't open at all; sometimes it will open, but some of the menus won't work and it crashes and closes. The main problem is the "slideshow" feature, which just crashes and closes Organizer every time. I've sent a report to Adobe and am awaiting a reply...

I wish I'd trialled PSE 8 first - one of Adobe's best qualities is the availability of a 30-day trial - but naively assumed that version 8 would be an improvement on version 6.

Looking at Adobe's support pages, I now see they've got reams of advice on troubleshooting - it appears that functions such as "slideshow" are not compatible with some other bits of software on one's computer - not that I've got the other software they list... But certainly there appears to be acknowledgement that version 8 has lots of bugs, and no intention to issue fixes for them.

If I ever get a response from Adobe, I'll update this review.

In the meantime I would just advise anyone to "try before you buy", even if you've had a perfectly working earlier version of the software.