I say that it's about using what you know or are familiar with...that's why I only use Photoshop. Sure I could buy those other things or even get the free stuff but why? I'm comfy with what I have and have learned to maneuver around the things that I don't have (like image tubes in Paint Shop Pro and GIMP). The fun part for me is always trying to replicate the look and feel that you get with other programs and making maps with what I have rather than just doing it the easy way and getting more appropriate software (like CC3 or Dunjinni). It's that whole "figuring it out" part that's rewarding to me.

There is a bonus for you however being one of the few (here) using Corel...you can do things in ways that the rest of us don't even know about so your maps could be revolutionary and spawn a whole exodus away from what we all use over to Corel. Or they could be total crap Either way it's the journey that's the fun part and you could also write up some tutorials (which is always a good thing).