I've just finished my little paper about teaching C#. It is a few hundred words over the limit but I really can't trim it down any more without losing information. So now I need to send it off to the conference organisers. In PDF format. No problem, around six months ago I bought a magazine which had a PDF writer on the coverdisk. Search out the disk and install it. Hmmm. Wrong disk. After searching around I find that they have mis-labeled the disks for that month. Finally find the program that I need. But by now my early good humour is starting to evaprate like the dew on a summers morn (posh prose eh?).

Anyhoo, get to the program installation screen. This magazine is a bit funny about coverdisks. You often have to visit a web site or send an email to get the key for the software that they sell with the magazine. So I carefully read the procedure and visit the relevant web site. Which tells me that the offer is now expired. And I can't have my key. Wah! By now I'm pretty cross. One of the reasons that I bought the magazine was for the software on it. I bought the thing in April this year. Nowhere, nowhere(!) does it say that the distribution is time limited. I reckon this stinks. I'm not going to buy another PC-PLUS magazine ever again. Unless they have something really good on their coverdisk of course - but this time I'll install it promptly.

By the way, I found a really good, free, PDF converter at http://www.pdf995.com. It is free if you don't mind seeing an advert each time you print a document. As I only do this once in a while, that is a price I'm happy to pay.