Adobe Leaves Behind 9x with Acrobat 7

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 As part of its Support Lifecycle policy, Microsoft has begun to systematically sever the lifelines for outdated and less secure iterations of its Windows product family.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.