I upgraded from EQ7 to 8 and so glad I did. I have to say I hardly used the 7 as it never seemed that easy to use--I had trouble even finding the right toolbars!. I did purchase the books (design a block, design a quilt, design more quilts)when they were on sale and worked through about half the lessons. But even without doing all the lessons, I think 8 is the way to go.