SERIOUS ADOBE ACROBAT PROFESSIONAL 8 ERROR

I have Adobe CS3 Web Premium and I have had the same issues that have been plaguing these other folks. I run XP SP2, not Vista. Now I personally do not know when Adobe Acrobat 8 came out, but I would have hoped by the time I read through these nearly 350 posts that Adobe would have fixed it by now. Very disappointing, I must say.

To the poster of #339: When you say that it is diffucult to find a 'one size fits all' solution, because of the the variables of everyone's configuration, I believe you would also have to assume that it is impossible to write code for >anyone's< computer based on that logic. So I have to say, that line of thinking sounds quite ridiculous, and is in my opinion a complete cop-out. Come on, do you really think it's that hard to write code that works? If it was, no one would have a program that worked on 'all these configurations', not ever. I feel for the Developers, as I've tried to write code for simple Web sites. But, well, Adobe developers are supposed to be more sophisticated and knowledgeable than the average guy, in my opinion. If any Adobe Developers are reading this, thanks for your hard work; don't wuss out.

And, for the poster of #336: are you telling me to not worry about these issues and just buy Acrobat 9? That is utterly ridiculous. Why buy a program that costs even MORE money out of my pocket, when I just bought a perfectly good program, nestled in a suite of products that I also paid very good money for? Are you aware of how much money these programs cost? Are you a Developer? You sure sound like one. Perhaps you're just the Director of Sales for Adobe! Haha. Really, you can't be serious. That is a ridiculous line of thinking. If I was a true skeptic, I wouldn't want to buy another 'new and improved' product [Acrobat 9] that doesn't work from the same company based on my current experience [with Acrobat 8.1]. I can't find one good reason to 'migrate', as you say, to Acrobat 9. Hey, Matthew Hamann, with your Adobe Shill/Developer discount, you can get ME one! Hilarious.

While your post alludes to a "one size doesn't fit all" solution, the same can be said about the audience of this posting. I happen to be an experienced programmer and still can't get this to work (they won't send me the source!) - I punted and opted to use a competitor product which does what I need it to do. This problem all stems from the license schema and the fact that the software needs to "phone home" to activate which is fine on an assumed direct connected network. But what about those isolated, disjoined networks? Adobe said yes it will work, but provided no bkm's (best known methods) on how to mediate this.

I have walked in their shoes for about 8 months now and the soles are worn out!

Have a nice day!

>why you tolerate their lack of willingness to put out a patch that works.

In my case it's simply that I understand that peoples systems are configured any which way and in some cases it's almost impossible to put out a one size fits all patch.

I can also understand why people that are not engineers would see it this way and be frustrated but, if you walk in their shoes for a while...

Matthew, before I forget to mention this: I have to say, I really do, that it doesn't matter what the reason is for my dependence on the software; what matters is it does not work. I do not need to be messing with my system, Adobe does. That is my point. I don't understand -- unless you work for Adobe -- why you tolerate their lack of willingness to put out a patch that works. It's obvious to me that regardless of the reason for my need for the software, the software does not work. Thanks for understanding.

Thanks for your reply, Matthew. I have the Web suite, not the standalone.

The issue only occurs with Acrobat standalone. It has to do with the FLEXnet Licensing service. I was here at the beginning of this problem probably almost a year ago now and have seen nearly everyone's issues resolved. One thing I can say that definitely works is to run Acrobat from one of the CS3 suites instead. I've never had a problem with the copy I got with Master Collection.

But all this is kindof a moot point now since Acrobat 9.0 has been released. Adobe will stop supporting 8.0 soon enough, so most of us should probably begin the migration path anyway. You could probably even get a discount on the new software. Either way, a lawsuit is not going to stand up in court and you're just going to end up losing more money than you could possibly win.

And may I say this too...if you or your company is *dependent* on a certain piece of software and is losing money or suffering because of it, you probably need to re-evaluate your policies. Unless you are using a very specialized piece of software for a very specific purpose (neither of which is Adobe Acrobat), then if one piece of software stops working, you should be able to pick up another. It's called good business practice. Try PDF995, CutePDF, Acrobat Online, or one of the other many Acrobat/PDF clones if not having Acrobat is *truly* hurting your business.

Good luck!!

I truly resent Adobe for leaving us users hanging. We all paid good money for this software, and yet *we* have to act like techs and do all this workaround crap? They need to make a patch that works, end of discussion. This thread started one year and one day from the date of the post I write now; they have had plenty of time to work this out. I don't need to be messing around with my system -- I'm not a tech. I paid *Adobe* to be the tech. We all deserve refunds. As of now, I'm looking for tangible ways to bring a lawsuit against Adobe for this inexplicable incompetence. My business is suffering because of it, and there is no excuse for their not fixing it. I invite others to join with me and start a class-action lawsuit.

I am not a user that feels comfortable messing around with their system. I have Windows XP Pro, SP2.

Hi

Had same problem on XP sp2, on multiple machines, when trying to install Photoshop elements 6.

"A serious error has been detected and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional cannot continue. Please reinstall the application and try again"

Some of the machines had adobe reader 7 and some reader 8 installed.
On the machines where no Adobe product the problem did not occur.

Installing the vista only patch the rebooting the PC before installing photoshop elements, solved the problem for me.
I know applying the patch before installing the product might seem weird, but it worked for me.

I have also not seen any adverse affect on other Adobe products when doing this. So would love to know what this patch actually does.

P

I've just got this on an XP machine that has been running fine.
During the reinstall my ESET AV package has compalined about a couple of the Acrobat DLL files. Excluding these from scan has not made a difference