I have had a look at Acrobat X. The download of the 30 day version is working fine. It looks good so far. The last couple of versions have been promoted around features that are not closely linked to PDF - video conferencing and Connect. This seems to be missing this time. there is still a link to Acrobat.com but mostly for storing PDF files. Connect still exists but is really another product.

3D has gone, another feature recently promoted and useful for engineers. So the main impression is that this is intended to make it easier to work on PDF as such.

However, the print features are not that obvious. In fact quite hard to find. Click on the toolbar and see what you can add. Adobe clearly think that the largest market is for knowledge workers who are assumed to be leaving print behind. The fact that if they have Acrobat Pro they can create a JDF to specify exactly any print requirement is just one of those things that are a bit of a mystery.

Meanwhile web to print sites are hiding all the JDF away. Maybe this is how people will prefer it, but I think this is a topic to return to.

I have tried out the portfolio feature again. I experimented with version 9 but I don't think it will be widely used. It requires the latest Reader and adds a Flash intro. As a menu it is rather confusing. I had several copies of Acrobat open at the same time. Maybe some organisations will like it as a way to distribute collections of files within a firewall but I don't think many portfolios will be found on the open web. Please add a comment if you know of some links.