Common Software Terms

Viewer vs. Editor

For many people, who create documents for e-mail or print, do things the old way and use a file format that is edited and viewed by the same application, so that they can make changes, and they just assume that every on else has that specific program. The Internet is based on the concept of open standards and on the idea of having file formats that don't require people to buy a specific program just to view the file.

On the Internet, you run into many read only viewing applications called web browsers, PDF readers, and Flash Player which are given away for free. Web pages and PDFs can both be created and viewed by any programmer that wants to write a program to do so, without paying any money and they work seamlessly, because the blueprints are available for free.

This is the direction the future is moving in. Sending Word documents that require people to pay hundreds of dollars to view your work is considered rude and outdated. Even on Windows there are many totally free ways to create PDFs from any document. You do not need to use any Adobe software to do so. Just as there are many free web browsers, there are also many free PDF readers as well.