The last few days, I've been learning a new piece of software — new to me, anyway. It's Adobe InDesign CS4, and it's something you'd use to create a book or magazine or pamphlet. You lay out pages with text and graphics, and it does a lot that Microsoft Word or any word processor just can't handle. Since there are eight thousand books in print about how to use Adobe InDesign and a thriving industry selling video tutorials, I feared it would like trying to learn how to trisect angles or something…but I was able to format a simple publication my first day. And since I'm not that bright, you should be able to pick it up in a snap if you're of a mind to master and use such a thing.
I'm using the 30-day free trial, which I downloaded from this site and I think I'm going to want to use it past the thirty days. The program retails for seven hundred smackers and I, of course, am not going to pay that. If you pay retail more than twice in one year, you lose the right to say you're Jewish. There are discounters who can get it down to around $400 but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a cheaper source…maybe a free copy that's sitting around your office unused? I am, as you may have observed, about as subtle as the end of Gallagher's act.
And before anyone offers: Thanks but I don't want a torrent bootleg or "warez" or whatever cute name they're giving lately to copyright infringement. A few years ago, I briefly (I confess) used a few of those, mainly to test out software that didn't offer a trial version. I decided that that didn't work for me ethically…just as the programs usually didn't work for me at all. They were just too much trouble…in accord with my oft-stated maxim that few things are as expensive in life as those that are free.