Adobe Reader update pain

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Macintosh
December 14th, 2004 • 2:36 am

I have the Adobe CS Premium software package. The CDs include a copy of Adobe Reader 6.0. I want to update it to the latest version. So I try to run the combined Acrobat Pro / Adobe Reader 6.0.2 updater that I have. The updater tells me that it cannot update Adobe Reader 6.0, only Adobe Reader 6.0.1.

So I go back to the Adobe web site that try to locate an updater to update Adobe Reader 6.0 to Adobe Reader 6.0.1. As I soon find out, there is no such thing. Of course, the Adobe web site page doesn’t tell you why. You have to go to the Adobe Reader 6.0.3 updater page, which tells you gleefully that this 6.0.3 updater “addresses several potential vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader versions 6.0.0-6.0.2“, but also, if you scroll down the page, specifies that the updater only works with an existing copy of Adobe Reader 6.0.2.

And then there is this:

If you have version 6.0.0 installed, you can download Adobe Reader 6.0.1 and then use the Updates menu entry within Adobe Reader 6.0.1 to update your system to version 6.0.2.

Oh, right. So if I have Adobe Reader 6.0, I have to re-download the whole bloody Adobe Reader package, which weighs more than 25 MB, because there is no updater to go from 6.0 to 6.0.1. Nice.

It’s always pleasant to have such a straightforward software updating experience, especially when you are on a modem connection. 25 MB is nothing, right?

Jerks.


3 Responses to “Adobe Reader update pain”

  1. Pierre Igot says:

    Olivier: I noticed problems with the Adobe site myself. But it’s not that it’s not responding. It’s just not responding to some page requests. Try reloading the current page and it might just work.

    As for stand-alone updaters, they are pretty much a requirement for people on dial-up. And surely it doesn’t cost companies such as Adobe very much to continue to offer the updates in both forms. But we know how it is with these big companies…

  2. Warren Beck says:

    Try the updater utility that runs directly inside Acrobat. Use the Help/Updates… menuchoice. It appears that Adobe is going away from posting standalone updaters. Still, downloading large update packages over dial-up is not going to be pleasant. I would rather pay a nominal fee for a physical CD once yearly.

  3. Olivier says:

    Right now, there’s is even no such thing as the Adobe Reader 6.0.3 updater page since Adobe’s support site is not responding. :(

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