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A Little Experiment

After seven years of dutiful, reliable computing, my iMac has started showing its age. It's manifesting in weird glitches, such as not letting me load photos. After a quick reboot, it will work fine ... for a while.

Seven computer years equals like 75 human years, right? There have been at least four new iMacs since I bought mine, and the software updates on everything from browsers to operating software make getting a "tune-up" seem a little impractical. However, buying a new one presents its own problems.

First of all, the price tag is way too hefty for me right now. Because of how this year started for me, I'm further away from my goal than I was six months ago. I don't want to make that worse by spending money I don't really have.

Secondly, my current iMac has Adobe CS2, which contains InDesign desktop publishing software that I depend on for a freelance project I do twice a year. My current version of Creative Suite wouldn't run on a newer computer, and getting an updated copy of it would cost just as much as buying a new computer.

Through online research, though, I found some free desktop publishing software I'm going to try. It's called Scribus, and it's had decent reviews. My freelance project is coming due soon, and I'm going to try to work it entirely in Scribus. That way, I can see whether it will work well with what I need to do.. If it passes the test, I'll switch to doing the project in Scribus from now on. That way, when the old iMac finally gives out, I won't be tied to Adobe.

I'll post about how well it works -- or doesn't -- once the project is complete.

Finding alternatives for Photoshop and Illustrator would be nice, too, but they're both less crucial for my freelance work.
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