Re: PDF files on company Intranet?

On Mon, Jan 17, 2000, Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/15/00, Steven D. Jamar <sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Under current U.S. law if I subscribe to a print newsletter, I cannot
> > photocopy it and redistribute it within the company, though I can route
> > the printed newsletter to as many people as I want.
> >
> > But a pdf file is not print. It makes little sense to distort the
> > technologly so much by requiring deletion of the copy from one computer
> > when the pdf file is sent to another computer -- as opposed to simply
> > making multiple copies and redistributing it all at once. It also makes
> > little sense not to allow me to post it to a company bulletin board or
> > webpage for others to come and read -- just as if this were done with
> > hardcopies in a company meeting room or lunchroom or bulletin board,
> > etc -- even though copies will be made as people access that webpage
> > or bulletin board.
>
> Why does it make little sense? How is removing a copy of the .pdf
> file from the subscriber's computer distorting the technology? One
> could say the same thing about a transfer of a copy of software.
> Putting aside ill-conceived licenses for a moment, should people be
> able to keep copies of software, make multiple copies, and distribute
> them? How is that any different from what you propose? And posting
> a copy to the Intranet is *not* the same as putting the magazine in
> the lunch room. On the Intranet, multiple people can look at the
> magazine at the same time, whereas in the lunch room, it is unlikely
> that more than one person will read it at the same time and impossible
> to do it as easily and completely as on the Intranet.

There is a difference between a PDF file and computer software. The PDF file is a static document like a graphic. Software is like a dynamic calculator and compiles new solutions. To change a PDF file requires an Adobe Writer program which costs around $249. The reader is free. The Adobe Writer program can download a whole website and thumbnail it, bookmark it, annotate it and allow digital signatures to it. The Adobe Reader is just that; a reader. I believe only one file can be opened at a time, though I have not downloaded two Adobe Readers to test this.

Greg Erkins
<gerkins[_at_]gci.net> Received on Tue Jan 18 2000 - 11:04:17 GMT