[Cereal KiIIer]

An interesting read appeared on reddit recently:

http://www.reddit.com/r/geek/comment..._since/c0zfics



I found it very interesting. The misconception about Acrobat Reader is that it's a simple PDF reader (which it is, but it does a lot more). At the same time, with all those features, you wonder why Adobe would not release a Acrobat Reader lite for basic reading of PDFs.

[alr1ght]

and that's why I use Foxit

[mj1108]

and that's why I use Foxit

/thread

[blame space]

nobody knows what the fuck they're doing with acroSHAT reader man, it's just one of those things

[notsol337]

and that's why I use Foxit

Hells to the yes.

[RevoDS]

In pleasing their corporate customers, they've managed to make Acrobat the single most annoying application ever conceived. I'd take a massively damaging virus over Adobe Reader on my PC anyday. Thank god, you don't need that shit on a mac thanks to Preview.

[Trojita]

At the same time, with all those features, you wonder why Adobe would not release a Acrobat Reader lite for basic reading of PDFs.

merely displaying PDFs is one function out of like 100. To you as the consumer its the bait... but the full fledged system behind it is what Adobe sells to its corporate consumers.

they basically say: "You want a full fledged content tracking system? we got it... and the best part is all your customers have the clients already installed! in form of the acrobat reader".

[giga]

In pleasing their corporate customers, they've managed to make Acrobat the single most annoying application ever conceived. I'd take a massively damaging virus over Adobe Reader on my PC anyday. Thank god, you don't need that shit on a mac thanks to Preview.

I've actually seen several mac users running Reader on their computers. Cringe inducing.

[ciaossu]

and that's why I use Foxit

I hate adobe

and I love you

Why did I never look for a replacement before :lol

[Krauser Kat]

Acrobat has huge plus side whem proofing graphics and mac preview is shit. Always shows hidden layers and displays overprints wrong.

[PhoncipleBone]

I've actually seen several mac users running Reader on their computers. Cringe inducing.

Urg. That is the beauty of preview, it does most everything natively in the os.

[Tobor]

My OS has native PDF support. Screw Acrobat Reader.

[teh_pwn]

I hate those auto updates at work. How many updates can a file viewer have? And every damn time it puts a shortcut on a desktop when I don't think anyone uses it. File association is enough to open the program implicitly.

[MCX]

I've actually seen several mac users running Reader on their computers. Cringe inducing.

Certain GAFfers are guilty of this. Preview is a thing of beauty.

[Bananakin]

I've been meaning to download Foxit forever, and this thread finally made me do it. I like it already, seems almost weirdly smooth/fast when scrolling through pdf's.

[Scythe27]

and that's why I use Foxit

Thank you. Goodbye to Acrobat forever.

[sk3]

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't build pdf viewing into windows. Apple does it an it is beautiful. Chrome was already my browser of choice but it gained huge points for building pdf viewing into the browser.

[ILikeFeet]

and that's why I use Foxit

googled and installed

[DrFunk]

and that's why I use Foxit

hug me

[leroy hacker]

and that's why I use Foxit

/thread

[Vox-Pop]

I love preview.

[Lord Error]

Acrobat reader is seriously the worst. Good thing on Mac I just press Space :D

Btw on PC you can disable tons of those reader plugins to make it much less bloated an start faster.

[lunarworks]

I've actually seen several mac users running Reader on their computers. Cringe inducing.

The only reason I put Adobe Reader on my Mac was because I was having trouble printing a PDF.

Turns out it was shitty HP drivers.

[Trojita]

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't build pdf viewing into windows. Apple does it an it is beautiful. Chrome was already my browser of choice but it gained huge points for building pdf viewing into the browser.

something something......... Microsoft gets sued for monopoly ...... something something

[KernelPanic]

All those vulnerabilities take a lot of lines of code to write.

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't build pdf viewing into windows.

Probably because Microsoft would prefer you use of their document formats.

[synt4x]

Haven't used Acrobat Reader in years, but even then it was starting to get slow and bloated.

I use Evince on Linux. I think it comes with the Gnome desktop. It's really everything I want out of a PDF reader. It can't create PDFs though, but I never do that anyway.

[KHarvey16]

These 3D models are kinda cool:

3D terrain.

Careful with this one, it's big.

[lunarworks]

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't build pdf viewing into windows. Apple does it an it is beautiful.

The Mac OS X display system itself is actually somewhat based around PDF, so it's kinda trivial to display it.

[junker]

I use Foxit Reader too but does anyone know if there's a way to embed it into Opera? Works in other browsers >:|

[Zapages]

There are things in the work that will help search pdf files in future. ;)

[Evlar]

and that's why I use Foxit

I shake your hand, sir.

[entrement]

I've been using Foxit on PC for over five years. Very awesome. I love the native PDF support on Mac OSX.

I'm still on XP for my PC--I know, I know. But does W7 have native PDF support?

[Why would you do that?]

and that's why I use Foxit

FoxIt is very great, but sometimes I run into that pesky PDF that it can't render. For instance, I can't read my computer logic class's homework in FoxIt because it's all garbled up. :(

[alr1ght]

foxit has been getting worse though with all that crap it asks you to install.

[Hari Seldon]

Adobe is such a piece of shit company in general. Uninstall that shit and get one of the open source options.

Edit: I really love the comment in that link you posted: "Zawinski's law: Every software package expands until it can send email." :lol :lol

[Dreams-Visions]

I just opened a PDF using Preview (OSX) and using Acrobat Pro (OSX)

Acrobat Pro was slower by about 0.25 seconds.

must be my SSD, because I don't see any meaningful difference in opening speed, and Acrobat Pro gives me like...more options than just viewing the PDF. :lol

[Aesius]

Why we still got Acrobat?

[alr1ght]

Adobe is such a piece of shit company in general. Uninstall that shit and get one of the open source options. Edit: I really love the comment in that link you posted: "Zawinski's law: Every software package expands until it can send email." :lol :lol

Photoshop is the only good program they make.

[AlexMogil]

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't build pdf viewing into windows. Apple does it an it is beautiful. Chrome was already my browser of choice but it gained huge points for building pdf viewing into the browser.

Kinda funny, if you buy Office 2003 07 or 10, you get the ability to render documents as PDF.

But without a reader, you cannot read them.

OSX makes life so simple.

[rhfb]

Answering the question posed in the thread's title is simple.

Adobe.

Reader is such crap. Wish I didn't have to work with it at all, but due to doing some programming using iText I kinda have to for testing purposes :(

[lunarworks]

Answering the question posed in the thread's title is simple. Adobe.

Does anyone have a worse installer than Adobe?

I swear, it seems to take longer to "unpack" the software than to download it.

Also, why do I have to install a special Download Manager just to download Adobe Reader?

[YuriLowell]

I wish there was an alternative to how Adobe ACROBAT works. Not the reader but the creation program.

[Cereal KiIIer]

I wish there was an alternative to how Adobe ACROBAT works. Not the reader but the creation program.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/phantom/ ?

[bakemono]

Foxit for me as well. Thank you GAF for the recommendation.

[Cheerilee]

A brother in law was at my place a while back, shortly after I installed Foxit (I believe it was due to a GAF recommendation), and he suddenly needed to use my computer to check a PDF for work.

His PDF pops open instantly in Foxit.

In-law: "What the hell is this?"
Me: "It's Foxit. Did you notice how your file just opened instead of making the computer stall out for 30 seconds? And it's free."
In-law: "But... Adobe can do more."
Me (genuinely curious): "Really, like what?"
In-law: I don't know. But it has to be doing something. Adobe is a huge professional organization. That kind of CPU usage doesn't just do nothing."

[i_am_ben]

i use reader cos i'm lazy


:(

[NZer]

I use Sumatra. Also good.

[UFRA]

:lol

What the hell does GAF use PDF's for so frequently that they can't stand Adobe Reader?

I use it regularly at work and occasionally at home. I have no complaints. It reads PDF files I have and that's all I need.

What is the difference that is so amazingly great about Foxit?

And don't tell me your load times take ages for Adobe. At work, I have PDF documents that contain things such as state laws, conservation laws, and much more...in other words, many pages.

On my computer I open a PDF file, and in probably about 5 seconds or less it's ready to roll. And that's only for the first time I use it. Once I've used it for one document, all other documents open up instantly. Same goes for my home PC. I just tested it now...I opened my car's repair manual (80MB and 3,307 pages) and it opened instantly.

this wont end well

[ymmv]

:lol What the hell does GAF use PDF's for so frequently that they can't stand Adobe Reader?

Because it's cool to hate what the rest of the world is using. Using an alternative browser, OS, PDF Reader, etc proves you're not one of the sheeple. Unfortunately I'm not special, I'm just practical and I use the Acrobat PDF reader because it simply does a goood job.

Five or six years ago the Adobe PDF reader had indeed turned into a slow loading piece of bloatware, but the program has improved a lot. On every modern PC I've used it on, it loads almost instantly.

[UFRA]

Because it's cool to hate what the rest of the world is using. Using an alternative browser, OS, PDF Reader, etc proves you're not one of the sheeple. Unfortunately I'm not special, I'm just practical and I use the Acrobat PDF reader because it simply does a goood job. Five or six years ago the Adobe PDF reader had indeed turned into a slow loading piece of bloatware, but the program has improved a lot. On every modern PC I've used it on, it loads almost instantly.

Ok, well that's what I figured, but I thought I would ask since there is such a presence of Foxit users here. I know GAF likes to hate on the mainstream stuff, but I didn't think a PDF reader could be significantly better.