That's the pont really...why should anyone spend time convincing someone who is too lazy to do a search ?
to get anything worthwile (other than suffering the brunt of my verbage

) out of this community you at least should have the decency to perfom the most minimal of research before asking anything.
please accept my apologies if i seem to be singling you out. you just happen to be the latestest in a long line of redundant and slightly annoying questioneers.
for eg . i just typed houdini into google and the 4th result was sideFX's site...from where i can download the apprentice edition, free videos, houdini specific forums, pricing etc.
easy peasy