Adobe almost embraces Linux
Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Adobe, supplier of the Acrobat document publishing program, is experimenting with Linux. And like most technology vendors working with this operating system at this stage, Adobe is finding it makes more sense to support use of the open-source operating system on servers rather than desktops.
"At this point, we don't see sufficient business opportunity in Linux on the desktop," declares Pam Deziel, an Adobe product manager.
That explains why Adobe didn't build support for Linux into version 6.0 of Acrobat Reader, the freeware program that allows users to view and print documents created with Acrobat. The previous version of Reader, released in 2001, did include Linux support.
The beta version of Acrobat Reader 7.0 now circulating among select Adobe customers also contains Linux support. Deziel says the final version of 7.0, scheduled for release later this year, will run on Linux as well, but that has nothing to do with a change in market dynamics related to Linux desktops.
Instead, she says, Adobe's enterprise-class document publishing program, LiveCycle, can run on Linux-based servers, and companies that choose that option need a Linux-based version of Acrobat Reader.
Going forward, Deziel says, Adobe will continue to monitor the market before deciding which of its products will get Linux support. "If the platform hasn't made a dramatic change, it doesn't always make sense to update a particular product," she says. "We already support a huge number of versions and platforms and languages."
If the number of companies adopting Linux continues to grow, it's a safe bet that Adobe will add support for the platform throughout its product line. That would be in line with Adobe founder John Warnock's stated vision when he unveiled Acrobat in 1993—to make it "a universal language for document exchange."
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