RE: Missed an update.

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

All:

Simply stated, Adobe does not support concurrent installation of
multiple versions or combinations of Acrobat or Acrobat/Adobe Reader
on a single system, no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it!

Why? It is not because we are anal and/or are in cahoots with Intel
or Apple to sell you more computers. And it isn't a licensing issue!
And it isn't as simple as the problem with other applications in terms
of which program responds when you "double-click" on a file with a
certain suffix (in this case, .PDF and .PS)! Simply stated, the "Reader"
(previously "Acrobat Reader" and now rechristened "Adobe Reader") and 
especially the full Acrobat products are not "isolated" applications.
Both install components to integrate with browsers, for example, and
there is no facility for multiple versions to co-exist somehow.
Then there is the integration of Distiller with the PostScript printer
driver. This plumbing is fairly delicate and fragile and does not
survive either (1) attempts to have multiple concurrent versions of
Acrobat installed or (2) attempts to do major OS upgrades (such as
Windows'9x/Me to Windows 2000/XP/2003).

Many users have real, legitimate reasons to want to keep older versions
of Acrobat and or "Reader" around. In many cases, PDF creators want to
"see" what the recipients of their PDF files will see on systems that
have only the "Reader" installed. For this purpose, it makes absolutely
no sense to try to "test" PDF files on the same system they were created
on, even if you could have "Reader" correctly concurrently installed!
Why? Because, you want to test on a system that is stripped of all the
fonts and other resources that were on the system on which the PDF file
was created. Setup a cheap, small, less-well-endowed (in terms of
processor, memory, and disk) system with bare-bones software and fonts
installed plus the version of "Reader" that you wish to test under.
Maybe have a "multiple partition boot" system with a separate partition
for each version of "Reader" you want to test with. In this way, you
REALLY know what the recipients of your PDF files will see. (If any of
you question my credentials for QA advice -- a valid question by the
way -- I will remind you that for seven years, 1990 through 1997, I was
Director of Quality Assurance for Adobe's System Products Division, the
group within Adobe responsible for Adobe PostScript. Our product quality
spoke for itself!)

        - Dov 

PS: I am sorry if "Mary Rita Muller" thinks that I am yelling at her
or anyone else. Given, my email volume, I try to keep my responses
as short as possible and to the point -- some might say fairly terse.
I try not to "yell" or make it appear that I am belittling anyone.
Please understand that I suffer from "terminal humoroids" ---
I have 'em, you suffer from 'em ... 
And some of that humor is on the dry, sarcastic side. Please don't
take it the wrong way.

And yes, if you uninstall Acrobat 4 or 5 or both AFTER installing
Acrobat 6 (which warned you against installing without uninstalling
the old ones), you probably have "hosed" your Acrobat 6 installation.
Uninstall Acrobat 6, reboot, make sure you still have a FILE: port
for the printer, and try installing Acrobat 6 again (yeah, yeah,
"reinstallzheimers disease").



At 8/13/2003 07:21 AM, Ridder, Fred wrote:
>One of the reasons why Dov always advises against having multiple
>versions of Acrobat installed on the same system is that when you
>uninstall an old version it is very likely to clobber the installation of
>any newer versions because it deletes files that are common to all
>versions (the uninstall has no way of knowing that there is a newer
>program version that may be depending on some of the same files). 
>Did you reinstall Acrobat 6.0 after uninstalling 4.0 and 5.0? Your 
>message does not indicate that you have, but that is probably what 
>you need to do at this point.
>
>My opinions only; I don't speak for Intel.
>Fred Ridder (fred dot ridder at intel dot com)
>Staff Information Services Analyst
>Intel Converged Communications, Inc.
>Parsippany, NJ

*

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mary Rita Muller [mailto:rmuller@morrowcorp.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 9:24 AM
>To: Framers List
>Subject: Missed an update.
>
>Hi Framers,
>
>Win 2K
>Acrobat 6.0
>FrameMaker 7.0
>
>After reading another post this week on the digest I realized that I
>missed the p578 FM update. Went to the Adobe site, read the guidelines on
>the download. Uninstalled Acrobat 4.0 and 5.0 in response to the warning
>that the update may not work if Acrobat 4.0 and 5.0 were present.
>
>I'd already installed Acrobat 6.0 Professional when we received the
>release back in May. Now, when I attempt to print a book from Frame to PDF
>I don't have an Acrobat Distiller printer instance, just Adobe PDF. Then I
>get a "cannot write to specified print file."
>
>I've probably done something REALLY stupid so please don't yell
>(especially you Dov, I'm still smarting from 2 years ago ;-). I've looked
>through the archives but I guess no one but me is having this trouble.
>
>TIA,
>Rita


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