Adobe Reader: Worth upgrading?

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-04-22 03:46pm

I'm running an older version of Adobe Reader, 7.0.7. I'm wondering if it's worth it to switch to the newer 8.1? Is it improved much in terms of speed (loading and response)? Or does it mostly offer new toys?

Also: Should I be considering an alternative PDF reader? Something lighter and compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer? I like opening PDFs in tabs, I don't like Firefox hanging when I open more than one (or even a single large one).

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-04-22 03:51pm

It's about the same in terms of speed, maybe a bit slower. But if all you do is use it to read PDFs and don't need any fancy features you're probably better off sticking with 7.5, the main difference is the change in UI and various things they've added.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2008-04-22 04:48pm

Wasn't there some security hole in the older versions, though?

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2008-04-22 06:29pm

Dooey Jo wrote:Wasn't there some security hole in the older versions, though?

Some remote code execution bugs on both Windows and Linux if I recall. I'd quite frankly find a non-Adobe PDF reader and stick with that. If you choose to stick with Acrobat Reader definitely upgrade that version (apparently semi-serious remote code execution bug in that version).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-04-22 06:53pm

The third-party PDF readers are often faster and more secure, but they also tend to miss out on some advanced PDF functionality.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2008-04-22 07:01pm

If all you need is a reader, you're better off with Foxit.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-04-22 09:49pm

phongn wrote:The third-party PDF readers are often faster and more secure, but they also tend to miss out on some advanced PDF functionality.

What kinds of advanced features are we talking about here? I have a bunch of PDFs with videos embedded in the pages (notes), and I would want to be able to read those still, as well as playing the videos.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-04-22 10:25pm

Phantasee wrote:
phongn wrote:The third-party PDF readers are often faster and more secure, but they also tend to miss out on some advanced PDF functionality.
What kinds of advanced features are we talking about here? I have a bunch of PDFs with videos embedded in the pages (notes), and I would want to be able to read those still, as well as playing the videos.

I've bought a number of PDF ebooks that foxit just can't quite deal with due to whatever method they used to scan them. Also, some things such as text selection and navigating the PDF doesn't translate quite as neatly when using other readers.

Natorgator · Post by **Natorgator** » 2008-04-23 02:47pm

Can anyone tell me why pdfs are of any use anyway? Seems like Acrobat has always been an extremely slow piece of bloatware that lets multiple version of itself stay on one system (I've seen tons of computers which have versions 6 and 8.)

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-04-23 03:14pm

Natorgator wrote:Can anyone tell me why pdfs are of any use anyway? Seems like Acrobat has always been an extremely slow piece of bloatware that lets multiple version of itself stay on one system (I've seen tons of computers which have versions 6 and 8.)

When you want to create a digital document with hundreds of pages, images and tables, word docs or spreadsheets are far too bloated and inconvenient. Especially if they're documents you don't want anyone editing very much. Get back to me on the 'bloat' issue when you start dealing with spreadsheets that have tens of thousands of lines of data, and multiple tabs.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-04-23 05:09pm

Natorgator wrote:Can anyone tell me why pdfs are of any use anyway? Seems like Acrobat has always been an extremely slow piece of bloatware that lets multiple version of itself stay on one system (I've seen tons of computers which have versions 6 and 8.)

Because it offers features that pretty much nothing else does and has viewers for every operating system under the sun. The fact that it is implements large chunks of the PostScript standard also made sure media companies would use it. In addition, it is one of the few formats where you can effectively guarantee that it'll print the way it looks (Adobe's PostScript and Microsoft's XPS being the only two real alternatives)

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2008-04-23 05:21pm

phongn wrote:
Natorgator wrote:Can anyone tell me why pdfs are of any use anyway? Seems like Acrobat has always been an extremely slow piece of bloatware that lets multiple version of itself stay on one system (I've seen tons of computers which have versions 6 and 8.)
Because it offers features that pretty much nothing else does and has viewers for every operating system under the sun. The fact that it is implements large chunks of the PostScript standard also made sure media companies would use it. In addition, it is one of the few formats where you can effectively guarantee that it'll print the way it looks (Adobe's PostScript and Microsoft's XPS being the only two real alternatives)

Also, it'll print the same from any machine. Which is a big thing. A lot of print shops like stuff delivered in PDF.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-04-23 05:31pm

Vendetta wrote:Also, it'll print the same from any machine. Which is a big thing. A lot of print shops like stuff delivered in PDF.

Well, not all RIPs will support every fancy feature that a PDF can theoretically encapsulate.

Kitsune · Post by **Kitsune** » 2008-04-23 05:52pm

In some ways, I like the older versions of Foxit better than some of teh new versions...I have also found that there are some PDF which foxit will read which Adobe won't.