Where’s the bloggers on new Acrobat?

September 18, 2006 By

I thought that something like a new version of Adobe Acrobat, which, according to Google on a search for “PDF,” which is the file format produced by Acrobat, is found 2.5 billion times on the Web, would be covered more heavily than it is.

Particularly on sites that pride themselves on covering everything that moves on the Web like TechCrunch or GigaOM.

But, no, no coverage at all about Adobe Acrobat. Despite having something like 500+ million players loaded on computers near you (Adobe’s numbers, but sounds pretty accurate) there’s nothing out there.

Then I went to Google Blog Search and Technorati and did searches for other bloggers who are covering the new Acrobat announcements. Nothing. Even CNET’s News.com has nothing up about it. You would think that at least someone would post the ceremonial “that sucks” kind of commentary. But, no, just silence. It’s like everyone is reading about the HP scandal and forgot that other stuff could happen.

Interesting. But if some new video service or a new Web 2.0 company or service were announced right now (even from my own company) it’d get covered all over the place.

What do you make of that?

By the way, how do I know that the bloggers are missing out? Cause Christopher Coulter is here at the ScobleCasa. He watched the demo of Acrobat 8 and said “that’s cool” at several places. He even said nice things about my video skills. Oh, boy, now the world has gone topsy turvy. ;-)

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  • http://nogg3r5.blogsome.com/ nogg3r5

    its all about Foxit. Adobe reader takes to long to do anything…Download, Install, boot etc..

  • http://nogg3r5.blogsome.com nogg3r5

    its all about Foxit. Adobe reader takes to long to do anything…Download, Install, boot etc..

  • http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2006/09/scobles_video_d.html Robin Capper

    I’ve posted a link to your videos (see post link on this comment) but to be honest didn’t see much to excite about 8 as a CAD user other than the ability to merge files which is nice.

    When they added 3d PDF generated quite a bit of “blog’tivity” in the CAD world but this one doesn’t seem to offer much for the sort of uses I have for PDF.

  • http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2006/09/scobles_video_d.html Robin Capper

    I’ve posted a link to your videos (see post link on this comment) but to be honest didn’t see much to excite about 8 as a CAD user other than the ability to merge files which is nice.

    When they added 3d PDF generated quite a bit of “blog’tivity” in the CAD world but this one doesn’t seem to offer much for the sort of uses I have for PDF.

  • http://michaelkenward.blogspot.com/ Michael Kenward

    Comment by Joe Clark

    “Michel (sic) Kenward, “the last version” did not “create a new file format.” Acrobat and PDF versions are two different things”

    Forgive me, but Acrobat 7 was the first version to give us PDF1.6, prompting lots of people to climb on the bandwagon and write software that offered no backward compatibility.

    Why is that compatibility important, because people still running on old version of Reader have problems with the new format.

    PDF and Acrobat are not the same thing. But someone should tell Adobe that.

    But back to Robert’s first message:

    http://acrobatusers.com/blogs/

  • http://michaelkenward.blogspot.com/ Michael Kenward

    Comment by Joe Clark

    “Michel (sic) Kenward, “the last version” did not “create a new file format.” Acrobat and PDF versions are two different things”

    Forgive me, but Acrobat 7 was the first version to give us PDF1.6, prompting lots of people to climb on the bandwagon and write software that offered no backward compatibility.

    Why is that compatibility important, because people still running on old version of Reader have problems with the new format.

    PDF and Acrobat are not the same thing. But someone should tell Adobe that.

    But back to Robert’s first message:

    http://acrobatusers.com/blogs/

  • http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/ ralphg

    My overview was posted Sunday at http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com , although it took a different slant, because of WorldCAD Access’s interest in 3D: “Adobe Adds 2nd 3D Format to Acrobat”

  • http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com ralphg

    My overview was posted Sunday at http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com , although it took a different slant, because of WorldCAD Access’s interest in 3D: “Adobe Adds 2nd 3D Format to Acrobat”

  • http://www.irwebreport.com/daily Dominic Jones

    Adobe lost sight of why most people use the product.

    Acrobat is mostly used by people who are too lazy to use HTML to publish content online. I said mostly, ok?

    Now why would these both to do anything else with the software? They won’t and Adobe can’t make them.

    Just a waste of R&D if you ask me.

  • http://www.irwebreport.com/daily Dominic Jones

    Adobe lost sight of why most people use the product.

    Acrobat is mostly used by people who are too lazy to use HTML to publish content online. I said mostly, ok?

    Now why would these both to do anything else with the software? They won’t and Adobe can’t make them.

    Just a waste of R&D if you ask me.

  • http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/ ralphg

    Another reason for the initial lack of coverage: their PR people told me the press embargo ended Monday.

    I initially set my blog item to live Monday at 8am, but Sunday afternoon I happened to notice the Adobe press release was already posted to Yahoo Business, so I changed my blog item to “Publish Now.”

    As well, Adobe PR never did send the promised PPT file and other details. No excuse, but Adobe has taken on a new PR firm (Edelman?) and maybe the staff isn’t up to speed yet.

  • http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com ralphg

    Another reason for the initial lack of coverage: their PR people told me the press embargo ended Monday.

    I initially set my blog item to live Monday at 8am, but Sunday afternoon I happened to notice the Adobe press release was already posted to Yahoo Business, so I changed my blog item to “Publish Now.”

    As well, Adobe PR never did send the promised PPT file and other details. No excuse, but Adobe has taken on a new PR firm (Edelman?) and maybe the staff isn’t up to speed yet.

  • http://neath.wordpress.com/ neath

    Acrobat, well, the good thing is that you can search them but for the most part they are huge slow clunky things to be avoided. I am not a tech person but possibly speaking for the gabillions of “readers” out there, quite simply, Acrobat sucks!

    The only way I could get excited about it would be if I hit online pdf pages that don’t try to crash my browser then I might eventually think, “it’s about time they fixed that up”

    Dull, and more of a piss off that they have probably “improved” it without making surfing one iota more easy.

    Neath

  • http://neath.wordpress.com/ neath

    Acrobat, well, the good thing is that you can search them but for the most part they are huge slow clunky things to be avoided. I am not a tech person but possibly speaking for the gabillions of “readers” out there, quite simply, Acrobat sucks!

    The only way I could get excited about it would be if I hit online pdf pages that don’t try to crash my browser then I might eventually think, “it’s about time they fixed that up”

    Dull, and more of a piss off that they have probably “improved” it without making surfing one iota more easy.

    Neath

  • http://kunal.wordpress.com/ Kunal
  • http://kunal.wordpress.com Kunal
  • http://bananasfk.wordpress.com/ bananasfk

    Robert Adobe like to do nasty things to foriegn programmers under the dcma.

    I don’t like Adobe and nor will I continue not use there tools just in case – who cares.

  • http://bananasfk.wordpress.com/ bananasfk

    Robert Adobe like to do nasty things to foriegn programmers under the dcma.

    I don’t like Adobe and nor will I continue not use there tools just in case – who cares.

  • http://www.anova.org/software/ Zaine Ridling

    Marc Orchant nails it — it’s not the features that sell software, it’s the benefits. With apps like FinePrint’s pdf Factory Pro or as Marc mentioned, the $99 ScanSoft PDF Converter Pro from Nuance, there’s really no reason to patronize Adobe anymore. I’ve registered and used every (Pro) version since 3.0, and 7 was the best, however, nowadays I mainly use it to create printable versions of Word docs, period. And for that, I’ll never need Adobe. Besides, it seems like Adobe is just upgrading to make another billion, not to really improve PDF.

    They have long been the forerunners of bloatware, refusing to scale back Adobe Reader, which quickly lost its free market to Foxit Reader. In this day, people don’t tolerate this crap from megacorps anymore.

  • http://www.anova.org/software/ Zaine Ridling

    Marc Orchant nails it — it’s not the features that sell software, it’s the benefits. With apps like FinePrint’s pdf Factory Pro or as Marc mentioned, the $99 ScanSoft PDF Converter Pro from Nuance, there’s really no reason to patronize Adobe anymore. I’ve registered and used every (Pro) version since 3.0, and 7 was the best, however, nowadays I mainly use it to create printable versions of Word docs, period. And for that, I’ll never need Adobe. Besides, it seems like Adobe is just upgrading to make another billion, not to really improve PDF.

    They have long been the forerunners of bloatware, refusing to scale back Adobe Reader, which quickly lost its free market to Foxit Reader. In this day, people don’t tolerate this crap from megacorps anymore.

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  • http://www.coursesbywire.com/ Brian Sullivan

    I am struggling to find what most of the “new” features in Acrobat have to do with PDF format or anything that is traditionally thought of as Acrobat.

    It seems like a cheap trick to me — essentially they seem to have taken what used to be called Breeze(which if I remember correctly was also a collection of stuff rebranded as Breeze that had nothing to do with the original Breeze) and renamed it Acrobat 8 Connect in order to capitalize on the Acrobat “brand”. I guess it worked though — it got you to provide free promotion (or sort of –as your disclaimer indicates they do pay indirectly don’t they?). Most of the other new features seem like more of the same — incremental improvements to standard Acrobat.

    I guess this is par for the course for Adobe – marketing and product development by sleight of hand. Of course Microsoft tends to do the same — look at the list of “new” products that have names chosen from Live, Office, Windows that have nothing to do with Windows, Office and an are in no way Live.

    All negativism aside though it looks like “Acrobat” Connect could actually be useful – if it didn’t cost an arm and leg to use (as it apparently does).

  • http://www.coursesbywire.com Brian Sullivan

    I am struggling to find what most of the “new” features in Acrobat have to do with PDF format or anything that is traditionally thought of as Acrobat.

    It seems like a cheap trick to me — essentially they seem to have taken what used to be called Breeze(which if I remember correctly was also a collection of stuff rebranded as Breeze that had nothing to do with the original Breeze) and renamed it Acrobat 8 Connect in order to capitalize on the Acrobat “brand”. I guess it worked though — it got you to provide free promotion (or sort of –as your disclaimer indicates they do pay indirectly don’t they?). Most of the other new features seem like more of the same — incremental improvements to standard Acrobat.

    I guess this is par for the course for Adobe – marketing and product development by sleight of hand. Of course Microsoft tends to do the same — look at the list of “new” products that have names chosen from Live, Office, Windows that have nothing to do with Windows, Office and an are in no way Live.

    All negativism aside though it looks like “Acrobat” Connect could actually be useful – if it didn’t cost an arm and leg to use (as it apparently does).

  • http://michaelkenward.blogspot.com/ Michael Kenward

    I see from the proposed pricing that Adobe continues to rip off the planet.

    Like too many North American software houses, Adobe wants me to give them £1 to match the $1 required of American customers.

    I have news for Adobe, the dollar is sick. (Maybe all the money they owe to foreigners.) I can buy around $1.8 for £1.

    And given that upgrades start at a high enough price as it is, there is little incentive to buy into their escalator.

  • http://michaelkenward.blogspot.com/ Michael Kenward

    I see from the proposed pricing that Adobe continues to rip off the planet.

    Like too many North American software houses, Adobe wants me to give them £1 to match the $1 required of American customers.

    I have news for Adobe, the dollar is sick. (Maybe all the money they owe to foreigners.) I can buy around $1.8 for £1.

    And given that upgrades start at a high enough price as it is, there is little incentive to buy into their escalator.

  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    Here’s where this writer is on the new Acrobat:

    http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2006/09/more_great_news_from_acrobat.html

  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    Here’s where this writer is on the new Acrobat:

    http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2006/09/more_great_news_from_acrobat.html

  • Thomas Tallyce

    Robert, Acrobat is simply not cool. It’s basically just a pain that we have to put up with. It’s slow to start up and seems to use a rather large amount of memory for what it actually does. Searching a PDF often fails. There are about four different ways to convert a document to PDF, and literally half the time, some ways don’t work. Conversion back to Word is pathetic. And it doesn’t shut down properly. Paying hundreds for such a product is just a joke. You should use your respected position to raise these problems with Adobe, not complain that people aren’t talking about it much.

  • Thomas Tallyce

    Robert, Acrobat is simply not cool. It’s basically just a pain that we have to put up with. It’s slow to start up and seems to use a rather large amount of memory for what it actually does. Searching a PDF often fails. There are about four different ways to convert a document to PDF, and literally half the time, some ways don’t work. Conversion back to Word is pathetic. And it doesn’t shut down properly. Paying hundreds for such a product is just a joke. You should use your respected position to raise these problems with Adobe, not complain that people aren’t talking about it much.

  • http://www.penmachine.com/ Derek K. Miller

    I’m hesitant to approach the new Acrobat 8 because the installation experience for the Acrobat 7 Reader (reader!) is so unpleasant it’s scaring me away. It’s nearly as bad an experience as Joel Spolsky’s phone, in fact.

  • http://www.penmachine.com Derek K. Miller

    I’m hesitant to approach the new Acrobat 8 because the installation experience for the Acrobat 7 Reader (reader!) is so unpleasant it’s scaring me away. It’s nearly as bad an experience as Joel Spolsky’s phone, in fact.

  • http://www.websiteoptimization.com/ Andy King

    Robert,

    We reviewed the new Acrobat 8 Pro (pre-release) at

    http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/pdf/

    We review Adobe’s new Acrobat 8 Professional (pre-release) for performance against PDF Enhancer 3.1. The new Acrobat features faster operations, smaller PDFs, a new interface, and the ability to combine different types of files into one PDF.

    - andy

  • http://www.websiteoptimization.com Andy King

    Robert,

    We reviewed the new Acrobat 8 Pro (pre-release) at

    http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/pdf/

    We review Adobe’s new Acrobat 8 Professional (pre-release) for performance against PDF Enhancer 3.1. The new Acrobat features faster operations, smaller PDFs, a new interface, and the ability to combine different types of files into one PDF.

    - andy

  • http://www.slashdot.com/ Slasher

    The “slow to launch” comments tell me that these folks never even tried Acrobat 7 (which brought the launch times down to something reasonable).

  • http://www.slashdot.com Slasher

    The “slow to launch” comments tell me that these folks never even tried Acrobat 7 (which brought the launch times down to something reasonable).

  • driveby

    It was considered a bad thing when microsoft tried to cram all things into one application- or OS. Now Adobe wants to do the same. Why does Breeze have to be crammed into the Acrobat product?

    I think it is interesting that microsoft is moving away from pdf to embrace XPS.

  • driveby

    It was considered a bad thing when microsoft tried to cram all things into one application- or OS. Now Adobe wants to do the same. Why does Breeze have to be crammed into the Acrobat product?

    I think it is interesting that microsoft is moving away from pdf to embrace XPS.

  • Jim Willeke

    Nuance “PDF Converter Pro” however offers no free support. You must pay for every support incident even if the product will not run.

    I have Vista and on launch, it says program has stopped working and crashes.

    Customer service is equally unaccommodating.

  • Jim Willeke

    Nuance “PDF Converter Pro” however offers no free support. You must pay for every support incident even if the product will not run.

    I have Vista and on launch, it says program has stopped working and crashes.

    Customer service is equally unaccommodating.

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