PDF...huh...good god...what is it good for?

[beeblebrox]

Okay...can somebody please tell me why I am obliged to download Adobe Acrobat every time I set up a computer?

I know its a convenient format but is it really necessary? I get pretty annoyed when i'm forced to just give away hard-drive space for a convenience I didn't ask for.

Does anybody know of a decent PDF reader that I can start to use as an alternative to Adobe? Is there one?

[ErnieK]

Here is a GOOGLE search result for PDF readers.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=PDF+Readers&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

As for the neccecity? well it is safe to use, carries no viruses that I know of (if there is a virus that effects it it is rare) creates smaller files when it comes to the likes of maunuals etc.

As for Adobe you DON't HAVE to install it, any reader will do, but if you do not have a PDF reader on board you will find an awful lot of info restricted to you.

[beeblebrox]

Aha...it does seem to have a purpose. For a while I thought file extensions were just being sold like beepers at a swap meet.

Thanks for the info

[setoguro]

You can give GhostView a try. I use it with linux but I don't know how well the windows version works.
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ee5cta/ghostView/

[pave_spectre]

What annoys me about PDF files is companies that create forms in PDF expecting that they can be sent via email.:mad:
For some reason they seem to think that the average user can afford $800 to buy the full Acrobat Writer to be able to edit the documents to fill in relevant details.

[shanmuga]

No need to buy the acrobat full version, you can create PDF for free with pdf995 (http://www.pdf995.com/download.html)

[pave_spectre]

At last, no more excuse for not filling out forms and emailing them back.
Ill just have to not fill them out because I cant be bothered. :p