Forum Moderators: phranque
A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.Adobe is planning to release updates to Adobe Reader and Acrobat to resolve the relevant security issue. Adobe expects to make available an update for Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 by March 11th, 2009. Updates for Adobe Reader 8 and Acrobat 8 will follow soon after, with Adobe Reader 7 and Acrobat 7 updates to follow. In the meantime, Adobe is in contact with anti-virus vendors, including McAfee and Symantec, on this issue in order to ensure the security of our mutual customers. A security bulletin will be published on [adobe.com...] as soon as product updates are available.
[edited by: engine at 5:16 pm (utc) on Feb. 20, 2009]
Why does anybody use Acrobat when they can get other readers. The world is mad!
I second oddsod. I dumped Acrobat in favor of other readers that are faaaaaaaaaaar less bloated. What happened to Adobe? They used to make good software.
Wow! I never realized Adobe was so hated around these neck of the woods?
I use it every day. In fact, I just finished pdf'ing a 26 page proposal complete with attachments, etc. It is a standard in the print industry.
Just because there is a vulnerability they become the target like this?
What browser are you using? What OS are you using? What CMS Package are you using?
And I've never heard of those other pdf readers. Why would I? I have Adobe Acrobat Professional installed and have been using pdf since its inception. Why would I want to switch? Who is to say that those other programs aren't more vulnerable? They just haven't been targeted yet.
The main competition to the Acrobat reader is small, fast and cool.
(Note: I have no relationship with that site, other than liking it.)
And I've never heard of those other pdf readers. Why would I? I have Adobe Acrobat Professional installed
[edited by: phranque at 9:31 pm (utc) on Feb. 22, 2009]
[edit reason] please see TOS #24 [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
YMMV
Most people - including myself - don't create pdf docs, they just read them.
Even if you create PDFs, there are other creators besides Adobe's.
What if I'm one of the millions of users who have Adobe CS? Why would I want to break the chain of communication between the default programs?
I've just never experienced what everyone is referring to. And, we pdf docs that are BIG from the print side of things. Everything is done through Adobe. I don't think the crew there would even consider using a third party application that isn't part of the Adobe package. It doesn't make sense.
Next Topic: Google Warns of Critical Vulnerability
I can see it now. Everyone will be recommending that we switch to Yahoo! or Live. ;)
What if I'm one of the millions of users who have Adobe CS? Why would I want to break the chain of communication between the default programs?
If you control all steps of your PDF's journey, then that concern and this security problem (like the previous ones) doesn't affect you much, so fine, stick with Adobe if you like. However, if you're using PDFs in the wild outside world, like most webmasters, I think Adobe hasn't been the smart choice for a while now.
There's a wonderful 64-bit CPU world running on a high speed bus just waiting to help you with these speed issues.
You won't even notice you have a PDF reader as the page will load faster than you can click OK.
It's not the PDF reader that's bloated and slow, it's those antique PCs that some still cling to that are slow.There's a wonderful 64-bit CPU world running on a high speed bus just waiting to help you with these speed issues.
Funny... Adobe CS4 on mac is one of the few programs explicitly not making use of our 64bit CPUs in any modern mac ... Adobe decided to skip on 64-bit code on the mac and not switch from the Carbon to the Cocoa development frameworks. We'll have to wait on CS5 to get 64bit support on the mac.
i hope that's "tongue-in-cheek", iB!
OK, before people take what I said too seriously, Adobe PDF runs a close second to Norton AV for the most grossly inefficient software award.
My biggest mistake was upgrading to full blown Acrobat which, when loading, was about as excruciating as having teeth pulled. Part of the initialization problem (IMO) is that it appears to preload and check a bunch of support libraries prior to displaying the document instead of just checking them on the fly if and when they're ever needed.
It's a prime example of what happens when you design cross-product cross-platform software by committee.
[edited by: incrediBILL at 3:16 am (utc) on Feb. 23, 2009]
Formerly a proprietary format, PDF was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the ISO as ISO 32000-1:2008.
Ya see, I didn't know that. I thought PDF still belonged to Adobe.
I'm going to be taking a look at some of the alternatives. I'm just so used to me Adobe Acrobat Professional which runs just fine on my antiquated Sony 21 PC-TV with a 100 shot of nitrous.
Look, you can teach an old dog new tricks and with me, it has been happening quite frequently lately. I feel as though I need to get out of the house more often. ;)
I did install Adobe's Acrobat reader a few months ago to check if there were any differences (there were none). It took over fifteen seconds to reach splash screen and gobbled up RAM like it was pork scratchings.
There's a couple of utilities for Acrobat that allow you to configure it so that only the bits you really need are loaded at startup.
edit: I realize the announcement was made in Feb, but that is also way too late for a fix in my opinion.
[edited by: coopster at 6:09 pm (utc) on Mar. 15, 2009]
[edit reason] removed specifics TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
