jeffcoughlin.com

Adobe Connect Plugin for OS X Leopard Fix

If you were like me and upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5 when it was released and used Adobe Acrobat Connect (either Pro or basic version) to give presentations then you were likely not too happy with the random crashes while screen sharing.

I had called Adobe tech support multiple times and was told that they were working on it. Finally in May tech support told me they had a fix for it. Essentially you just need to manually remove the old plugin and it will automatically be upgraded to the new version the next time you attempt to connect to Connect (read the article for full details). This worries me a little... Should I randomly delete these going forward in order to check for a new plugin version?

From that point on it has worked great for me. Unfortunately I had essentially paid for 6 months of an annually-priced product that wouldn't work. I recently renewed my annual license and was told I would not be refunded for the 6 months of the non-usable product. But at least I'm good going forward. I suppose I only have myself to blame. I should probably wait at least a half-year before upgrading to any new OS... what can I say? It's the geek in me :).

Comments (Comment Moderation is enabled. Your comment will not appear until approved.)
Dan Russell's Gravatar Glad to see it's working for you. I remember how frustrating it was when you were trying to use it from DC.
#1 by Dan Russell | 8/6/08 3:52 PM
Matt Woodward's Gravatar Nice--been experiencing these random crashes on a couple of my Macs as well. Ridiculous IMO that they won't make good on the time when the product was unusable--if they officially said OS 10.5 was supported (and I don't know that they did ...), then six months is a ridiculous amount of time to wait for a fix for something you're paying for.
#2 by Matt Woodward | 8/6/08 10:23 PM
andy stewart's Gravatar Personally, I use Showdocument for online teaching and web conferencing. I'm not saying these programs aren't good,
But I think a web-based application is always better, since there's nothing to download or install.
try it at http://www.showdocument.com . -andy
#3 by andy stewart | 9/17/09 8:31 AM
Jeff Coughlin's Gravatar That looks like a nice product (thanks!).

But what do you do when you need to screen share? (which I need 95% of the time that I use Adobe Connect). Do you use an extra tool?

Other than that, ShowDocument looks pretty good for document sharing and web meetings. And free is always a good thing.
#4 by Jeff Coughlin | 9/17/09 9:11 AM
andy stewart's Gravatar No problem, Jeff (=

Hmm it seems like the latest version of skype offers screen sharing.
I'm not sure if it has all the features you need, but try it.

-Andy
#5 by andy stewart | 9/17/09 9:34 AM
Jeff Coughlin's Gravatar Using Skype would defeat your original reason not to use Adobe Connect because it requires a separate download / plugin (Flash player 8 or better). Since Flash Player penetration is over 98% of web users (they already have it installed) and Skype is drastically lower (I'm guessing 10% or less), I would definitely want to stick with Adobe Connect (or a similar product) for screen sharing. I have never had a client say to me "Wait while I install this plugin" or "I have to get permission from IT to install this plugin", but I have a strong feeling that would be the case with Skype (and I'm betting many of their IT departments won't allow them to install Skype).

I suppose one nice benefit of using those other products is that they would be free (where Adobe Connect costs ~$400 (and up) annually if you want to have more than 3 people in the room (otherwise you can use their free version of the product)).

ref: Adobe Flash Player penetration http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashp...
#6 by Jeff Coughlin | 9/17/09 11:15 AM
andy stewart's Gravatar I didn't think of that - and I guess you're right, with flash's high usage percents. Though It would be interesting to see Skype's statistics as well, For accurate comparison. Anyway, thanx for the info.
#7 by andy stewart | 9/21/09 5:58 AM
Mike's Gravatar The main thing in such cases is to learn the lesson. But on the whole it is bad that they didn't return you money or at least they could count it for the next months.
#8 by Mike | 4/28/10 1:14 PM



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