I like it quite a lot! Mostly because I'm not stuck with sitting at my computer, but can go to the media room and load something up in the background while painting.

I'm using Photoshop, but mostly because I can get a stupid good deal through work. If I couldn't get that, I'd load up on other programs...er, well, I've actually already loaded up on the other programs. :) I bought Painter--again, an educational discount brought it down to $100ish. I'll probably also be getting Manga Studio because I haven't found anything better for linework. I think I might be able to upgrade for a chunk less, but I'll have to check.

I might even get Paint Tool SAI (Windows only, 5400 yen) because a lot of manga artists and fan artists work with it and there's a decent number of tutorials out there. It's kind of a hybrid of Photoshop and Painter.

Joe's academic, right? Check the school's site to see if they've got a deal with Adobe, too! He could also buy other programs through Amazon's educational software thingy (they use a 3rd party service that checks for academic affiliation--I just uploaded a pay stub with all the financial information blacked out) or academicsuperstore.com or even, if you're boring, through the software maker's website. But Amazon's the fastest--I got approved within ten minutes.

Does he have a .edu address and a paycheck stub with his name and the institutions' name on it? :) Even on things that say "For students and faculty" I've never yet had a problem qualifying for academic pricing working in the library, and my pay stub clearly says "Library".