Replace Adobe Acrobat Reader FOREVER!!!

You know what pisses me off?  It’s the little things!  To quote the grunge band Bush, “It’s the little things that kill, tearing at my brains again.”  Why?  Because they seem to irritate the most–irritate you to death.  It’s the fly buzzing around while you’re trying to relax.  It’s the splinter in your hand.  It’s the neighbor’s dog barking at night while you try to sleep.  Little things should be fixed and not tolerated.  For years I’ve been a victim of Adobe Reader’s endless automatic updates, resource grabbing, and slow runtime.  It’s such bullshit!  It’s just a crappie PostScript viewer!  You can’t even use it to edit anything!  Adobe Reader ≈ 140 MB, Notepad++ ≈ 9MB.  What’s wrong with this picture?

Here was the spark that finally spurred me to action this morning.  And I’ve seen this before but it just hit me particularly wrong this morning:

RESTART!!!!  You got to be kidding!!!  Why the Hell do I have to restart?  All I did was update a viewer, really just a plugin for a browser.  Adobe, do you have any idea how long it takes my work computer to restart?  What could be so important that you’re making me reboot?  If it’s such a pain for me, it’s most likely a pain for other people too.  Have you considered the irritation you’re causing everyone?

The Solution: Foxit

Okay, I’ve had enough.  I uninstalled Adobe Reader, and I installed a replacement product that my friend Brandon recommended called Foxit.  http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

• My first worry was that it doesn’t work with my browsers.  However, that worry was unfounded.  I tested pulling up a PDF from a URL in IE8, Firefox, and even Chrome (my browser of choice).
• My first observation was the speed.  It was so much faster than Adobe.  (Didn’t Adobe invent PDF’s?)
• Plus, the Interface looks pretty refined and easy to use.
• Foxit install is 10.44 MB versus Adobe Reader 9.3 at 143 MB

I don’t completely endorse the product because I haven’t had substantial time using it, but so far I like it.   The main thing is that I got a chance to pwn Adobe!  Take that you bastards!