SSO Graphics

I know, stupid question
But im not quite sure.
Im just curious if adobe photoshop brushes, will work for photshop elements 7.
7 is the newest one, by the way.
I know its photoshop cs4, as well.
Im just curious, can, and will they work on elements
and if so, could you help me out with how that would, and could work?

I have a grey scale jpeg, and I want all the white to be transparent so I can put a background behind it and just have the black/grey part of the image stand out.
I’ve tried using the smart scissors, but I can’t seem to get them to pull the white off the image.
How do I do this in GIMP?

I want to download a free logo design tool which has almost all features to design best logos. Is there any such tool available?