Digital BW, The Print

I'm having a ball learning to use Photoshop Elements.
But, one feature that Adobe left out of the "Elements"
Version of Photoshop is the Channel Mixer.  I can
already see that this is a very powerful tool for digital
b&w work.  I want it!  Reality is I'm retired on a fixed
income.  The full version of Photoshop is a lot of money
for a lot of features I'll never use – or am I being a 
"penny wise and a pound foolish?"

Anyway, Picture Window, by Digital Light & Color,
claims some pretty sophisticated filtering capabilities.
Does Picture Window 3.1 allow one to manipulate b&w
RGB images like Photoshop's channel mixer?

Would Picture Window compliment Photoshop Elements
or be redundant?  At $49.95 it looks like heck of a buy.

Thanks,
stephentucker@...