Why hasn't Microsoft obliterated Adobe Acrobat yet?
Asked by
ibstubro (
18804
)
March 11th, 2011
I (intentionally) use Adobe a VERY few times a year, and yet it want to update on my computer at LEAST once a week (seems like every 3 days!). It’s annoying. Microsoft has pounded better software into dust, when are they going to do something about AA?
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8 Answers
Someone can correct me if I am wrong but Adobe controls the PDF format of documents which is universal among all computers. Some companies have tried to compete with PDF but it seems to be the default format among users and computers. I doubt it is going anywhere.
Why dont you just download a new PDF reader and uninstall Adobe. Problem solved.
Not only what @missingbite mentioned here, but also many printing companies require their files to be in .pdf format, due to how the machines are setup. A different file type won’t print to the standards of the machine and won’t come out anything like desired.
The PDF file format is more or less open. There are literally hundreds of free PDF readers out there, and many if not most of them are better than Acrobat Reader IMO. It’s more difficult to find tools to author PDFs, but they are out there.
If you don’t use Adobe Reader and you don’t like it, get rid of it. I recommed Evince instead. It’s what I use (on GNOME under Linux, but there is a Windows version).
Adobe acrobat is one of the most powerful programs/quasi-language ever. The thing is that most people only associated it with acrobat reader. There is a reason their documentation is literally thousands upon thousands of pages long.
Because (thank god) there is a large number of consumers out there who demand a non-propriatary cross platform compatible way to share electronic documents.
As of 2008, PDF is a standard format; Adobe developed it, but no longer controls it.
Microsoft is interested in making their own standards, but really can’t compete. They’ve tried with Office, but the truth is that PDF is so universal and entrenched that, like CDs, it will probably stick around for at least another decade regardless. In fact, that is even more likely since Microsoft has little interest (and possibly an active disinterest) in making a format that works on OS X, Android, Linux, or anything other than their OS.
BTW, I prefer Foxit Reader for PDFs under Windoze. There is an Android version in the pipeline and they just put out a new version for Linux, but the Apple crowd is out of luck.
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