Beware the .EXE -- Post a PDF Please

I've always been somewhat unhappy about having to download documentation that's packaged via an Exe. I dislike having to run programs picked off the net, especially when they're unsigned and are just documentation. I can sort of see why distributing the original Word document might be sub-optimal.

In an interesting article, Planet PDF makes a great argument for PDF as opposed to .exe files Distributing documentation as PDF (or for the bandwidth challenged, pdf in a zip file) makes so much more sense. As firms begin to use Software Restriction Policies that limit what programs a user can run, there is a need to recondider the 'documentation via .exe' approach. I would hope all large firms that post documentation on the web listen to this argument and take notice!