Reader 11.0.4 on Windows XP SP2

[Necromanthus]

I had no problems installing the previous 11.0.3 Reader on a few computers with Windows XP SP2.

I cannot update them to 11.0.4 (the installer crashes during the installation process).

I tried both "lite" and "full" ( http://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/ ) installers.

On the other hand, now I see a strange limitation in http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Windows XP SP2 / English / Reader 9.5

11.0.3 runs perfect on all the computers with Windows XP SP2.

Why did you (Adobe) made these changes and what is the meaning of downgrading from 11.0.3 to 9.5?

cheers

[pwillener]

Not much modern software is really compatible with XP-SP2; most do require SP3.

I don't know why 11.0.3 ran on XP-SP2; see the system requirements at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html

[Necromanthus]

Pat Willener wrote:

Not much modern software is really compatible with XP-SP2; most do require SP3.

I don't know why 11.0.3 ran on XP-SP2; see the system requirements at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html

Hi Pat,

You did not answer to my questions.

Anyway, XP SP-2 is the most popular (and the best) OS in the entire IT history.

Even now, after 12 years, it hits 16-20% of the market.

That's why it's critical for any serious company (including Adobe) to keep the backward compatibility for its products.

For your information, I run Flash CS6 (up to date) and 3DS Max 2013 on XP SP-2.

Not a single issue!

I'm talking about 2 development dual-boot computers (XP SP2 32bit / Win 7 Pro 64bit).

A piece of advice to the Adobe Acrobat dev team:

Fix the 11.0.4 installer and make it work on XP SP2.

I bet you don't want to lose a significant "slice" of potential customers.

cheers

[pwillener]

As you probably know, I am not an Adobe employee, I am merely a user with a decorative MVP badge.  I do not know why 11.0.4 no longer installs on XP-SP2.  Have you tried the update patch (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5637) instead of the full installer?

As for XP-SP2: when XP-SP3 was released in 2008 I found it significantly faster than previous service packs, so I immediately updated everyone in the company I worked then.

I think (but I have no recent statistics) that SP3 is far more spread than SP2, but that hardly matters much, as Microsoft is about to pull the plug on SP3 within the next half year.

But I am pretty sure that Adobe will continue to support Windows XP, as it remains very popular in home and corporate environments.

[Necromanthus]

Pat Willener wrote:

1) I do not know why 11.0.4 no longer installs on XP-SP2.  Have you tried the update patch (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5637) instead of the full installer?

2) As for XP-SP2: when XP-SP3 was released in 2008 I found it significantly faster than previous service packs, so I immediately updated everyone in the company I worked then.

3) I think (but I have no recent statistics) that SP3 is far more spread than SP2, but that hardly matters much, as Microsoft is about to pull the plug on SP3 within the next half year.

4) But I am pretty sure that Adobe will continue to support Windows XP, as it remains very popular in home and corporate environments.

1) Pat, I tried all the available installers. The same crash with the same error message:

"The upgrade patch cannot install the Windows Installer service because the program to be updated may be missing,or the upgrade patch may update a diferent version of the program."

No problem with the 11.0.4 installers on XP SP3 and Win 7.

No problem with the 11.0.3 installers on XP SP2

So the dev team changed something in the 11.0.4 installer.

Why?

2) maybe not faster, but more stable and secure.

3) the statistics on july 2013 show around 50/50% the SP2/SP3 users.

And Windows XP the 2nd popular OS (after Win 7).

4) let's hope so.

cheers

[Test Screen Name]

Nothing has been downgraded, because the supported system requirements have not changed. SP2 was NEVER supported for Reader 11, and you were just lucky to be able to install it. Only the systems used by the most people are supported. Even Vista is not supported for Reader 11.

Microsoft dropped support for SP2 in 2010. I find the figure 16-20% market share of XP SP2 as interesting. According to http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 all releases of XP is 33%. You are saying that half of all people running XP are still running this crazy version without 4 years of security patches?

Message was edited by: Test Screen Name

[Necromanthus]

Test Screen Name wrote:

1) Nothing has been downgraded, because the supported system requirements have not changed. SP2 was NEVER supported for Reader 11, and you were just lucky to be able to install it. Only the systems used by the most people are supported. Even Vista is not supported for Reader 11.

2) Microsoft dropped support for SP2 in 2010. I find the figure 16-20% market share of XP SP2 as interesting. According to http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid =10&qpcustomd=0 all releases of XP is 33%. You are saying that half of all people running XP are still running this crazy version without 4 years of security patches?

1) Lucky on 5 different computers with all the upgrades between 9.0 and 11.0.3 ???

Very hard to believe ...

2) Approx half of those 33% XP users have SP2.

So as I said before, around 17% XP-SP2 users.

SP3 is a collection of security patches plus a few new (minor) features.

Most of the SP2 users have those security patches (got them via updates).

So there is nothing "crazy" in XP-SP2.

cheers

[Test Screen Name]

Yes, of course lucky. If you run something that is outside the supported systems it is just luck whether you read the system requirements or not.

According to what I read e.g. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179078/How_to_keep_Windows_XP_SP2_safer_after_Microsoft_stop... security patches for SP2 stopped in 2010. If this is true, all SP2 machines may have hundreds of unpatched security holes so I stand by the description as "crazy". But perhaps that article is wrong, in which case it is not crazy, but that doesn't change the system requirements.

[Necromanthus]

Test Screen Name wrote:

According to what I read e.g. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179078/How_to_keep_Windows_XP_ SP2_safer_after_Microsoft_sto... security patches for SP2 stopped in 2010. If this is true, all SP2 machines may have hundreds of unpatched security holes so I stand by the description as "crazy". But perhaps that article is wrong, in which case it is not crazy, but that doesn't change the system requirements.

Yes, that's true.

But in the past 3 years, the XP-SP3 users got only a few updates.

So the difference between an "up to date" SP2 and SP3 is a minor one.

On the other hand, most of people don't update their OS at all (the Automatic Updates are disabled).

And many of them didn't have any issue in the past years.

An up to date AntiVirus and Firewall is more than enough in 99% of the cases.

As long as you keep your OS as clean as possible ...

The main issue in the past 5-10 years (with any OS) is the bloatware, adware and spyware coming with some of the installed programs.

Many companies use this "cherry on the cake" in their products.

The result is terrible: security holes and wasted processing power.

Simply put: bad experiences for the user.

p.s.

Macromedia Flash 8 on a 8 years old Celeron processor runs faster than Adobe Flash CS6 on a Core i7 4770K processor.

So (much) faster hardware does not necessarily mean better experiences for the user.

You don't have to be a guru to figure out why ...

cheers

[Test Screen Name]

If your XP SP3 users only got a few updates, then something is badly wrong. I got 230 to date, almost all of them security fixes.

I agree with you about bloatware. New software is often no better, and frequently worse. Leaving aside security issues (e.g. with machines blocked from the internet) there are excellent reasons to run old machines, systems and software. If it was a good setup when it came, it is probably a good setup today. So long as you don't have to worry about interoperability, leave it well alone and just use it the same way day after day. I like machines like that.

So, why do you want to have your cake and eat it? If new software is undesirable, why are you fretting about getting the latest Adobe Reader on your nice stable XP SP2 systems? Surely not for its security patches, which is all that has changed!

I will leave this discussion now. Nothing I can say will change the situation: Reader XI is not and never was supported on SP2. "Not supported" is not the same as "could never be installed", but you won't interest Adobe in supporting it or finding why you have more difficulty than before doing unsupported stuff.

[Necromanthus]

Test Screen Name wrote:

So, why do you want to have your cake and eat it? If new software is undesirable, why are you fretting about getting the latest Adobe Reader on your nice stable XP SP2 systems? Surely not for its security patches, which is all that has changed!

I will leave this discussion now. Nothing I can say will change the situation: Reader XI is not and never was supported on SP2. "Not supported" is not the same as "could never be installed", but you won't interest Adobe in supporting it or finding why you have more difficulty than before doing unsupported stuff.

I think you didn't see the whole picture.

I'm one of those "cherry" makers (LOL).

I work with Flash and Shockwave (including beta stages) for 13 years.

My dev computers are dual boot: XP 32bit / Win 7 64bit.

All the Adobe products run perfect on my computers.

BUT ... there is always a "but".

If I publish something, I always check for backward compatibility.

So I have to be sure that a large market slice (the Win XP users) is covered.

To conclude, I have to repeat myself:

A piece of advice to the Adobe Acrobat dev team:

Fix the 11.0.4 installer and make it work on XP SP2.

I bet you don't want to lose a significant "slice" of potential customers.

cheers