My main gripe with the Adobe reader is how bloated it has become. It is no longer a quick download, and hasn't been for some years. This is on top of the philosophical issue over promoting proprietary software.
Yes, Adobe have corrupted the standard to the extent that an Adobe PDF file is now just a vessel for a whole host of other technologies, including JS applications, embedded documents in other formats, flash videos and applications, and proprietary sound files.
However, how about the story below for a bit of ammunition?
Indeed there are new security issues with Adobe every month, and the Internet is rife with viruses that exploit them. I read about one virus that had about ten different kinds of attacks for Adobe reader, and chose which ones to use depending on the version that was installed. I also read last year that Adobe software was the #1 source of security breaches on Windows.
Of course Free Software applications can be insecure too, but I gather that they are far more secure than Adobe reader, no doubt partly because they are A. Free Software and B. less widely used and therefore less of a target.
Improved security is indeed one of the benefits of using a FS PDF reader that we state when promoting the campaign. Out of interest the FSF in the states are about to launch their own version.
Thanks,
Sam.