[gui-talk] Difficulty downloading/installing Adobe Reader 8.1

Fri Jul 20 12:05:10 CDT 2007

Steve,

understood, all the way to, and including, your last comment. Whatever's the 
matter with the way this installer is functioning at present, I don't care 
for it. I am far more comfortable with a Windows download dialogue where I 
can choose the file's destination and track download progress. To have the 
process simply taken out of my hands, when I'm unable to literally see 
anything happening and can't find a trace with Jaws makes me really 
uncomfortable. But as I said, this automated procedure seems no more 
transparent to a sighted user, so I think it's just plain creepy.

Yes, I'll wait until I run across a direct download link on some trustworthy 
Web site that's telling me if I want to read the restaurant's menu or 
something, I've got to download the latest version of Adobe Reader, right 
from their Web site. Times like this, I miss the JFW Lite site when Debbie, 
rest in peace, continually updated such resources. Wouldn't have to just 
wait until the next time I encountered a .pdf online.

So it goes.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Difficulty downloading/installing Adobe Reader 8.1

Joel,

Waiting until the download is available somewhere else is a good idea if you 
are not in a hurry to get the update.  Since Charles has pointed out that 
the download
manager is an active-x control, my guess is that what both he and I are 
saying applies exactly to your situation, and that something isn't working 
right.  <smile>
Unlike you, I have had trouble with this before and it does frustrate me a 
little.  I don't mind the fact that Adobe might want to make a little extra 
money as Charles
has mentioned, but PDF documents would be worth absolutely nothing if the 
reader wasn't widely distributed, so I think they need to be more careful 
than they have
been at times to make downloading a smoother experience.  I don't think you 
need to be worried that you were directed to a bogus page in this case, 
though.  If you
were on the Adobe page, what you were getting was likely their download 
manager.  Here's another one for you.  It may not happen, but don't be 
surprised if all at
once you get a dialog saying the download is complete since the download 
manager can restart an interrupted download.  I've had that happen, too, and 
not known
for certain where the download ended up since it didn't observe my normal 
download defaults.

Best regards,

Steve

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:45:02 -0700, Joel Deutsch wrote:

>thanks, Steve, but I'm afraid none of this seems to apply. As I said in my
>response to Charles, I think I'll just wait until I come upon some Web site
>that says it has a link for obtaining the latest version, and click on that
>instead. That's how I've always gotten it before, I think. Never by going 
>to
>that site.

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 6:58 PM
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Difficulty downloading/installing Adobe Reader 8.1

>Joel,

>I have not installed Acrobat Reader 8.1 yet but I know that in some cases
>Adobe installs its own download manager.  I
>do not remember if this involved an Active-X control but it is possible. 
>It
>also seems to me that there is usually another
>link that one can use if one has trouble with the download starting.  Look
>some more at the web page to see if you find
>an alternative link.  This doesn't answer why your download didn't start, I
>know that, but it might give you a way out.

>Also note, though, that if Adobe installed its Download Manager that the
>dialogs might look differently. I believe it sort of
>downloads in the background and pops up a dialog when it completes.  Of
>course, none of this may fit your situation,
>but I have occasionally had trouble downloading from Adobe for this reason.

>Good luck,

>Steve Jacobson

>On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:50:20 -0400, albert griffith wrote:

>>You were some redirected from Adobe's web site.  There's no active X
>>required for its installation.

>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
>>Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:12 PM
>>To: GUI-Talk
>>Subject: [gui-talk] Difficulty downloading/installing Adobe Reader 8.1

>>I currently use Adobe Reader V. 7.0, and I heard somewhere (the JFW list, 
>>I
>>think it was) that the new version 8.1 was available.

>>I went to the Adobe site, went to the Downloads page, then to the Adobe
>>reader page and found the download link for this new version, for Win XP.

>>When I clicked on it, I got a message asking me to install Active-X. This
>>isn't the issue. I have heard that you should be careful about something 
>>to
>>do with Active-X, because if you install it once, or install it on every
>>Web
>>page that asks you to (I forget how this is brought to your attention, but
>>anyway), it could render your system vulnerable to some sort of virus 
>>deal.
>>But this is Adobe, and I figure they're legit, and if they want me to do
>>the
>>Active-X thing, that ought to be safe. No?

>>So I used what I'd learned to do with my newly installed IE7 and access 
>>the
>>Information Bar, where I was able to indicate that I'd accept Active-X. I
>>thought this went successfully.

>>but as I followed the directions to proceed with the download, nothing 
>>more
>>happened. It just sort of stalled. No dialogue like you get for most
>>downloading. I tried it over a few times, to see if I might have made some
>>error, but it just didn't work.

>>So I had a sighted friend over this evening, someone very computer-capable
>>by profession, and asked him to turn off Jaws and try it himself. In some
>>frustration, he reported to me that the very same thing happened to him,
>>and
>>said I hadn't made any mistake because I was using Jaws. There just seemed
>>to be something wrong.

>>Does anyone happen to know what's up with this issue? It's not an
>>emergency,
>>and I can go on using Adobe Reader 7, I guess, but considering that 
>>Adobe's
>>been good about developing screen reader-friendly features, I always feel
>>interested in their upgrades and updates. Knowledgeable advice will be
>>appreciated. First of all, have I misunderstood some step in the procedure
>>because i failed to explore the page sufficiently with Jaws?If not, what's
>>the problem? Anyone know?

>>Joel

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