ASCE 37-02 Strange Behavior

[DaveVikingPE]

I bought an electronic copy from ASCE several months ago (following vooter's lead) and now, very strangely, it won't open. It won't open on several different computers and several different operating systems.

When I double-click on the .pdf file I get a dialog box that says "No updates available." and nothing opens. I had the file on a Windows 2000 machine, an XP machine and a Mac OS 10.4 machine since I bought this standard.

It's almost as though the file was "programmed" to delete itself after a certain time period.

I'm glad I printed out a copy...

I have a feeling that I will "discover" that part of my agreement to download the file was that I acknowledged it would delete itself after 6 months. I know that I agreed NOT to "install" (it's a .pdf) the file on different computers - but they're all mine, jeez... Shoot, I have codes in .pdf from that have lasted for years and years!

Anyone else have a similar problem with electronic files purchased from ASCE or elsewhere?

If it indeed came with a self-distruct mechanism, I would, as an ASCE member, request that ASCE not sell any of their standards in .pdf form. Lousy, rotten way to do business. I'm also not going to take any chances with my printed copy of ASCE 37-02 - they can't stop me from making backups of that! Hah!

 

[oldrunner]

Have you tried opening it with Microsoft Exployer running? I had similar trouble with a file similarly. I bought through some contract firm that's providing this service to, I think, the ASCE.

Later on I had the opportunity to tell them I would never buy a downloadable file like that again.

My solution is to print the whole file out and re-scan it as a new pdf file.

I hope this works. If this is the same system, think of the engineer out in the boonies with no internet access and not be able to access his codes.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

I'll give explorer a shot. I have a Mac at home and use Safari - and that won't aid me in opening the file.

Oh, re-scanning is the way to go. As well as a letter to ASCE - asking for an explanation. If they don't have one other than "time's up" there will be a rebellion.

 

[DSB123]

DaveVikingPE,
Be careful, I purchased a standard from Techstreet which allowed me to download to one PC only. The PDF file cannot be transferred to other PC's. Also you have to print the standard out before you download otherwise you lose the "right" to print. So I can view the pdf on one PC but not get a print out anymore. PS it was an ASCE publication I downloaded.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

...that's where I bought my ASCE 37-02. I knew about the "one PC" policy. This happened on my "one PC."

The more I think about it, the less I want to stir things up with ASCE. I like belonging to the organization but they could do better by their members. It's an expensive society, their standards are almost as expensive as AASHTO's - though applicable to a much wider audience, which means they have a lot of engineers who would buy the stuff; on top of that, their short courses are astronomically expensive - like $250 for a one-hour web-based seminar. That's a lot of money for lunch; I get a much better value by doing the MSC Steel Quiz during lunch.

So, I'm chalking this up to "lessons learned." 1. NEVER buy electronic copies of documents if there's any restrictions on them regarding printing, copying, etc. 2. Buy the hard copy whenever possible.