Ted Padova’s AUC Blog

I remember years ago when I had total control over my computer. No one —not even Microsoft, Adobe, or Apple, forced me to conform to certain configurations for my hardware and software. Those were glorious days when I could easily network my computers without having a bunch of security forced upon me. After all, they were my computers, I used them, and I wasn’t threatened by anyone breaking into my house and trying to steal data off my network. Heck, anyone who broke into my house was more likely to steal the computers!

Much of my freedom of choice was taken away due to complaints by IT managers who required more security in their workplaces. Hence, I was forced to add log-ons and passwords to configure my home systems even though I didn’t need it. The complaints of those representing the many outweighed the wishes of the few. As time passed by, I experienced more limits in my personal freedom for configuring my systems due to the whining of IT managers and the lack of creativity of software developers. Rather than offer choices for end users, we simply had to conform to new implementations of security that satisfied the desires of those barking the loudest.

Take Acrobat as an example. In version 8 we lost all those nice ExecMenu Items in the program. Rather than provide users the ability to disable certain features as a user controlled option, Adobe chose to wipe out a number of commands because some IT managers saw certain features as a security breach. Those who wanted access to all the commands were left out.

In Acrobat 6 we had a little plug-in that enabled us to search the Internet for PDF files using Yahoo. That changed to searching the Internet using Google in Acrobat 7. In Acrobat 8, we don’t have any plug-in to search the Internet for PDFs via a button using either Yahoo or Google. No doubt Google complained during the Acrobat 6 life cycle and Yahoo complained during the Acrobat 7 life cycle. The answer to the problem of course is, let’s just take the thing away from all the users and everyone will be happy.

Now in Acrobat 8, we have the entire printing industry complaining about a little plug-in that made it easy for end users to get some files duplicated at a copy shop. If I’m speaking in New York City, I could easily hit the FedEx/Kinkos button on the Reader/Acrobat toolbar to order some copies of handouts and have them ready when I arrive at JFK. Of course I could do a Google search (oops… maybe I should just say search because Yahoo may get on my case) to find a print shop. But having the button on the Reader/Acrobat toolbar just made it a little easier for me. Isn’t that what computers are supposed to do —make life easier for us? Well, the print industry did enough whining about the unfairness of giving FedEx/Kinkos an advantage and once again the answer is to just take it away from all of us to satisfy the needs of the complainers.

When do you suppose that a software developer will start to make efforts to satisfy the needs of the minorities as well as meet the demands of the masses? A little creativity such as providing a plug-in manager that could let us users decide whether we want to use FedEx/Kinkos, Sir Speedy, PIP, or some other print service puts more control back into our hands.

What are your thoughts?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 12:34 am and is filed under Acrobat 8. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.