Mac N00b and PS-CS3 Installation Question

Like many here, I've recently purchased an iMac for my design and animation work, but I've already hit a snag a day into being a Mac owner. I do have some experience with these machines, so I'm not completely flying blind, but I've been a PC kind of gal my whole life, and it shows when something goes wrong here and I just stare at the screen, drooling every couple of seconds. So hopefully you fine cats here can help me out.

I've been wrestling with the computer, trying to get it to install Photoshop CS3. On a PC, the startup would have ran automatically. Even if it didn't, I would just hop over to My Computer and double-click the startup.exe file. So when I put the CS3 CD in the Mac, and the startup failed to show, I tried to do what I would've done with a PC. I went to the disk, opened the photoshop folder, and double clicked on the exe. file. But the kicker is that the exe. file opens up in, I think a program called word edit? Basically a Mac notepad.

Google has lead to me a number of sites, suggesting this and that, copying the files over to the desktop and trying to install from there, making sure the CD is clean... The basics. But nothing's working for me. No other programs besides word editor will appear on the flyout menu when I try and run the exe. on something else. *shrugs* So I was wondering if any of you had a suggestion.

I have a ligit copy of CS3, and I'm running Mac OS 10.5.2. I'm going to see if I can install Final Cut Express next to see if it's a program thing, or if the Mac is being touchy already. So, any tips here would be more than welcome, and thank you.

are you clicking on a exe file?

That's an installer application for windows, basically you do not have the mac version of CS3, you have the version for MS Windows

You can contact adobe to get them to transfer the license from a PC version to a mac, and get the mac disks for CS3

Adobe will allow you to perform a cross-grade, or cross-platform upgrade, of your Adobe product, assuming it meets the upgrade qualifications and provided you send them a signed Letter of Software Destruction. The Letter of Destruction states that you agree to delete all copies of the product you are exchanging and also that you will not "sell, transfer, give away, donate, or otherwise distribute the exchanged Adobe product or copies to anyone else."

You will still need to pay the upgrade cost, and you will need to conduct the purchase via telephone by calling Adobe Sales at 1-800-833-6687 (see Adobe.com for international numbers). The Letter of Software Destruction may be faxed, e-mailed, or snail-mailed to Adobe.

Ah, understood! Thank you very much.