Tuesday, February 15, 2011

"The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it is." E. F. Schumacher

I taught Microsoft Publisher the other day and a student, who uses a Mac at home, asked if there was a version out there he could use. It also had to be free he said. I guess I should take a second and mention what Publisher is for. It is a program that allows you to design and printout all sorts of paper goods like business cards, flyers, signs, brochure, etc. I did a lot of research on this topic and I did find one replacement called Scribus. But there are issues. First it seems slower than dirt. Second it is missing a lot of the templates that I go to Publisher for. It does have a few but mainly you are on your own. But what about the intricate brochures you designed in publisher a while back? Sorry, from what I read even Publisher has issues opening older documents made in an older version of Publisher. Also I read a lot of printer companies complaining about people who use Publisher because it has problems when trying to print professionally. So what are your choices? Unfortunately it looks like you will have to buy something like Adobe Indesign or QuarkXPress. But before you run out the door to buy you should know they are not cheap, upwards of $200 to $600. I had no luck with my usual places, Amazon and eBay. The only thing I can say is if you really need them you will have to pay a hefty price or have print shop take care of the project. I wish I had better news, sorry.

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