bringing it around to the main question
started experimenting with opencart, then noticed little sparks taking hold with their newest version
so i did not want to start this journey only to be engulfed in a flaming wreck later
moved on to experimenting with prestashop, abantecart and cs-cart
i chose to focus on cs-cart after watching a few of the videos on the cs-cart frontpage,
reading the forum interactions between the old-timers and the newbies (like me),
and the best online shopping award to one of your members kayokoko swimwear
(desevedly so imo, great website, and canadian as i am also, which is nice to have members from your area)
so there is the answer to the question Why CS-Cart
ps. thank you for a very nice free cart to start with
take care