The problems we are having with Acrobat Pro 8 are problems of 1.) the very significant processing effort that is required, to re-distill an updated FM8 file into an updated PDF suitable for posting to the internet, and 2.) the frequency with which Acrobat Pro 8 suddenly crashes. This processing is a real drag on our productivity. The questions I should be asking, therefore, are 1.) has any FM user found there to be a significant improvement in the convenience of distillation, between Acrobat8 and Acrobat9? -- and 2.) is anyone finding Acrobat 9 to be any more stable, that is, less crash-prone during distillation, than Acrobat 8?
The unexplained crashes we get are of two sorts. One sort of crash is the one we get in Acrobat Pro 8, during the process of distillation, and then when we repeat our procedure, the distillation succeeds without any further problem. The other sort of crash is the one we get in the Adobe Reader, when we attempt to open the resultant PDF across the internet. Here, by way of an example, is an Acrobat 8 PDF that has been distilled out of a FM8 file, that has a history of three times out of four crashing the Adobe Reader when an attempt is made to access it on the internet using a fast cable connection (and then with perhaps the fourth attempt, opening perfectly without any problem): http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/C/AlexanderChalmers.pdf > > Acrobat Pro 9 is just being released. Since we presently distill our > > FM8 files into PDFs with Acrobat8 -- should we upgrade immediately to > > Acrobat9, or should we "wait for the dust to settle"? > >Upgrading to a new version of a tool just because it exists has never made >any sense to me. Unless there is some incompatibility in your current working >environment, or unless there is some new feature in Acrobat 9 that would >be a *real* benefit to your workflow or product (and not just an item of >marketing hype), I see no reason to move away from a currently working >toolset.