Re: pdf editor
John Galt <galt@inconnu.isu.edu> writes:
> Since postscript, .pdf, and ebooks all make money for Adobe
> (postscript and .pdf mostly in residuals), it's time to stop using
> them. Sic semper tyrannis.
But PDF and PS do not necessarily make money for Adobe. My printer
has a non-Adobe PS RIP, I create PDFs without Adobe software, view
them, etc without a problem.
Just because they created the spec does not mean it's eternally
sullied. There are a sufficiently large body of software out right
now which can operate on these formats that it is extremely useful
even without further Adobe influence. And any further acts by Adobe
will not take that software out of circulation. (There are companies
much larger than Adobe using PS and PDF from non-Adobe products. Even
were Adobe to conjure some legal ground to attack, they would be
crushed.)
In contrast to Java, which is a fast-moving target under constant
change by Sun, PS and PDF are fairly stable formats. I could see
boycotting PDF encryption (since that's core to the legal action) but
to ditch PDF and PS would hurt us more than it would hurt
Adobe... replacing our free software and fonts with a new spec,
unsupported by anyone else, is just too much work for the minimal
reward. (Do you really want to replace all your fonts with Speedo
fonts? Considering the major alternative format is likewise
controlled by companies of questionable morality, and has patent
liabilities to boot.)
--
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - In a variety of flavors!
Like punning, programming is a play on words.
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