Adobe, never one to rest on their laurels have released the next version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Version 4.0 now sports a clean interface which is more in line with the Adobe product family. Although the power behind Acrobat Reader is truly Acrobat 4.0, there are still some interesting features to be found is this free, downloadable product.

Adobe Acrobat Reader. It has become as prolific as SimpleText onto everyone's system and yet there is always that one person that you send your resume out to or their brochure comp that don't have a clue to what you are talking about... "Acrobat, what? Is that in my system folder?" But you can't hide from that fact that it is everywhere. Need a particular form from the government? Better download Acrobat Reader first.

So what can I say about an application that is almost so mainstream it's not even funny? Why bother reviewing something that everyone should have anyway? Well, I think it is always good to step back and take notice of the simple things in life. Adobe didn't have to feed us this version. But they did. And am I sure thankful for it.

When you first launch the application, right away you are taken back by how stylistic the interface appears. It is actually a step beyond most of their flagship apps. The entire toolbar can be collapsed and we finally have palettes and key commands that make sense. One of the thing that I know irked many people, myself included, is the fact that prior versions had very little key commands and the ones they did have were so esoteric - why bother learning them. There wasn't even the standard Command or Control-Spacebar Zoom control until this version which is very odd that it took Adobe four versions to pick up on this. But now we have it all and we can go about our business. Act like nothing ever happened.

All in all the application is solid and I see nothing wrong with it. I would have liked to seen the inclusion of notes within the Reader since it is so vital to the whole thing, but now I am nit-picking. It would be great if Adobe could develop a stand-alone viewer for their Acrobat files so that people didn't have to bother installing the reader application at all. But again, these are just wishes.

Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 is available for download from Adobe's site.

InSummary: A solid piece of work. Adobe has finally looked on the Acrobat product family with the same loving attention their other products receive. Key commands that make sense and palettes are long-awaited features included in this upgrade. Unless you really love the feel of paper, I would recommend pointing your browser to adobe.com and downloading this free update.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Just download it, what are you waiting for?