Providing PDFs and Reader with Installation CD

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TomHenehan
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Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 7:45 pm
Location: New Orleans, LA USA

Providing PDFs and Reader with Installation CD

Unread post by TomHenehan »

This is not a question from me about writing, but rather a question I'm passing along from my employer about procedures for distributing PDF files as part of an installation CD. I've been instructed to ask "the H&M company" (meaning EC Software), but I figured this forum might yield more feedback -- and I can reach Alexander via this route, anyway. (Hi, Alexander!)

We're about to release our first products to feature on-screen help, which are also our first "true" Windows products, written in Visual Basic. (Until now, our PC systems have been written in COBOL and accompanied by paper manuals written in MSWord.)

We plan to provide all the Help materials in PDF form as well as CHM (or maybe HLP). One subsection of one of the help systems, in particular, will *need* to be available in printed form because it addresses a handheld computer whose users will not have access to help on a PC screen. This section was created as a separate file specifically so that it could be compiled as a PDF.

Of course, the vast majority of all computer users (including virtually all those with internet access) already have Acrobat Reader and will be able to open and print PDFs. However, we know that significant numbers of our customers do *not* have internet access, at least not at work. We can figure that some buyers will not already have Acrobat Reader installed, and that for these buyers, advice to download the program from Adobe.com will not be helpful. We'll have to supply the application, presumably on the installation CD. We know that Reader can be distributed free of charge, but we don't know how what it'll take to do it.

Our questions to those of you who have prior experience with this process:
- Will we need to provide separate versions of Reader for various operating systems? We have observed that, when downloading the free program from Adobe.com, there is a prompt to select from a *long* drop-down list of OS's. Our products run only on Windows, which means we can eliminate the Mac and palmtop options, but that still leaves many varieties of Windows.
-Is disk space on the installation CD going to be an issue?
-Any tips, tricks, advice, anything?
Tom Henehan
CompuVend, Inc.
Makers of DEX Buzz Box®
3322 Hessmer Avenue, Suite 201
Metairie, LA 70002
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

I've never distributed Acrobat via CD myself but as far as I know it's pretty much a no-brainer. You just choose the language and version you want to distribute and include a link or links to it in your setup. It's basically just the same as downloading it. You do have to sign a license agreement with Adobe, hower. The stepping-stone to the whole process is here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/salesdocs/228a.htm
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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JonBolton
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Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:33 pm
Location: Scotland, UK

Unread post by JonBolton »

Tim Green wrote:You do have to sign a license agreement with Adobe, hower. The stepping-stone to the whole process is here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/salesdocs/228a.htm
I was looking for something similar, and sttumbled across this post. The link that Tim mentions has been updated to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/distribute.html, just in case others are looking for this in the future.
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