February 11, 2008

This email will discuss the upgrade procedure and problems with 
Adobe Acrobat. Please DO NOT install or upgrade your product 
until reading below.

There has been a change in a pdf file format making certain pdf 
files unreadable in older versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe 
Acrobat Reader. (Adobe Acrobat is the reader/writer where Adobe 
Reader only allows you to read pdf files). You will most likely 
encounter this problem when accessing forms on websites.

CGD/IS currently manages versions 7 and 8 of the Adobe Acrobat 
products. This means that CGD/IS has scripted installs that will 
upgrade and install these product versions as updates arrive and 
as we approve and push them to your computers. Manged installs 
are the preferred way and the future for Windows software 
installations in our division. Currently, there are 4 different 
versions of Adobe installed in our division. As you can imagine 
this is a problem and something we are trying to clean up as 
budgets allow.

WHAT NOT TO DO:
Since CGD/IS has some people managed and others not, please do 
not choose to do your own upgrade or installation. This will 
most likely cause 2 problems:

1) It will break Adobe Reader and/or Writer for all your 
versions making all the versions unusable.

2) It will break the managed software setup on your computer if 
you are managed and require a longer install/upgrade by CGD/IS 
because we now have to fix domain settings for your computer.

THE FIX:
If you absolutely need the newer Reader or Writer, please send 
email to wreq@cgd.ucar.edu and the CGD/IS will install it for 
you. Please do not install or upgrade yourself.

Many of you are running version 6 of Adobe Acrobat (writer). We 
suggest that if you have the money to upgrade you should do so. 
Version 8 is the newest version and can be purchased for $136.00. 
There is no upgrade discount from a previous version because Adobe 
changed its licensing contract with UCAR. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free.

THE FUTURE:
In the next couple of weeks, CGD/IS will push out the new software 
to as many clients as we can during a scheduled downtime. Please 
read the downtime emails to find this date.


Thank you for your help and understanding,
CGD/IS