If we have to pay for a separate download to save to pdf, maybe we can get a version that actually has translucent overlays for highlighting sections of text?

If we have to pay for a separate download to save to pdf, maybe we can get a version that actually has translucent overlays for highlighting sections of text?

If we have to pay for a separate download to save to pdf, maybe we can get a version that actually has translucent overlays for highlighting sections of text?

Defninitely the “you gotta be kidding me” category. There have been free PDF print drivers for years. And of course it would make Adobe more valuable to users when more users have access.

If we have to pay for a separate download to save to pdf, maybe we can get a version that actually has translucent overlays for highlighting sections of text?

If we have to pay for a separate download to save to pdf, maybe we can get a version that actually has translucent overlays for highlighting sections of text?

Small fish don’t hurt Adobes bottom line, that’s why there was no reaction before.

“What was Adobe thinking” you ask?
They are thinking that if Word, the standard WP of the masses, can easily create PDFs that puts a massive hurt in sales of its full product.
Remember they give away the reader, dependant on sales of the Full product to make a profit.

Can Adobe update, service, and supply its reader if its full product sales are cut by say two thirds?
MS may eliminate Adobes profit margin altogether by eliminating its need by all but the most demanding users.

Sure it seems unfair when others did it without objection.
But I can certainly see why Adobe doesn’t like it.
And to try to see if they can get support in the form of payment from MS if they add this feature doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Again the free reader is supported by the full creation tool.

In the end the law will determine who wins.
But put yourself in their shoes, what would you do?

Matt,

This is clearly a business ploy to attack MSFT. Apple’s OSX, OpenOffice and Linux create PDFs on the fly. However, they are no legal disputes there. It just shows that Adobe is willing to stoop to any level to get a big pay-check! Apple and open-source programs aren’t going to bring in the bacon.

I’m sure that when we hear Adobe’s side of the story, you can place it all in a nutshell as, “MS Office is too big for us to have MSFT take our money!”

Well, I suspect we’ll hear a lot more about this, so let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly — you know, that business about “two sides of the story and the truth” — we have one side right now. As a very (very) small writer of freeware PDF software, I had my own run in with Adobe legal a few years ago (I used a partial likeness of the red Acrobat triangle in my icon). Even though I was giving the software away for free, so there was no profit issue, they were “vigorously” enforcing their copyrights. So, I’m not a huge fan of Adobe legal, but I have to admit they were right. Just for completeness sake, I’d like to hear their side.

Gotta love those bigass money/power-hungry companies out there, right?