Thanks for the heads-up!

Anytime, Craig, although we'd prefer to bring you news about great products you'll love to buy and use.

Missing the mark
Maurice Green, PhD, of the Digital Imaging SIG of the Silicon Valley Computer Society thinks we're missing the point:

I think you missed the mark on this one. The package clearly states on the front that it allows you to "Search" for the images. It doesn't say it allows you to copy and use them. It doesn't say that the images are "royalty free". I interpret this to say that all they are giving you for your $49 is a set of thumbnails to find an image you might like to use and then it is up to you to acquire it legally (from Getty or whomever) for your intended use. Personally I would never buy such a product.

Also, it wouldn't be Broderbund who would be suing you if you used the image without license. It would be the copyright owner of the image.

I don't like to disagree with readers, but Maury, I think you're the one missing the mark on this one. We can't, in good conscience, recommend readers buy a product so they can just search for thumbnails, but not do anything with the images once they find them. The product isn't being marketing as an art search service.

Further, the ClickArt brand has been around since the T/Maker days of the early 1980s and it's always been a clip art product. Sadly, this is misleading marketing, not a misunderstanding.

Maury also asks a personal question:

Before I retired from clinical laboratory medicine, I had a resident named Amy Gewirtz. Any relation??

Heck if I know. Apparently, there are a lot of Gewirtz' people out there. On my personal Web site, I do maintain The Official Gewirtz Registry so all those wonderful people with the Gewirtz surname can be found. Feel free to check it out. So far, there's no Amy listed, but there is an Amelia.

Of course, I'm also somewhat backlogged updating the Registry, so there are a few people who sent me information that haven't been reflected on the site.

Jessica McCurdy Crooks is a freelance writer/editor, researcher, indexer and information consultant/Librarian. A native of Jamaica, she is a trained librarian/records manager. Today she spends her time consulting on establishing libraries and record management programmes, writes on various topics, focusing on lifestyle issues, health, cooking, travel, and her hobby -- photography.