Adobe is an Arrow in the Internet's Foot

Free Republic ^ | 7/16/2003 | Reagan Renaissance

[Reagan Renaissance]

I despise Adobe software and the company. First the company and some of its officers were among the largest campaign contributors to Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party. The pdf format is among, if not the least efficient means of sharing and communicating information. Files are huge, slowing the internet and hogging servers. Once transmitted the files are in the least useful format for handling and analyzing data. And if storage is desired these files take up unnecessarily immense disc space. Governments always do the wrong things for the wrong reasons; it is not surprising that adobe has become a mainstay of government. I despise financial centers and conveyors of financial information who use adobe files.

In the future if it is at all possible, I will avoid sharing any information in this file format and I will avoid, where reasonable or possible, doing business with companies that provide data only in pdf format. If you want my money, you better provide data in some other more efficient file format. Do not expect my to pay for inconvenience and inefficiency. I hope other internet users will spread the word about the inefficiencies of pdf and stop using this format. There is no reason to reward your enemies and paying for the privilege of inefficiency.

[BradyLS]

You're supposed to print the PDF-- or only those parts you wish to read from the file. Reading on screen, even HTML, is like reading a back-lit newspaper through a porthole and using a pack of cigarettes to turn the pages.

[Grizzly Bear]

They can have my Photoshop and Illustrator when they pry it from my cold dead hands.

[meadsjn]

Flash is the work of the devil. It is evil, evil, evil.

You're right. Flash is much worse than PDFs (and absolutely useless).

[avenir]

Hear! Hear!

[MikeD]

Bring out the GIMP!

Sorry, I just like saying that. GIMP saved my rear end when I was writing my dissertation.

MD

[MikeD]

Even worse are the 1/2 inch bolts because they look too much like 13mm bolts!

MD

[RightOnline]

"The "paperless office" is the reason our white papers business has grown exponentially over the last few years. Everyone wants to print out a sample between almost every edit."

True to an extent..........purely due to shi**y software and antiquated hardware designs (ALL manufacturers are guilty; there hasn't been a truly significant breakthrough in PC hardware in well over a decade). Windows locks up, hard drives crash........people just don't trust their crucial documents to such environments.

A bulletproof OS.........bulletproof, unbelievably rugged hardware designs (i.e. storage with zero moving parts) are the answer. Then, and only then, do we have a chance of crawling toward the 'paperless office'.

[BradyLS]

A bulletproof OS.........bulletproof, unbelievably rugged hardware designs (i.e. storage with zero moving parts) are the answer. Then, and only then, do we have a chance of crawling toward the 'paperless office'.

B-b-b-but paper makes me look so sloppy, unapproachable, and BUSY! :-D

[Reagan Renaissance]

Those who like Adobe Acrobat and pdf are technically competent, but fail to realize that reading data in today's world is a tiny fraction of the useful potential. Analyzing data and manipulating it for your own purposes (not editing) is the power of the internet and modern computers. As for printing, I agree that reading text on screen is more difficult than the printed page, but those of us who only have bubble jet printers that we must financially support ourselves cannot afford to print anything we want to actually read or analyze. Frankly, if pdf was easier to use, I could copy and paste anything into a suitably printer friendly format without Adobe's help. This is a dinosaur technology that interefere's with genuine data transmission, sharing, and subsequent processing.

I hope that everyone will join me in telling others that I am turned off by their data presentation, and that I am not going to pay for data provided in that format.

[Coleus]

Create free .pdf files here.

http://www.pdf995.com/download.html