And the question we all have at the back of our minds is:
The ISO PDF Standard hasn't been updated since 2008.
So WTF does Adobe Reader have to update every week?
More at
Geek Reddit:
Ok.. here is a comment from somebory who knows his shit:
the adobe reader you have isnt a simple PDF reader.
Adobe Reader is a huge system and reading PDFs is one of its many functions. If all you care is reading PFDs only then you should ditch it and get Sumatra or Foxit.
Long version:
lets follow the rabbit..
There is a reason its not called "Adobe PDF reader" but "Acrobat reader" or "Adobe reader". It is a monster of a system. reading PDFs is one of many functions. For a project i had to read into adobe acrobat and heck its a real monster: it has
a complete mail server, document lifecycle management system, DRM client, full fledged document tracking system, form capabilities, statistics for your docs (imagine sending a survey and tracking the collected data), video AND audio playing capabilities (yes you can embed audio and video in pdf) as well as capabilites for other formats (such as displaying CAD(!) data in its own 3Dviewer).
all in all the full acrobat SDK is like 500 MB and its manual a couple tousand pages long.
merely displaying PDFs is one function out of like 100. To you as the consumer its the bait... but the full fledged system behind it is what Adobe sells to its corporate consumers.
they basically say: "You want a full fledged content tracking system? we got it... and the best part is all your customers have the clients already installed! in form of the acrobat reader".
Its like a monster sleeping in every computer.
see this link. Its the function comparisson of the acrobat family..
and here comes the scoop: all functions you see are supported by acrobat reader... but you cant use them. They are there so you can provide them to the guys who paid for "pro extended".
Basically the pro extended package can create all that shit and all drones using acrobat reader will support the functionality. wheter they want it or not.
And here is the screamer: being a normal guy you will most likely never need all that crap. You know what does it mean when i say " document tracking system"? its just a fancy word for the dream of every adverstiser: Corporate customers can track how succesful their newsletter, advertising and customer Polls are.
Yup.. they can track how efficient their spam is. And all you sheeples who over the years keep complaining "omg i just want to read pdfs why is the install file soo big" never cared to actually read what is included.
My advice: if all you care for is reading PDFs (and im sure 99% of Acrobat reader users are in this group) install Foxit or Sumatra.
One of the first things I do with a new system is to uninstall Acrobat and install Foxit. Their PDF creator is sweet -- installs like a printer driver. [CTRL]+P, select Foxit PDF Writer and your file is created. Well worth the $30. Their Reader is free.
Website for Foxit
here
Website for Sumatra
here
Posted by DaveH at May 7, 2011 12:29 PM