RE: Creating PDF

> From: Shannon O'Donnell
>
> $230?  For ONE! utility! That's insane!  You can buy the entire Adobe
> Acrobat software suite, which comes with a free SDK so that you can write
> your own code, AND you have access to all the other tools that are part of
> Adobe, for $249.

Yeah, and you have to do it on the PC.  My tool is a green screen command,
as I believe Brad's is.  If you want to automate, a PC tool isn't much help.


> I fail to see how it's cheaper to buy Brad's tool (sorry Brad...but you
> could lower the  price of your software) when with just a little bit of
> effort you could roll your own.

We are fast becoming an industry where if there isn't a tool, it doesn't get
done.  The number of people asking things like "how do I convert a spooled
file to PDF" is increasing as opposed to the number of folks asking "where
can I find the specifications for the PDF format" or even "where is an API
to create a PDF file".


> Beyond that, there are the Java API's to create PDF files which are
> ridicuosly simple to use.  Joe Pluta and Don Denoncourt wrote a
> utility many
> moons ago to demonstrate this and I think Joe may still have it
> available on his website.

Actually, the APIs I used are not that easy to use, but we managed it, way
back in 1999.


> $230 for one utility.  Hmm...maybe I should stop writing free
> articles about
> how to build your own software and just start charging people for it
> too....:-)

I offered CPYSPLFPDF for free, with a request for a $50 contribution.  I had
hundreds of downloads and got exactly zero registration fees.  Our
particular niche of the industry doesn't seem very geared towards shareware,
Shannon.  Or even cheapware, as you well know.