I will warn you now, you will find no useful information in this post, this post is just for me to rant, about Adobe Reader!
Adobe Reader is one of those programs that most people need. Pdf has become a well known document format and currently a lot of documents/invoives/memos are in pdf format. Because of this we need Adobe Reader to open them. Ok sure, there are a few alternatives but they havent even begun to go mainstream and so in the meantime the majority of people need to use Adobe Reader.
So why do I hate it? Well in my opinion there are 2 things I want to be able to do with a pdf file; open it and maybe copy text from it, thats it, what else could you possibly need to do with a pdf? Tell me why then is the new Adobe Reader 36mb! Every new version of Adobe reader seems to grow by 10mb, but why?! I dont see any differences between versions except the load time. Check out the version history and their sizes below:
As far as im aware every version of Adobe Reader has been able to do 2 things: open up a pdf file and allow the user to copy text. Why the hell does each version keep growing then?! What on earth are Adobe adding on each time!?
What about Adobe Updater? My god do I hate this program, I could write a novel on why I hate it so much and why I want to beat the developers to death with a wet kipper but thats a story for another day. Why does Adobe Updater want to constantly update my adobe software? What the hell is it updating anyway? Why is there a 30mb update for Adobe reader? WHY WHY WHY GOD!! Why cant it just leave me the fuck alone? I was happy with my adobe reader version 6, it loaded fast, it did what it needed to do, why do I need this 36mb new bloated version!?
I guess I shouldnt be so hard on Adobe, I mean I notice that most software companies are taking the same route, take msn messenger for example. I use msn messenger to talk to people, thats all, nothing else. Am I allowed to use an older version though? Nope. I have to download a 46mb version riddled with aids that takes 4 years to load up and gives me all kinds of wonderful features that i dont want or need! ARRRGGG!!
Why cant I just be left alone with my older versions that work fine? I guess the older versions arent capable of displaying as many advertisements, I mean this is the real reason behind it lets face it.
Ok well im done ranting for now, for anyone who wants an Adobe Reader alternative give Foxit Reader a try.
This made my day! Every time i blink an eye, Adobe Updater is asking me to load more crap. I think i’m going to try foxit.
The number of updates is beyond ridiculous. Is there a way to get this message out there? How come I can’t find anyone else complaining. It’s ridiculous that people are tolerating this. I rarely complain about anything. I usually prefer that other people do all the complaining for me but now I’m just as upset that no one is complaining about this problem as I am that Adobe keeps updating the stupid thing every freakin day. Why can’t they just leave it alone? You should add dates beside your list of updates so that people can see just how often they update it. I just installed an update yesterday and already it’s asking me to install another update. How incredible is that?
I feel your pain David, I am very curious as to what Adobe think about this negative feedback, a quick google search for “I hate adobe reader” will yield plenty of other results so were not the only angry users!
And yeh the updater is useless in the sense that it doesnt tell you what the hell the update is for it when it was released. I have just about given up with it anyway and have switched to Foxit as per Luke’s suggestion, it’s so much better! No damn annoying pointless updates every 10 seconds.
I can tell you exactly why. It’s their free advertising plan. Every day, the unspeakably cursed p.o.s. hops around blurting that it needs to be updated or has just been, and yet every site I go to says ‘download update’ ANYway. “Hi there! Remember Adobe! We love you and you need us every minute!”
No, you merely inspire me to seek to live without you no matter what it takes, and I despise you more with each bloody pop-up.
May God have mercy on those miserable bastards after we have tarred and feathered their nasty, mercenary hides.
There is a fine line between “hey remember us” and update harassment!!! Adobe is out of control!!! I get asked to update Adobe Reader almost daily. REE-DIC-U-LOUS. I am over it. Adobe is like a crazy ex-girlfriend in high school.
I can’t stand Adobe, I will be uninstalling it shortly and looking for an alternative. The updates are so frequent it’s insane. Plus when it does update it tends to stutter your system, I always know when an Adobe update is coming because of that damn stuttering!!
Yeah tell me about it! I would highly recommend you give Foxit reader a try. It does everything Adobe does but without the headache!
Taking a walk down paranoia lane: Adobe must be a government monitoring software device and instead of downloading updates, it must be uploading info from us! It’s the only way to account for a 32mb update for a 2mb software app.
I agree this thing aggravates me to no end. It is updated more than all other software and the OS combined. I think the first line of code in the updater is something along the lines of if notAGoodTimeToUpdate =true then goto ProceedwithUpdate!
I’m also going to try Foxit.
By the way if Perry is right about those nasty “updates”, that’s just genius… Silent monitoring on every single machine on the world… We need to look deeper into Adobe Readers code people!
P.S.
Did someone actually read what’s in the user agreement when you install Adobe Reader for the first time???
First, I totally agree with all the comments above! I wanted to read about Foxit before just downloading it…just to make sure I wasn’t jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I found this review from CNET to be objective and enlightening. I sorta undecided after reading this; maybe there’s a good alternative to both of ‘em.
http://download.cnet.com/Foxit-Reader/3000-10743_4-10313206.html?tag=lia;rcol#editorsreview?
Hi John,
Thanks for your reply, the CNET review is pretty good and does sum up Foxit quite well. I will admit this, Foxit is by no means fantastic, but it is certainly hassle free and won’t constantly bug you for updates!
I would like to know if anyone out there has a good alternative to them both and if not then maybe there is a gap in the market for a few software developers out there
Yeah, you must make a REAL crappy product if it needs to be updated EVERY DAY.
It’s like a virus. How hard is it to open a document with your bloated, laggy software?
If you need to update it every day you are DOING SOMETHING wrong.
I’m uninstalling it and using FOxit or some 3rd party alternative, I’m tired of this stupid software nagging me to update EVERY DAY.
Your users have spoken. I am not alone. Dig your head out of the sand, put your nerd-ego aside, and create a better user experience.
Fuck Adobe ! I’ve got enough suffering of its shitty products especially Acrobat And the Flash Player !!
I just generously allowed Adobe to update and it asked me to restart the computer. FUCK NO! My laptop has been running for weeks without restarting and I prefer to keep it that way. I have documents open everywhere, some unsaved, workspaces laid out. You gotta FUCKING waste my time so that you can fix some software bug or add some enhancement that most likely I don’t even need. Save the occasional critical security fix, but once per week is too often for that! Just the thought that I will have to restart my computer some time later is like a splinter in my mind. If you’re an Adobe employee reading this, keep on laughing motherfucker.
I hate Adobe Reader so much. Why can’t it at least scroll smoothly using the mousewheel or arrow keys, not 1 line at a time with ghosting and lag, on simple text based pdfs?? My computer isn’t brand new but it’s not a piece of crap.
Just discovered the option to disable updates. I imagine this will remain selected about as reliably as qttask.exe (Quicktime startup taskbar shit).
Everything about the program is clunky, laggy, and infuriating. I’ve tried Foxit and it was good except it was buggy – my toolbars would always get garbled up and insane, randomly.
Foxit is far from perfect, but it’s a small price to pay to avoid having to use Adobe reader!