[texhax] Problem with Adobe Reader 8

[Pierre MacKay]

Herbert Voss wrote:

>Michael Barr schrieb:
> > Last week someone posted a query about Adobe Reader, v. 8, saying 
>that it did not render ligatures correctly (or at all) on files created 
>by tex.  I don't recall if it was files converted by dvipdfm or from 
>pdf{tex,latex}.  I have not tested the latter, but I have no problem 
>whatever with files converted by dvipdfm.  To be precise, I am using 
>version 8.1.1, which is what they are currently distributing.  In any 
>case, there are a number of free pdf renderers.
>
>compare
>http://perce.de/temp/test-distiller.pdf
>http://perce.de/temp/test-gs.pdf
>
>  
>
This addresses only part of the problem.  The other part is the question 
of archival stability, which used, at least,
to be one of the chief concerns of the TeX world. 

What has happened is that a large archive of DOI documents, that 
happened to be distilled using Ghostscript, and that displayed perfectly 
in Adobe 6 and Adobe 7, has now been made worthless.  My own solution 
FOR THE FUTURE, is to make use of Adobe's createpdf service, because 
only then am I guaranteed to remain in step with new and potentially 
imcompatible "upgrades" of PDF, but the loss of years of archived PDF 
documents is not trivial.  I learn that with the
diagnostics of Adobe Reader 8, the missing ligatures can be discovered 
as "hidden text".  Why is it "hidden" in Reader 8 when it was visible in 
Reader 7. 

Pierre MacKay