Read on as Appligent’s CEO Duff Johnson takes the Adobe Reader “Bloatware Bloviation” to task … “For those who still insist that applications can be measured by the time required for download or size of the installation, tell me how long does it take to deal with a PDF that breaks your preferred “lightweight” viewer? Somehow, that metric never makes it into the lazy claims of ‘bloatware’.”

Atlantic Zeiser announced its acquisition of a majority stake in SOFHA GmbH, a Berlin-based software solutions provider to OEMs of high-speed digital printing machines. SOFHA GmbH is also a co-development partner of Adobe and the acquisition will create new digital printing solutions based on Adobe’s PDF portfolio of standards.

Zevrix Solutions has released a maintenance update to BatchOutput 3.6.4, its professional product for automating printing and exporting from Adobe InDesign. The newly released update addresses several issues with PDF auto-preflighting.

Adobe Systems today announced that more than 100 publishers, book retailers and libraries have adopted Adobe® Content Server 4 software to protect PDF and EPUB eBook content and support the distribution to thousands of retail, libraries and other channels across the globe.

NiXPS say yes in their latest blog post. But it’s not the concept of PDF Portfolio’s that troubles them per se, but rather the fact that in certain bleeding-edge PDFs, Adobe include a warning message that tells you to download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader if you want to view the PDF in question. No ifs, buts or maybes — if you want to view this PDF, then you’ll need to use Adobe’s software.

Caldera extended its partnership with Adobe and announced the integration of the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) into its RIP solutions. This is the first time when any dedicated wide-format solution has integrated Adobe PDF Print Engine Technology. Caldera solution now offers better quality and speed on complex PDF files.

Adobe and Barnes announces further advancement for eBook distribution by joining hands to standardize the open EPUB and PDF eBooks and collaborating on a content protection standard based on Barnes & Noble and Adobe technology. Barnes and Noble will make all their content available to customers in PDF, which is one of the most compatible and secure file formats.

RIP software specialist Shiraz Software has developed an integrated plug-in for use within Shiraz v6.60 and Signature v7.0.

Worldlabel.com has released PDFplannerPRO Organizer, a free PDF document template planner, organizer and diary. PDFplannerPRO Organizer provides fully printable 8.5″ x 11″ PDF documents that you can use to keep your life on track.

Don Fluckinger’s latest article at PDFzone looks at the e-Book market and how while the Kindle and Sony Reader are getting more popular, reading e-books — as PDF files of course — on personal computers is still the most popular method.

My old work-buddy Kurt Foss, Online Editor of Adobe Acrobat User Community, wrote a short piece on a video I’ve been trying to track down for some time. 
The video is centered around a typical “office of the 90s ” and is included on page 24 as part of a Flash-presentation that celebrates “25 Years of Innovation” at Adobe Systems.
It takes us back 15 years ago to the land of ascii text, overnight mail, copier jams and filing cabinets laden with paper-based-documents. Although Kurt says that “Acrobat humor is a narrow niche”, …

Back in November 2006, Thad McIlroy, publishing consultant and analyst from The Future of Publishing sent a scathing letter to the Planet PDF Editor, Dan Shea:
I think that Acrobat 8 is one of the weakest upgrades I’ve seen in years. Adobe is apparently angry with me for saying so, but that’s just Adobe getting all imperial, as it does (as do so may so may other U.S. organizations, like the old Republican administration).
However, with version 9 — Thad thinks that Adobe has provided a elegant upgrade:
Adobe Acrobat has evolved in so …

Ever encounter the problem where you’re reading, writing, and publishing more than one document at the same time?  
Rhetorical question!
You know the scenario — you’ve got multiple windows open — all stacked on top of each other, you’re alt-tabbing applications to the point of arth-thumb-ritis. Even with 2 x 21″ screens and your Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor QX9770, you feel like you’re driving your Ferrari F430 Spider with the hand-break on.
Well, a quick and easy solution to this problem is to pick yourself up a copy of Desktop Rover™ v4.0. You will need multiple …

No matter how much you like a particular piece of software, there’s almost certainly something about it that irks you, whether it be the installer, the start-up time, a bug that never gets fixed or featuritis. Enter Dear Adobe, a place where you can vent about Adobe products until your heart’s content.
Submit your own gripes or rate other peoples, with a Love It or Hate It tag. The results of the voting are shown on the Top 50 Gripes page, which makes for some interesting reading.
The top gripes are pretty clear:

Loosen DRM …