Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0

[Dov Isaacs]

Steve,

No, Adobe Reader really isn't a "stand-alone program that
can co-exist in multiple versions." 

Installation of Reader includes browser plug-ins, icon-handlers,
file associations, registry entries, etc. all of which are
candidates for conflicts.

The problems that I mention are more prevalent under Windows
than on Mac, but even the Mac has issues with such parallel
installations. Some program must respond to double clicks
to open/process files from the user interface.

For the full Acrobat product, the web is even more tangled with
PostScript driver plug-ins, port monitors, etc.

	- Dov

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Rickaby [mailto:srickaby at wordmongers.demon.co.uk] 
> Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 9:54 AM
> To: Dov Isaacs; Gillian Flato; framers at FrameUsers.com
> Subject: RE: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0
> 
> At 09:37 -0800 3/11/06, Dov Isaacs wrote:
> 
> >This is a good time, though, to repeat my warning that you 
> should not attempt to have either multiple versions of 
> Acrobat, multiple versions of Reader, and/or mixtures of 
> Acrobat and Reader installed on a given system.
> 
> Why, Dov? Reader, surely, is a stand-alone program that can 
> co-exist happily in multiple versions?
> 
> > Although it is possible to coerce the installers to do 
> that, it is neither endorsed nor supported by Adobe. Many, 
> many problems that we hear about with regards to anything PDF 
> ultimately get traced to attempts to have anything more than 
> one version of Acrobat or of Reader installed on one system.
> 
> I hear you. One version of Acrobat Pro only makes sense, and 
> certainly the version of Pro should match the version of 
> Distiller... but Reader? Ok, 7 Pro can probably create PDF 
> versions or features that Reader 6 doesn't understand, but we 
> can allow for that. Freelances, in particular, often need 
> many tools in their tool-chest, and are extremely loath to 
> delete old versions of software that might one day be needed.
> 
> FWIW, I've had 5 Pro and 6 Pro on a Mac for several years, as 
> well as Reader 7, without any apparent ill effects. In fact, 
> I can remember several instances a few years back when 
> Distiller 6 would not distill something, but Distiller 5 
> would, getting me out of Postscript-error hell.
> 
> I can understand why Adobe might not want to support this 
> sort of mix, though.
> 
> -- 
> Steve
>