I hear good things about Rosetta. Apparently it can help you correct your spoken Chinese.

I would like to know if anyone has the spare time to give me a demo, or if anyone knows where I can pick up a version in Kunming.

Cheers

There's a free demo online.

www.rosettastone.com/demo

Or, you can invite crazy.laowai to your place. He's a computer wizard and he'll cook up a 5-star meal while he takes you through it.

The speech recognition for Chinese isn't very good. Even on the highest setting it's quite easy to say gibberish and let you pass. If you're buying it only for that then look for something else.

In my opinion, it is not good. I learned much more from a Pimsleur CD.

I am using both and finding the Rosetta more helpful for me.

Some people prefer audio CD. Myself, I am more visual. The Rosetta Stone has audio, visual (pics), reading (text for the dialogue/q&A), and writing (Pinyin) exercises. You can also flip between Pinyin, and Hanzi when working. So that when you have learned enough characters (possibly using other software/flashcards) you can switch to Hanzi and stretch your reading skills using Hanzi.
The Pimsleur also has accompanying booklets with insights into language and culture. These are sometimes found on pdf docs if you have prirate suftware.

Currently, I am doing 3 different currently courses to help spread the drudgery. These include Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, and a flashcard system.

BTW there is an aricle on ad-ons to browsers for Mandarin learners on echinacities.com.

I got Rosetta. I think it's too easy. Maybe because the highest-level course now I have is level 5.

I looked through the course after installed. Then never use it.
But I think it's helpful for new language learners.

Both Rosetta and Pimsleur used to only go to level 3. I doubt this has changed.

Here's a detailed review:
www.fluentin3months.com/rosetta-stone-review/

According to me it is not good.

I have used Rosetta for mulitiple languages and i really don't think it is worth the money. Also most of the things it teaches you to say are very useless and for languages like spanish and french i think it really lacks in the grammar department. I personally have started using pimsluer and while it still has its flaws i think it is a better choice for conversational language learning.