First I wish to thank all of you for your answers and help.
It is sad to see that Adobe still seems to distance itself from the needs of its customers. A company in tune with its customers would have made many of these changes a while ago but Adobe, for one reason or another, doesn't seem able to do it.
Acrobat and its PDF files are a great solution for sharing documents in a digital world. Up to this point the lack of a proper platform to allow users to read PDF files and experience nearly the same as they would when reading a book or other printed document was the major factor preventing Acrobat from becoming the ubiquous solution it could become. Now that the iPad and all of its clones have provided a solution to that problem, it seems Adobe seems to be its own biggest obstacle.
It is my opinion that PDF files won't become the universal solution they have the potential to become until many of the issues discussed here have been resolved. Adobe has suffered for many years with piracy issues and it could have prevented it, at least in part, by providing its applications at a lower, more realistic price. It has instead chosen to price its applications at a price point that makes it unreachable to most users. The same seems to be happening here with Acrobat's LiveCycle solution.
Acrobat will not become a universal solution until many of the issues that have been discussed here have been resolved. Most of us need to share documents that we wish to maintain as confidential. Fax tachnology can be considered to be on its way to obsolescence and many newer offices aren't even equipped with one. E-mail, on the other hand, is everything but a secure way to exchange information. Acrobat could allow individuals and businesses to share documents and information they want to maintain confidential and do so by e-mail through the use of security features. But these security features must be (1) improved and (2) made accessible to the average user with a price policy that is reasonable.
Acrobat could very easily do the following (in my humble opinion and without too much work on Adobe's part):
1. Allow creator to set-up number of computers authorized to access document (once document is opened by one computer Acrobat could keep track of this computer's ID and only allow it to open the document from that point forward. Document creator could specify that 2 or 3 or any number of computers could access document).
2. Allow creator to set-up time limit for access to document. Time could either be checked with computer's internal clock or document would only be accessed when computer had Internet connection so that it would check time via Internet with some kind of "Atomic Clock" or another server at Adobe's site.
3. Allow creator's Acrobat to communicate remotely with document via Internet. The reader's computer would communicate remotely with the creator's computer so that both Acrobat applications would exchange information. Why is there a need for an expensive server-dependent solution ? Many e-mail clients offer the users the option to request a delivery and read receipts for the e-mails they send. I can't imagine why, with all the technology we have available today, the same or similar couldn't be developed for individual computers to implement these solutions for Acrobat.
These are just some of many suggestions. I am sure all of you would be able to add even better ideas to the list above. Hopefully Adobe is reading these forums and will take some of the positive criticism and suggestions here as incentive to improve its products.
Thank you again for your helpful replies.
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