I am finding a lot of the features of the more expensive software (photo-shop) in this cheaper package. Does anyone use this software? Is it worth the cheaper software or do you recommend just sucking it up and buying the industry standard?

I use the GIMP. There's a good topic I wrote in "Digital Photography" called "Mad about the Gimp" that tells all the info about if. It rocks!

I use a stone aged version (v6)!!!!
I'm sure PS would be handy, but it does pretty well everything I need. I actually have a, er, copy of PS, but couldn't be bothered installing it. Or learning it.