[dubiousSwain]

In the past I have used gimp for all my photo editing, graphics, and designs for promotional materials. However, I recently switched to Photoshop and I find the interface and workflow to be MUCH cleaner. However, I would only consider it worth it for the team to buy an photoshop license AFTER they have a student who is proficient in GIMP or Photoshop. Without a skilled user, Photoshop is not much more powerful than MSPaint.

I have been all over the board with NLEs for videos. I started in movie maker, then learned Final Cut, I've used PowerDirector (I hated the workflow) and now I'm learning the workflow for Vegas. So far, I have been most comfortable with FCP, but maybe thats just because I've had the most practice in it. If you have some mac users on the team, I would highly recommend using iMovie for video editing instead of dropping money on Primere