RSSAdobe Leaves Behind 9x with Acrobat 7
By David Worthington | Published December 22, 2004, 4:20 PM
Customers who have not made the upgrade to Windows 2000 SP2 or XP will find themselves unable to view and create the newest PDF files. Adobe Acrobat 7.0 does not support the Windows 9x code base; instead, Adobe has opted to offer its latest release only to users who are running recent versions of Windows.
The 7.0 release offers up many enhancements that industry analysts have hailed as "groundbreaking," but will not be back ported to earlier versions of Windows. Acrobat Reader 5 and 6 will remain as the primary options for legacy Windows platforms.
Adobe's decision to drop support for older versions of Windows comes as no surprise. As part of its Support Lifecycle policy, Microsoft has begun to systematically sever the lifelines for outdated and less secure iterations of its Windows product family.
Microsoft has already discontinued mainstream support for Windows 98 and 98 Standard Edition, as well as extended hotfix support for Windows Millennium. Under the present schedule, paid incident support for Windows 98 and all of its variations will last through June 30, 2006, while Windows Me on-demand security hotfix support will continue until mid-2007. Microsoft will not release non-critical hot fixes for either operating system.
"Microsoft only offers very limited support for the 9.x code base with both mainstream and extended support with the exception of maybe critical patches. It makes sense for ISVS to move on as well," said Directions on Microsoft lead analyst Matt Rosoff. "I have noticed anecdotally more and more companies are only releasing applications for 2000 and later. Apple's iTunes is a very popular application that is available exclusively for the newest releases of Windows."
When asked for comment on the company's decision, Adobe Senior Product Marketing Manager Kirk Stromberg told BetaNews, "In general we try to support the most popular and current versions of computing platforms, taking into account major service packs and other updates."
Adobe's new Acrobat product line will also discontinue support for Mac OS 8 and 9; Adobe now requires Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or 10.3.
But in exchange for dropping support for older systems, Adobe has managed to revamp its software to better compete in the fierce office environment.
Adobe Acrobat 7 is designed to deliver faster load times for digital documents, has expanded device compatibility, and extends its support for applications that are attached to PDF documents. Additional improvements include: tools to download and organize digital editions; embedded support for Adobe Photoshop Album slide shows and electronic cards as well as the ability to export images for online photo processing, and the ability to save files to PDF documents.
Documents produced by with Adobe Acrobat 7 Professional software or Adobe LiveCycle server products are able to activate hidden features in Acrobat Reader 7 such as mark up and annotation tools and, for collaboration purposes, users can digitally sign and approve documents.
"This is a groundbreaking release," Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox told BetaNews. "You pull content from almost any source -- Word, WordPerfect, AutoCAD, Web pages, etc. -- and compile a complex document anyone can edit. Not just edit, but collaborate with a group of people."
Wilcox continued, "The new release makes irrelevant the majority of potential file format incompatibilities. So if an architect does a blueprint, his client wouldn't need AutoCAD to annotate. Additionally, many of the collaboration and markup features can be done with Reader, so clients wouldn't need the full Acrobat. Acrobat 7 makes the original authoring program less relevant, less a necessity. That's something Microsoft may find troublesome for Office."
Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 may be downloaded from FileForum.
I was just shocked when I saw the speed this version loads, great work !
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|I think Adobe must create versions which is not heavy or bloated for win 98 and other windows version, and then leave it like that.
Not like now which is leaving at bad positions because the versions 6 is too bloated, and many people did not like it.
and Adobe need to renew the adobe reader for pocket PC/ Windows Mobile 2003, which smaller and faster. the latest versions is too old.
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|gave up on adobe reader a long time ago, too bloated, dont really need a browser plugin, process always keeps running etc. Found a better alternative to read PDF files (less then 1mb download size and free) -->
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
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|THANKS!
:-)
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|When I first tried reader version 7.0, I have to admit I silently said "wow." I installed the program on 3 of my company's 4 computers, then I realized this was all too good to be true.
I already have 3 beefs with this program:
1) It loads up part of the program on start up, which slows the start up of windows, and consumes memory unnecessarily.
2) If I view a PDF in Internet Explorer or Firefox, Acrobat does not unload! Instead, Acrobat actually balloons by increasing from 24 MB up to 26 MB when I close the browser.
3) Making point #2 even worse, there is a memory leak that causes Acrobat to slowly balloon in size, even I leave the PC idle for even a few minutes.
I am going to uninstall version 7.0 and go back to the Adobe Reader 6.0/Adobe Reader Speed Up combo. If I had version 5.0, I would go back it because it does not have the bloat (aka extras that 99% of users will never use) contained in the newer versions.
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|You can have version 5.0
Go to www.oldversion.com and download it.
It's just Jim Dandy :)
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|"2) If I view a PDF in Internet Explorer or Firefox, Acrobat does not unload! Instead, Acrobat actually balloons by increasing from 24 MB up to 26 MB when I close the browser."
This is not new, in my experience. This has happened to me throughout the 6.x releases and even possibly the 5.x ones.
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|Make it load faster and unload when your done with it:
In Edit-Preferences, do the following:
General tab: turn off “Automatically save document changes”
Internet tab: turn off all three checkboxes
Page Display tab: turn on “CoolType”
Search tab: turn off “Enable fast find”
Startup tab: turn off “Show messages and automatically update”
In View-Toolbars, turn off “Rotate view” and “Search the internet”. Under “Show button labels”, turn them all on so you can figure out what the heck those icons means.
Fire up Windows Explorer and do the following:
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\
Right-click to create a new subdirectory, and call it plugins_uninstalled
Move all the .api files from the plug_ins subdirectory to your new plugins_uninstalled subdirectory, except for AcroForm.api (for form-filling) and EScript.api (dependency of AcroForm.api).
Finally, go to Start-Run-All Programs-Startup, and right-click and delete the “Adobe Reader Speed Launch” link that Adobe silently added to your startup process
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|I agree with the analysts. As IT manager at a law firm, I have to say this is the best Acrobat to date. I've already migrated about 20% of my staff to it and it's only a day old!
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|MS still supports 98SE through the end of this month, so if I were adobe I would have supported it. Nevertheless, MOST people have finally moved away from 98 in the past few months due to security issues and compatability problems with modern apps. If I ever use 98SE again I'll just use Acrobat Reader 4.05d anyway...I doubt too many people are enraged by this decision.
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|If you "need" to upgrade to 7.0 and don't have at least 2000 by now, you've got your priorities wrong anyway. Even if it worked/works on 95 and 98, you'll fall asleep by the time it loads. I wish all companies would drop their Win 9x code so we can shrink the bloat on some of these things!
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|I'm trying to understand something. The reason for the bloat and load times is the number of supported platforms?
So that you must have ONE executable, regardless of platform? All variations of all plugins are tested and maybe loaded, regardless of whether the plugin directory or operating system has changed?
What would happen if after downloading the App, it is initialized? In effect, build an executable with only the usable parts/plug-ins.
Yes, you will need to rebuild after altering the system, but there is no need to build the App every time it is started. Except for the benchmarkers, how often is a working system altered? I haven't changed my sound, video, or other cards on a daily basis after finally getting a unit to work right.
Assuming something IS altered, clicking an Icon to run a script is not beyond many people. Any Unix programmer will write a script that runs all Init programs in %win%\Init\
End of rant, I'm tired of these Windows programs that are more interpreted than compiled.
Let's build a telephone that scans and tests that all possible calls will complete, every number in memory - any possible international number - the connection to the space station, before it gives you a dial tone.
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