Fear and loathing in Denver as InDesign CS3 roars in Seattle

Once upon a time, there were two programs designed for typesetting and layout "on the desktop": Aldus Pagemaker and Ventura Publisher. Pagemaker spoke Mac and PC, but Publisher spoke only PC. Eventually Pagemaker was acquired by Adobe, makers of the mythical Postscript language, while Publisher was acquired by Xerox, who had nary a clue about typesetting, and then sold to an even more clueless Novell. Eventually Publisher came to be owned by Corel, whose marketing team thought it was a lot like Wordperfect or maybe something like Draw. Publisher languished. Meanwhile, Adobe acquired Frame and renamed it Framemaker. In the desert, Quark had caught the attention of ad agencies with Xpress, but Adobe had a vision. That vision was called InDesign and the first version did little more than set type beautifully. It was followed by InDesign 2, Creative Suite, Creative Suite 2, and now Creative Suite 3. InDesign is where publishing is going.

In 2003, when younger daughter Kaydee started as a freshman at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Quark Xpress was the standard application for publishing, something she would begin learning in her sophomore year. But between her first year and her second year, Xpress disappeared and was replaced by InDesign. The same is true at major publishing companies and advertising agencies around the world. Even at newspapers.

More than 3 years ago ...

In mid 2004, I wrote a review of typesetting and page layout applications that included this plea:
"Note to the Adobe InDesign product manager: You’ve already beaten Quark. Now take a look at the features you could borrow from Ventura Publisher. ... [T]hink about how [the production-oriented features] could be added to InDesign."

Not long after that, I received a call from Wil Eisley, the InDesign product manager, who invited me to come to Seattle and meet with the development team. The meeting, although covered by a non-disclosure agreement, convinced me that Adobe wants InDesign to be the best application it can be. Three years down the road, CS3 is available and it's clear why Adobe has been eating into Quark's market share.

Previously, InDesign had minimal support for long documents such as books. CS3 adds features that long document creators will appreciate. It still falls short of what Ventura Publisher offered book publishers, but Ventura is gone and InDesign is being guided by an intelligent, inquisitive, connected development team. Adobe is providing the resources needed for InDesign to continue its robust development schedule.

Long document features included in CS3 include advanced bullets and numbering, text variables that allow a single update to be reflected throughout an entire document, improved master pages, better support for footnotes and multiple languages, and the ability to merge information from a database file into an InDesign document.

As with other CS3 applications, scripting has access to all aspects of the InDesign user interface. The scripting can be done in AppleScript on Macs, in VBScript on Windows machines, or in Javascript on either platform.

Shining the spotlight on the interface

InDesign CS3 has so many new and improved features that it's hard to know where to start and, in a review that must necessarily be shorter than War and Peace, where to stop and what to omit. I finally decided that it's the interface I'd like to tell you about in some detail because the interface is what unlocks the features. If the interface is crowded and cumbersome, you'll find it hard to use the program. Adobe has been accused of creating crowded, cumbersome interfaces that take up so much screen real estate that the only solution is often a second monitor.

No more. A second monitor is always helpful and maybe someday I'll buy one, but the CS3 interface has been streamlined, cleaned up, and trimmed down. What's more, CS3 offers a feature that I lobbied for when I met with the design team: Workspaces the user can define and save. Designing a single-page brochure is significantly different from assembling a 200-page book and not at all like putting together a newspaper. CS3 lets the user optimize the workspace to fit the task at hand and then to save that workspace for future projects. I don't take credit for the addition of this feature; the design team probably had been working on it long before I made my presentation, but I'm delighted to see that defined workspaces are present.

InDesign ships with some workspaces already defined, one is called New and Improved in CS3. Select it and every menu item that has a new or improved feature will be highlighted. It's a lot like hovering a magnifying glass over the application so that you can find what's new and what's better.

Here I'm about to turn the New and Improved in CS3 workspace on. (Click for a full-size view. The full-size view is 1440x900 pixels, so the file is large.)

And here are the menus that show the new features.

The development team had a mandate to make the interface better and they have succeeded. They have been uncommonly careful about using screen real estate. Even though multiple monitors are more affordable now, it's still helpful to have interface elements that stay out of the way when they're not needed. (Be sure to click this image for a full-screen view with explanations.)

It's still a work in progress

No matter how much the developers do or how well they do it, there's always more that they can do. Adobe isn't going to tell me what enhancements are under consideration for the next version, but you can be assured there's a roadmap already prepared to guide the team from where InDesign is to where it will be a few years from now.

Still absent from InDesign CS3 are a few features that my last-century favorite, Ventura Publisher, had in 1995, but that matters less and less because InDesign is built so well and is so reliable that I don't spend time missing the absent features. The entire CS3 suite works well together. Surprisingly well, considering some of the components have been a part of the Adobe family for such a short time.

Is InDesign a publishing program or a page layout program?

The answer, clearly, is yes. InDesign can be used to create a complex page with multiple layers and complicated relationships between the components. It can also be used to develop a newspaper, an advertising flyer, a magazine, or a book. If you're responsible for any of those kinds of tasks and you're using some other application, it's past time to look at InDesign. The designers gave careful consideration to functions that aid creativity, improve productivity, and allow repetitive features to be scripted. Because the developers are working on the next version, InDesign CS3 isn't the best InDesign will ever be, but it's the best document layout application available today.

For more information, visit Adobe's website.

Questions and answers

How do I know if I have the "Storm Worm"? I use a firewall and also have Norton Antivirus. Is there something else I need to have or do?

Because of the way the e-mail component of Storm works, it's nearly impossible for antivirus applications to detect it. The spams don't contain executable files or URLs—spam filters know about those tricks and catch them. Instead, you get an IP address that's supposed to provide access to a service you signed up for, a picture, a video, or something else. IP addresses currently sail past spam filters. And because the IP addresses routinely change to keep up with compromised systems, watching for specific IP addresses isn't effective.

Storm mutates quickly and has no central management computer. The infection spreads using a peer-to-peer pass-along setup. The criminals who are running the enterprise send out new code to a few compromised machines and those machines spread the bad code to other infected machines. Even the most up-to-date antivirus program won't see it because the binary file changes twice an hour.

If you try to gain access to a Storm-infected machine and the code notices your presence, it can launch a distributed denial-of-service attack that can last for days.

If everyone who uses the computer avoids clicking on any link that isn't known absolutely to be reliable, there's little chance that your machine has been compromised. But all it takes is a moment's inattention to click a link you think might be OK. But even if you do that, stopping short of giving the rogue site permission to download and install the application it offers would keep your machine safe. At least the way Storm is configured now, which is another way of saying that this advice may be outdated next week.

The combined set of infected machines is a "botnet" and the criminals who run it (generally thought to be organized crime syndicates in Russia) send spam for "pharmacies" that sell fake drugs, spam to promote pump-and-dump stock schemes, and spams for so-called "OEM" software, which often comes with its own infections.

If you're concerned that the antivirus program you use may have missed something, you can use one of the free scans offered by another of the legitimate and well known antivirus vendors. I use Grisoft's AVG Antivirus. F-Secure offers a free scan at http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml, so I might occasionally use that. Free scans are marketing tools for the antivirus vendor, of course, but they serve as a double-check for your preferred program. (Vista users need to use a beta version of the F-Secure product at http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/olsbeta.shtml.)

Don't just go to Google and type "free virus scan" because you'll end up with links to a variety of unsavory locations, including some supposed antivirus vendors that will actually install malware on your computer. Stick with the known vendors: McAfee, AVG, F-Secure, Norton, Avast, Kaspersky, PC Tools, and the like.

I received a message from some sort of networking site called Quechup. I've never heard of it and the person whose name was on the invitation to join the site says that he never intended to send an invitation. What's up?

Join the club! I received a couple of those this week, too, and one even made it to a Listserv discussion list I'm involved with. Quechup seems to be more of a spammer than a social network.

I received an invitation from someone I know to join her network on the service. She has since confirmed that she specifically told Quechup NOT to send messages to everyone in her address book, but it did anyway. My advice: STAY AWAY FROM QUECHUP!

I found more information on a website that's devoted to social networking sites: "[D]uring signup you’re asked to enter your email address and password to see whether any of your friends are already on the service. Enter the password, however, and it will proceed to mail all your contacts without asking permission. This has led to many users issuing
apologies to their friends for 'spamming' them inadvertently. Hopefully the bad PR on this one will force them to change the system."

Stoopid spam of the weak

What do Rocco J. Humphrey, Alphonse D. Shepard, Trudy J. Trotter, Steve V. Young, Ahmad Q. Sykes, Andrew M. Moseley, Adela P. Burnette, and Marion D. Mcghee all have in common? It seems that they were all victims of substandard physical proportions that caused others to "whizgiggle" at them. But that's all in the past now because they have acquired and consumed a miracle substance for 3, 4, 6, or 7 months. They all want me to visit a website where I can obtain this miracle substance. Each of them offers a different Web address, but (surprise!) each of the addresses eventually leads to a site in Russia.

The spams shown here are generated by a random-text generator, the kind of thing any high school kid who's ever glanced at a basic programming book would know how to do. The trouble is that the original message was probably written in Russian and then translated (badly) into English. After that, the programmer used a thesaurus to find equivalent words that turn out to be laughably non-equivalent.

So a public toilet, where all this whizgiggling seems to be taking place, becomes ...

• the not private toilet.
• the unrestricted water closet.
• the urban toilet.
• the national comfort station.
• the municipal john.
• the free toilet.
• the national WC.
• the open bathroom.

The people doing the whizgiggling are variously described as girls, womens, ladies, females, boytoys, and princesses and they are often joined by youths, chaps, gars, bucks, and blokes.

And that miracle substance our writer has consumed for 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 months produces an appendage that is ...

• greatly preponderant than federal.
• truly preponderant than national.
• truly largest than national.
• very much weightier than average.
• terribly bigger than average.
• badly best than world.
• much bigger than national.
• truly longer than average.

The subject lines are usually intended to be read as if the message was written by a woman, but the body of a message is always written from a man's perspective. The names applied to the messages can be men's names or women's names. This combination of slipshod programming, poor language skills, and total lack of attention to detail make these spams so laughable that I have to wonder who would follow one of the links.

And what about the time one must take the miracle product? Is this selected randomly or is our friend test marketing the claim? If he hooks you for 7 months, he'll get more money, but there's the need for instant gratification. Might 7 months seem too long? Might the reader not want to sign up for something that takes 7 months? Might he get more suckers to sign up if they think they'll see results in 3 months or 4 instead of 6 or 7? Might 5 months be the ideal middle ground—about the right place to maximize return?

Some of the spams
(selected from hundreds that have arrived in the past week)

From: Rocco J. Humphrey
Subject: Can you tell me what's wrong, and how we can fix it?
Girls always whizgiggled at me and even youths did in the not private toilet!
Well, now I sriek at them, because I took M eg ad ik
for 3 months and now my member is greatly preponderant than federal.
achieve http://hiwaysvc.com/

From: Alphonse D. Shepard
Subject: I just started having sex, and my boyfriend keeps popping out when we do it.
Womens always whizgiggled at me and even youths did in the unrestricted water closet!
Well, now I sriek at them, because I took M_E GA D IK
for 7 months and now my putz is truly preponderant than national.
go shopping http://osimpro.com/

From: Trudy J. Trotter
Subject: My boyfriend's penis keeps slipping out.
Ladies always whizgiggled at me and even youths did in the urban toilet!
Well, now I giggl at them, because I took Mega. Dik
for 6 months and now my phallus is truly largest than national.
obtain http://mcvsd.net/

From: Steve V. Young
Subject: I just started dating a guy I like, but his cock is on the small side and doesn't really satisfy me
Ladies always laughed at me and even chaps did in the national comfort station!
Well, now I whizgiggle at them, because I took M_E GA D IK
for 4 months and now my member is very much weightier than average.
take up http://mchens.com/

From: Ahmad Q. Sykes
Subject: My boyfriend's prick is too big for my mouth.
Females always whooped at me and even youths did in the municipal john!
Well, now I whizgiggle at them, because I took M_E_G. ADI. K
for 3 months and now my cock is terribly bigger than average.
procure http://jobcnb.com/

From: Andrew M. Moseley
Subject: My boyfriend's cock keeps slipping out.
Boytoys always whooped at me and even gars did in the free toilet!
Well, now I smil at them, because I took M_E_G. ADI. K
for 4 months and now my dick is badly best than world.
pay for http://jobcnb.com/

From: Adela P. Burnette
Subject: When I tried to give him oral sex, I practically choked. How do I do it without gagging? Please help!
Girls always whizgiggled at me and even bucks did in the national WC!
Well, now I laugh at them, because I took Me - ga - Di k
for 7 months and now my putz is much bigger than national.
deal in http://jokarpp.com/

From: Marion D. Mcghee
Subject: My boyfriend's tool is too big for my mouth.
Princesses always whizgiggled at me and even blokes did in the open bathroom!
Well, now I giggl at them, because I took M E _G_A_D_ IK
for 6 months and now my cock is truly longer than average.
win http://jmpaweb.com/

I checked the whois record for several of the domains and every one that I checked went back to the same location. All of the domains involved are registered to one Evgeny Speshilov, who (if the record is to be believed) lives in Omsk, a city in southwestern Siberia, about 1200 miles east of Moscow. The website is hosted in Hong Kong.

domain: osimpro.com
owner: Speshilov Evgeny
organization: Speshilov INC
email: admin@speshilovinc.com
address: Marksa 52, Office 12
city: Omsk
state: --
postal-code: 644119
country: RU
phone: +738.12282296
admin-c: CCOM-1114955 admin@speshilovinc.com
tech-c: CCOM-1114955 admin@speshilovinc.com
billing-c: CCOM-1114955 admin@speshilovinc.com
nserver: ns1.chongdns67.com
nserver: ns2.chongdns67.com

Note to Evgeny Speshilov: Lose "whizgiggle". There's no such word in English. You could look it up.

Nerdly News

Apple drops Iphone price $200, "graciously" gives early adopters $100 back

There was angst in Apple land this week. In announcing other new products, Steve Jobs announced a $200 price drop for the Iphone. Those who paid full price when the phone came out were none too happy about it. Nice way to reward your most loyal customers, the ones who stayed up late to be the first to have an Iphone.

Apple belatedly announced—oh by the way—we're going to "take care" of the people who bought Iphone early. "[E]very iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store."

That's not $100 back. It's a $100 store credit. You can spend it only in an Apple store. And, if this is like other Apple credits, you'll be able to spend it only on Apple-brand products and you won't be able to combine store credits if, for example, you bought 2 Iphones.

Steve Jobs again, from Apple's website: "iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'." If it's that important to get as many new customers as possible under the Iphone tent, why not give credit where it's due: To the people who bought Iphones the day they went on sale? To the people who voted with their dollars to support your vision of the Iphone?

Apple makes great products, no question about that. But customer care could sure use a little polishing.

In the interest of full disclosure: I do not own an Iphone and I don't particularly want one. My younger daughter owns a G4 dual processor desktop that crashes about 6 times per day. I have an Ipod. She has an Ipod. My wife is considering buying an Ipod. I have a G4 Powerbook and an antique G3 notebook. I like the products (well, maybe excepting the G4 dual processor desktop that's never been right since day one) and I think that Apple's OS X is probably the best operating system available (even if it doesn't have a Start Menu). But I certainly wish that Apple would treat its customers with a little more respect.

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