                      Adobe Acrobat for Workgroups 2.0
                         Reviewed by Danny Williams

        We've come a long way in using computers to make putting words to
paper easier.  Unfortunately, mechanisms for getting those words out to the
people who are supposed to read them has improved precious little. We still
have to put our collection of fonts, layouts, graphics, and color on many
copies of paper, then send those papers by mail, or at best, overnight
express. Exchanging documents electronically should ease some of the
problems of moving tons of paper, but problems are rife here also. Sure, we
all have modems, but have you ever tried to swap a mildly complex document
with someone? Getting a document that might include graphics or spreadsheets
or even links to other programs make things challenging at least. In order
to see anything close to what the author intended, you have to use exactly
the same word processor, exactly the same font libraries, and use exactly
the same brand of printer.  Even then you may not get exactly the same look
in the document because of variations in default settings of your word
processor, printer, or operating environment.
        Adobe Acrobat solves these problems by providing a common device and
operating system independent format for moving documents from one person to
another, or one system to another. This way, a document I create on my
Windows machine is easily readable on your Macintosh or UNIX terminal or DOS
machine. A freely distributable reader program is all that is needed to read
any Acrobat .PDF file, and any PostScript printer is all that is needed to
print it. Even something I might write with a laser printer in mind will
print the same (OK, at least close) on a dot matrix.
        Now, if you are sitting at home thinking about that 1983 copy of
CP/M Wordstar that you do all your word crunching with and you never have
and never intend to widely distribute anything you ever type, then happily
move on to the next article -- you aren't missing anything. On the other
hand, if you write in a corporate environment where Engineering is using
UNIX workstations and the Marketing department spends the day glued to their
Macintoshes and Accounting will never be anything but True Blue and you need
to get the Employee Handbook out to all 300 of them without spending 5
person-days hunched over a copier and a binding machine, then this is the
package that will make your day.
        Acrobat  documents are created either by printing direct to disk via
a "printer" driver called PDF Writer or by processing PostScript print files
with the Distiller. After creating the file, Acrobat Exchange will let you
view, print, or annotate the document with your own pull-down notes. In this
workgroup version, notes from different people can be in different colors as
well as titled with their name so it's easy to follow the flow of the group
editing. Exchange will also place hypertext hot links between documents just
like the World Wide Web (WWW) or a robust help file. Acrobat Catalog,
although only available on the Windows platform, makes documents also
searchable through their whole text, not just a few indexed terms. Words in
graphics, such as a logo, are also searched just like plain text. Searches
can also span documents, so a search for "Pension" might return not only the
eligibility requirements from the Employee handbook, but the application
form from the appendix rules from an attached supplement.
        Acrobat also links to other applications. For example, a link to a
video clip read in a Windows environment runs the Windows video player. The
same document run on a Macintosh runs the Mac video player. For those who
enjoy a little programming, links are provided to provide access to and from
Acrobat from your own application.

Acrobat Reader 2.0      Free and soon to be downloadable from on-line services,
                        internet, and Adobe
Acrobat 2.0             $195; includes Exchange, PDF Writer, Reader, and coupon
                        for Catalog ($500)
Acrobat Pro:            $595; includes Exchange, PDF Writer, Distiller, coupon
                        for Catalog ($500)
Acrobat for Workgroups  $1595; 10 user license for: Exchange, PDF Writer,
                        Distiller, and Catalog.

Minimum System Requirements:

Exchange
        Windows: 386 or better processor, Windows 3.1 or later, 4MB RAM,
        1.44MB floppy disk drive
        Macintosh:  68020 or later processor, Apple System 7.0 or later,
        2MB of RAM
Distiller
        Windows: 386 or better processor,Windows 3.1 or later,  8MB RAM,
        1.44MB floppy disk drive
        Macintosh: 68020 or later processor,  Apple System 7.0 or later,
        6Mb of  RAM

                         Adobe Systems Incorporated
                            1585 Charleston Road
                                PO Box 7900
                       Mountain View, CA  94039-7900

   Send your postal name, address, city, state, zip to 4prod@supportu.com
         for product literature to be sent to you via postal mail.
