Adobe quietl release of Reader software causes people to scream Sshhh.... don't you know this is a library?
By Fernando Cassia Adobe Quietly Released Reader 6 earlier this month but already some users are kicking up a right royal racket about its "features". Known as "Acrobat Reader", it includes a few improvements over 5.1, like playing embedded movies, animation, and sound, and letting you "view, organize, and purchase eBooks". But its the way Reader has bloated that's causing the most fuss. One user, Rolf Terners wrote to a PDF-related mailing list: "I have installed Adobe Reader 6.0 German on two PCs. On a P3 laptop with 256 MB RAM, running Win XP SP1, the 6.0 reader takes 30 sec to load. And on a Pentium 4 DELL PC, with 768 MB RAM, running Win XP SP1, Adobe Reader 6.0 takes 15 sec to load!.". His conclusion: "Reader 6.0 seems to be a high-end software concerning needed resources".  [ more...]
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 Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | Who Needs the Bloat? After reading this article, I am so glad I have not upgraded my Acrobat Reader. I still have version 5.05 which the Inquirer article claims is the fastest loading. I can imagine how slowly version 6 would load on my four year old Pentium III Dell. I do get irritated though, each time it opens, because even though I have disabled the automatic check for update, I still get that screen. Any way to get rid of that? I'm sure not going to be updating not to 6 and not even to 5.1. Why do so many software companies insist on all this bloat? Even if I had XP on a new computer, I would not want this fatted up version of Acrobat Reader.
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"Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's destiny." Victor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning | |
|  |  cjsmithPremium
join:2000-11-03
Villa Rica, GA | Re: Who Needs the Bloat? Very good post Mele20. Yes the bloat - I can feel it already. Needless to say, I shall not be installing this on my /Win2K/AMD K6-2 523MHZ system. Who needs all the fat as this system is slow enough as is. Shame on Adobe for not even a fair warning. Sad Mad I am! 
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Insanity destroys reason, but not wit.
- Nathaniel Emmons - | |
| | Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | I'm grateful you posted this article. Had I not seen it, I just might have decided my version was so old that I should update. So, I'm glad to be forewarned.  I also have never seen that download page before with all versions listed for every language, etc. I'm even considering going back to version 4 since I now see the link to get it. That was the fastest version and would probably be sufficient for my needs as I'm not a big fan of Acrobat Reader so I don't use it a lot.
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"Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's destiny." Victor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning | |
| | | | | Re: Who Needs the Bloat? I must be in the minority then. Version 6 takes 10 seconds to open on my machine compared to Version 5 that took 15 seconds (Pentium III 500mhz with 384MB of RAM). | |
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| Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | Wow! I have a 450 Pentium III Dell Dimension with 224 RAM and it takes 38-40 seconds for Acrobat Reader 5.05 to open. Version 4 opened much faster. I think version 6 would take forever. You do have more RAM, but not that much more to make this much difference, I don't think. Must be some other reason mine takes so long. Maybe because I don't have in configured to open the files in the browser?
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"Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's destiny." Victor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning | |
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| | Answers in Forbes article According to this article in the current issue of Forbes »www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0707/105.html the new CEO has decided to use Acrobat and Reader to crack into the corporate/government forms market.
Features or bloat? Or bloated features? You decide. | |
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