PostScript language and application developer Adobe Systems Inc, Mountain View, California last week launched, Adobe Acrobat, a range of products based on its Carousel PostScript document interchange technology. Adobe claims the Acrobat line will enable users to distribute documents between MS-DOS, Windows, Unix System V.4 and Macintosh System 7 environments as readable files on screen, regardless of the application, hardware or operating system used for document creation. The company pitches Acrobat as an alternative to the ubiquitous ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange file exchange protocol used by most computer operators. In an ASCII format, documents are displayed in their lowest form on screen and can’t easily be read. Adobe claims to have solved this problem with a PostScript-based file format called the Portable Document Format, PDF. PDF files can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics and images in a device- and resolution-independent format. This means users can view and alter documents anywhere on a PostScript-based network without modification. Acrobat has three components. Acrobat Viewer receives incoming Portable Document Format files and enables users to view, manipulate and print the information on any machine running MS-DOS, Unix, Windows or Macintosh System. The application used to create the Portable Document Format files are not required to view the information, Adobe says. Acrobat Distiller translates Unix and MS-DOS PostScript language files into PDF formats, where print drivers don’t normally exist. It is also used to create PDF files from applications that bypass the system-level printing facilities. PDF Writer, geared for Macintosh and personal computers running Windows, will convert a file to PDF using the same procedure as used to print a document. A user will be presented with the option of saving as a PDF file rather than sending the document to the printer. Adobe will release additional Acrobat tools to include editing, video, sound and Standard Generalised Mark-up Language software for the publishing market by the end of this year. Adobe Acrobat version 1.0 is available on Apple Macintosh System 7, Windows 3.1, Sunsoft Inc Solaris 2.1 and MS-DOS. No prices were available.
