PDF's and the Alternatives to Adobe
You can 't do much work on a computer, these days, without encountering PDF files. "PDF" stands for "Portable Document Format," which relates to their 'portability' from one computer and operating system to another. These files can include images, charts, and tables, as well as richly-formatted text. When you print them, they look very much like what you see on the screen.
I encounter PDF files most often as documentation files for software and hardware. Very often, installer programs for software and hardware drivers offer to install Adobe Reader just so you can read how to use them.
Some of the most colorful, expletive-laden exclamations uttered under my breath have been inspired by a) waiting for unbelievably long periods of time for Adobe Reader to load, b) seeing how much of my computer's memory is being grabbed by that program, or c) being interrupted from reading a PDF file by the need to update Adobe Reader and reboot. And, to create these files, Adobe would have you buy their Adobe Acrobat PDF file creator, which costs an arm and a leg in any of its versions.
That said, it can't be denied that the idea of PDF files is a good one:Portable, device-independent files that every machine can properly interpet.
Fortunately, some very good, free programs have been created to both create and read PDF files, and that is the subject of two new Short Takes:
