>>I have been using it for about 7 years now between college and work and im amazed by how much can be done with it.
<<
And most people(if not all) stick with the program and use it almost exclusively for their graphic arts needs. There is simply no better program. So considering how long most will use it, and the different upgrade fees, it probably works out to about $50 a year which aint bad. Now if one just wants to design one web page, they should look to photoman or whatever the shareware knockoff is called.