Adobe today announced that new version of Adobe Reader is available as a free download. Adobe Reader 8 enables trusted information exchange between enterprises, government agencies, constituents and consumers who view, print, search, digitally sign and collaborate with PDF files. Adobe Reader 8 also features a new "Start Meeting" button that launches Adobe Acrobat Connect (see separate press release issued today), an Adobe-hosted software service that provides real-time online collaboration through Adobe Flash Player.

Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player, installed on over 700 million connected PCs and devices worldwide, engage people across a wide array of different channels, enabling collaboration and delivering richer, more interactive experiences that work consistently across multiple platforms.

"As people increasingly communicate and collaborate across the Internet, Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Connect enable an effective workflow around documents, reliably reaching people around the world," said Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and chief software architect at Adobe. "The new streamlined user interface and graphics acceleration in Reader 8 will enable people to more easily engage with ideas and information."

Adobe Reader 8 features a new, streamlined interface with user customizable toolbars. Adobe Acrobat Professional users can now enable Adobe Reader users to fill and submit forms, save data and digitally sign documents. Adobe Reader 8 also features graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, which boosts performance when viewing graphics-intense PDF files, such as 3D content.

Managing access to mission-critical information across multiple operating systems and devices drives organizations to standardize on PDF, including PDF ISO standards for archiving and print production. Adobe Reader 8 and PDF empower businesses and government agencies to more securely communicate with their partners and customers, inside and outside the firewall. IT Managers who apply advanced document control to manage the distribution of confidential information can rely on Adobe Reader 8 as the trusted document and forms viewer for the enterprise.

"We provide a full range of healthcare and financial benefits to over 26 million of our nation's veterans and their families," said Mary Stout, chief of forms, publications and records management services for Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA). "Using PDF, which combines the look of paper with XML business logic, and the free Adobe Reader, our clients can fill out mandated PDF forms online, submit, print and save copies to their desktop. This streamlined process provides substantially faster online forms processing and helps the VHA comply with the Government Paper Elimination Act and Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Continuing Adobe's commitment to an open ecosystem, Adobe has published the Sixth Edition of the PDF Reference, a free guide for developers implementing the open PDF specification in third-party products and plug-ins. The PDF Reference, complete with the current PDF 1.7 specification, can be downloaded at www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html .

Additionally, the Adobe Acrobat 8 Software Development Kit (SDK), which contains documentation and tools that developers need to build Adobe Reader and Acrobat plug-ins, is a free download at http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/acrobat/ .

Adobe Reader 8 is now available as a free download at http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader/ , and is available in English, French, German and Japanese versions. Chinese and Korean versions are expected to be available in early 2007. Adobe Reader 8 is available on Windows and Mac, and is expected on Linux, HP/UX, AIX, Solaris and SPARC platforms in 2007.