WTF is it with colleges and PDF files?

[rh71]

PDF is an awesome looking format... except it takes awhile to load up. And no I'm not going to have Acrobat Speedup running in my systray for those 2 times a week I may need to read PDFs.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: rh71
PDF is an awesome looking format... except it takes awhile to load up. And no I'm not going to have Acrobat Speedup running in my systray for those 2 times a week I may need to read PDFs.

Try Foxit Reader, rh71. It has no integrated browser support, but it's fast doesn't use very much memory.
link

 

[Looney]

PDF is a great format... i hated it years ago, when it use to bog down systems especially if they were huge, but these days, they're fantastic. Email your prof and show him how to reduce the size, i'm sure you'll earn brownie points just for doing that as well.

 

[chcarnage]

PDFs are platform independent, the company makes a free reader, and it's displayed more constantly than PPTs and DOCs on different platforms/versions.

I must say though that I dislike Acrobat Reader (Adobe Reader, call it what you want) 6 and 7 and I downgraded to the relative simplicity of version 5.

Some profs on my uni have problems with files but I guess that's not limited to PDF. Once I accidentially printed a 70 pages PDF from the slides of one lesson. Ah well, not entirely, the hi-res background picture slowed the printing process down and I noticed something isn't right Others plaster their presentations with pictures.

On the other hand, I always chuckle if I see students who print six or even nine slides on one page and then try to learn with this stuff. To each his own I guess.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I know exactly why most places use PDF: Document security. PPT slides are converted to PDF for distribution because they are copyrighted instructional materials and belong to the professors. They do _not_ want to see their own slides ending up in other PPT presentations and making them available only in PDF makes it more difficult for students to plagarise them.

ZV

You can take data out of a PDF you know... It's not a secure format.

Originally posted by: Apathetic
They use the PDF format because it is platform independent and you can get a free reader for just about any OS.

Dave

For the win.