This collection of 14 filters for Photoshop, Elements, and Fireworks (see specific Requirements above) are just plain fun. Some are silly while others are (arguably) useful. There are enough "fine-tune" abilities to make the anal happy while the basic setup can make the lazy satisfied.

The big Box of Art is a collection of clip-art for open and free use. The collection is searchable in a database of image thumbnails for (relatively) easy discovery and covers a significant variety of subjects. Although a great value, the whole package leaves a few things to be considered.

I thought Mystical Lighting would be all about dynamic effects. When reading about the software, I had visions of Boris Vallejo and Jonathon Earl Bowser paintings in my head. Yes, there are effects in here that can provide such imagery (provided you've got the talent to create the artwork to which you will apply the effects), but quite a few of the effects included are much more subtle and useful on a day to day basis.

FileMaker Developer 6 maintains a strong presence for the creation of databases and royalty-free FileMaker (run-time) solutions. Besides supporting long filenames in OS X and Windows (not OS 9), this update almost exclusively brings the Developer version of FileMaker up to par with the newly released FileMaker 6 features.

FileMaker Developer 6 maintains a strong presence for the creation of databases and royalty-free FileMaker (run-time) solutions. Besides supporting long filenames in OS X and Windows (not OS 9), this update almost exclusively brings the Developer version of FileMaker up to par with the newly released FileMaker 6 features.

Trying out Mac Speech's iListen Preview 1 Dictation software -- sort of

Painter's exclusive tool set offers an extensive array of brushes, textures, canvas choices, and art materials to faithfully capture the subtleties of an artist's style for high-quality output for print and the Web.

Microsoft Office v. X is a fully native program designed specifically for Mac OS X that harnesses the power of Office, the simplicity of Macintosh, and the stability of Unix. Office v. X has been completely redesigned with a fresh new Aqua interface.

Like many filters for Photoshop, what Image Doctor can do can be done by any expert in Photoshop. But no expert can do what Image Doctor can do as efficiently.

Now Up-to-Date & Contact is the most popular Personal Information Manager (PIM) (and has been for years). Why? Because it's easy to use and as your needs become more sophisticated, you find that Now Up-to-Date & Contact's comprehensive feature can do what you need to get done.

Even for a vector graphics amateur like me

DreamSuite provides 18 different effects to graphic images. It can be used as a standalone program and can be placed as a plugin to programs like Photoshop.