Adobe was worried about people doing that on Windows, so, the only way that screen reader manufacturers were granted access to Acrobat Reader was through a special interface that could only be used if the screen reader presented a special authorization certificate. In order to get the certificate, you must follow their rules regarding showing only a limited number of pages at a time in your virtual buffer/DOM browser, and disable copy/paste functions. If you don't follow those rules, they revoke your certificate, and your users can't read PDFs anymore.
I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe twisted Apple's arm on this, too. Bryan -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Hofstader Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 7:06 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: apple and adobe zeitgeist fallout Preview works with the relatively weak Adobe PDF encryption scheme built into the authoring tool. Some features, like copy and paste, are turned off to keep users from using the most obvious way to get the data out of the file. I haven't tried any of these documents in Preview with VO so I can't speak to whether we blinks can read these documents or not. I would be surprised, though, if it didn't turn off the OSX accessibility interface for the body of the protected PDF as anyone with half a brain and some hacking skills could build a little program that sucked all of the data out of a file as it pretended to be an accessibility program like VO. I'm told that Preview barfs on the plug-in protection schemes but have no evidence either way (my wife had some of the weaker protected files that worked for her). cdh On Jan 31, 2010, at 1:03 AM, Bryan Smart wrote: > I just use the built-in preview viewer. It reads PDF files just fine. Of > course, since Adobe hates Apple so much, it might not work with > encrypted/protected PDFs, but I haven't tried them yet, so wouldn't know. > > Bryan > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 12:28 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: apple and adobe zeitgeist fallout > > Bryan: > Well said, and I agree. What are people using on the mac to read PDF > documents? > Carolyn ch:)) > On Jan 30, 2010, at 7:19 AM, Bryan Smart wrote: > >> And it blows my mind how they've been able to get everyone to conform. I >> just don't get it at all. I mean, for most people, they need Acrobat Reader >> in order to read PDF documents on a PC. Acrobat Reader has been treated by >> Adobe, not so much as a way to make the documents that their professional >> tools produce to be read for free, but as a vector to get as much of their >> stuff as possible on to your PC. You want to read PDF files? Well, of course >> that means that you'd also like us to install plug ins for everything from >> ebook management to real-time spell checking of PDFs. Also, just in case you >> need it, how about we install stuff to help you produce PDFs through >> adobe.com? And since all of this stuff that we just added, that you didn't >> ask for, is always having security problems, how about we install this >> updater software that will run in the background and constantly nag you to >> update all of the bits that you didn't request in the first place. And, hey, >> while we're updating, how about we install some other stuff that you didn't >> request and don't want. I don't know how IT departments haven't banned >> Acrobat Reader as a security risk. It seems that way to me. >> >> And, when it comes down to its core function, you know, reading PDF files, >> Acrobat Reader is horribly slow at that task. I used to think that PDFs must >> be this big bloated document format, but I've realized in the past few years >> that PDFs aren't the problem, the problem is Acrobat Reader. Other PDF >> reading tools are quite snappy. Its unfortunate for Windows users that >> Acrobat Reader is the only reading tool that is both accessible, and is >> blessed by Adobe with access to encrypted/secured PDF files. I know there >> are converters and other accessible readers, but those won't work if the >> file is secured or encrypted. >> >> Adobe reminds me of Real Networks. Do any of you remember Real Player? >> That's how we used to stream audio and video before Flash. Of course, hardly >> anyone uses the Real Player formats or player any longer. The big reason for >> that is they took the fact that so many people installed their software as >> an opportunity to bundle all sorts of crapware with it. I suppose Adobe is >> better, since they aren't including Google and Yahoo toolbars, 50 free MP3s >> from EMusic.com, Weather Bug, a free trial of Mcafee Security Suite, and $10 >> off at Amazon.com on your next purchase of $30 or more, but they're still >> including lots of unnecessary and bloated extras that run slowly and are >> infested with security problems. >> >> And people continue to use their stuff why? They seem like a shady company, >> far from professional, and their practices say to me that they don't respect >> or value their customers. >> >> Bryan >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Hofstader >> Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 8:05 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: apple and adobe zeitgeist fallout >> >> For years, Adobe's behavior has been a paradox wrapped in an enigma and >> coded with deep encryption. >> On Jan 30, 2010, at 7:52 AM, Yuma Antoine Decaux wrote: >> >>> Yes you are right, some of apple's stuff is also still carbon, but i >>> remember somewhere saying adobe didn't want to jump the coco bandwagon. Why >>> is what i am looking for. >>> >>> best >>> >>> Yuma >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
