Ted wrote: [...]
Therefore I don't recognise the situation Mark is describing, at any rate for the Reader viewer. If Mark is referring to other viewers, with which PDF is "hairy", gives "unhelpful error messages", etc., then my first reaction is "don't use that viewer". [...]
Yes, but given that some PDF files make both of the viewers I have here fail with cryptic messages, that leaves me with a choice of zero viewers. Not exactly the most readable document ever ;-)
But, in summary again, provided you use Acrobat Reader, in my belief here are no major problems with PDF unless it has been badly generated; with the caveat about Adobe software (not sure if this applies to Reader) possibly getting huffy about non-Adobe source.
That is a huuuge pair of caveats you have there. First off, if it's not free, it's not here (with one shameful exception AFAIK). Secondly, if their reader throws its toys out of the pram if non-Adobe producer software creates it, do you really want to support Adobe trying to pull a Microsoft? They're not really the most fluffy of corporations, as the current Sklyarov/Elcomsoft case and the resultant Adobe Boycott should show.
This difference in software may well be why I don't recognise the situation that you describe and view PDF as being a fairly bad format for document distribution. When is a standard not a standard?