I saw some videos on the SCAL software and decided that I had to get a Cricut machine and this program. I wanted a machine anyway, but wasn't willing to pay so much for the machine and then pay so much for each individual cartridge, that only had a limited number of images and fonts. So, I got my Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter machine and played with it a little to make sure that I liked it and then ordered this software. My hubby downloaded the newest firmware from the Cricut website by doing the trial of their software (because you have to have a certain edition of the firmware for the SCAL program to work on your machine) and we were good to go. I do wish that the software would have come with an instruction booklet, but everything you need to know can be found on the internet, so it's not that big of a deal. I actually have found some really nice free dingbats just by doing a search for free svg files on the internet. This is really the best way to go if you aren't wanting to spend a ton of money. It's really easy to use after you get it installed. I hope this helps=)