Adobe Acrobat Reader

18 Oct 2010 11:01:21

Euan Williams

MacWorld posted this today:
MacWorld announces Acrobat Reader 10.0

At last Reader now uses sandbox*, hopefully putting an end to recent scares, along with a 'simplified interface'. Available "in 30 days" -- although this may apply only to Adobe's full Acrobat Pro Software.

* quote>
"Leopard [and later OSX versions] enforces the MAC model via a new framework, architected from TrustedBSD’s MAC framework. This framework introduces “sandbox” access control capabilities which allow a developer or user to apply access control policies to a process, restricting privileges to various specified system resources. The restrictions are generally enforced upon acquisition, so any active file descriptors would not be immediately affected by any policy changes, however, any new open() operations would be subject to the new restrictions."
<unquote.
see: techjournal.318.com

Re: Adobe Acrobat Reader

18 Oct 2010 19:57:00

Mark Ford

Gosh - I didn't understand a word of that!
Is there a reason to use this in preference to Preview?

Re: Adobe Acrobat Reader

18 Oct 2010 21:59:13

Eleanor Spenceley

Alternatively, don't install Acrobat Reader at all. I removed it from my systems over a year and never needed it since! (The only thing I would have got installing Reader is the update reminders for patching Reader!).

Re: Adobe Acrobat Reader

18 Oct 2010 23:20:00

Euan Williams

Sorry guys, didn't mean to stir up a controversy. I use A-Reader for .pdf printing of publication proofs. There is a disparity between Preview output on a (postscript) desktop colour printer and A-Reader doing the same.

A slightly similar comparison can be made between clicking on a good quality photo file -- and (S/Leopard) pressing the space bar for a convenient check, or opening the same file in Preview.

There are several levels of .pdf construction (often relating to font subset inclusion, and image compression). A recent publication runs to over 100mb at Hi-res level, and just 5.5 mb at "web" level.

Mac OS X 'Print to pdf' is not designed to offer high-res .pdf construction (one reason why Preview starts so conveniently fast!). You may have seen pdf X1-A etc. mentioned as an export option, similarly Pages offers "Good, Better, Best" options in its latest incarnation.

Preview opens both my files, but A-Reader prints the hi-res file better.

If A-Reader doesn't hit the spot for you, don't install it, but for some of us it's useful software -- despite all the security patches and inconveniences. I use both, mostly Preview.

Sandboxing is a security technique to make things a bit more difficult for hackers (also used by OSX in Leopard and Snow Leopard). Martin would know about this, but here is some context: AppleInsider: Road to OSX security.

Re: Adobe Acrobat Reader

20 Oct 2010 11:38:45

Euan Williams

Interested users may like to read this from Tim Anderson (of the Beeb) this morning:

More on .pdf discussion

Re: Adobe Acrobat Reader

29 Oct 2010 13:43:21

Eleanor Spenceley

Security Advisory for Adobe Reader (, Flash and Acrobat).

That'll be another update I won't have to worry about then. ;-)