Re: Replace Adobe Reader?


"Paul Johnson" <baloo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:39hi74xgks.ln2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Eric wrote:

I didn't bother to click your link because it doesn't matter what your
definition of "free software" is. Apparently it is different than the
general population of today's computer users.

The general population of today's computer users says you're wrong.
Wikipedia is edited by the general population of today's computer users.


I don't know where Wikipedia would have gotten a definition of freeware that
includes "must distribute with source code", but for most people, if they
can download a program and run it without paying anyone it is freeware.
Most computer users do not contribute to Wikipedia. If you check a software
site, such as tucows.com, it will label such programs as freeware. You're
not talking about freeware. You're just talking about "open source" and no
one cares. If you're looking for a free, small, efficient program to view
pdf files, you shouldn't need to change the source. If you want more
functionality than a program like Foxit provides, you pay someone or write
your own.

The fact is, it doesn't matter if it's considered "proprietary" and
doesn't come with source code. If you can download it and run it and
never
have to pay anyone, it is free.

No, thats no-charge, not free. The software and it's developers do not
respect your freedoms as a user, therefor not free.

Foxit reader is also much smaller than your 7MB bloatware. Unzipped,
their latest version is one 3700KB exe file.

That's just how it's distributed with other programs in kdegraphics, which
contains all the optional graphics-related KDE packages (they're bundled
together because many people install them together whether or not they're
bundled; with free software, things get bundled because people actually
use
the software that way and not because of some marketing agreement).
Actual
program size is 41 kilobytes.

baloo@ursa-major:~$ ls /usr/bin/kpdf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 41K 2006-11-14 16:10 /usr/bin/kpdf

Foxit is *ninety times* that size.


What is 41KB? A compiled executable to view pdf files? Where do we
download it? Is it a standalone program or do you need other software to
run it?
Does it even run on Windows? Your directory listing looks like 'nix. This
is a Windows newsgroup.


.

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