PhotoShop vs. GIMP

I've had the misfortune to lose my PhotoShop to a virus a few months ago, and I've been living without the ability to make anything which is really heartbreaking seeing as making sigs soothed me. So, quite a few people recommended GIMP to me, and they said it's pretty much the same program and it's free, so I decided to give it a try.

Here's my first product.



The difference in layout when comparing GIMP to PhotoShop 7.0 is astounding. I should have figured that since two different entities made these programs, but I didn't know exactly how different it would be. Half the time, I was doing trial and error, since some of the tools have different names than the PS tools, but had almost the same effect. And GIMP, naturally, doesn't have some of the tools that PS has, otherwise it wouldn't be free. Being a PS nut for the past 3 years has kind of ruined me to try new things, and GIMP has potential, don't get me wrong, but I approached it the wrong way.

So, which program do you prefer, and if anyone uses GIMP, I could use help find a tutorial or something to help me figure out what stuff does. :/