I have to admit, Illy's pretty darn good

[handrawn]

no wonder 99% of people who use it have a pirate copy

hyperbole

I can quite happily accept it is not for you Frank and you are entitled to think it is crap - but that does not mean it is crap and it does not make it bad value for money in it's target markets which are corporate

just like the vector editor that I happen to know you do use, illustrator comes with a 30day trial period, long enough to check it out in comparision with said other editor which I know you have had for a long time

eyebrows are always raised elsewhere when people say they buy product without taking full advantage of trial period..but I've done it myself and it is annoying true

the reason I said you were being silly is this - in a computer warehouse [hypermarket] I have a whole load of choice - just recently I needed a new color printer and I could have spent anything from 200 GBP to 2000 GBP or more - the higher end machines do all sorts of things I simply don't need, and they are sometimes rather complicated to setup and or use ... this does not make them crap, and it does not make them a rip off, just because I can print perfectly well from a much lower end machine - it just means they are oriented to a different set of requirements and environments