Inconsistent naming conventions for Adobe Reader in software scan

Question

I just want to see if anyone knows why Adobe's free pdf Reader appears both as "Adobe Reader" AND "Adobe Acrobat Reader". I manage software licenses for an organization of 400+, and it's difficult to know if, for instance Adobe Acrobat - Reader 6.0.2 Update - 6.0.2, should or should not be counted as a purchased license without actually visiting each workstation to verify. I've spoken with our network operations personnel and they confirmed that it is not manually entered by our personnel, but that it is something in the software. ??
Furthermore, why are the naming conventions not consistent even among those that can be identified easily? The list below is what I see when I run a report for all Adobe software on our network.
Adobe Acrobat - Reader 6.0.2 Update - 6.0.2
Adobe Acrobat 4.0 - 4.0
Adobe Acrobat 5 -- SC Install
Adobe Acrobat 5.0
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 - 5.0
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 - 5.1
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 SC Support
Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional - 006.000.000
Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard - 006.000.000
Adobe Acrobat 6.0.1 Professional - 006.000.001
Adobe Acrobat 6.0.1 Standard - 006.000.001
Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional - 7.0.0
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.1 and Reader 7.0.1 Update - 7.0.2
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.2 and Reader 7.0.2 Update - 7.0.3
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.3 and Reader 7.0.3 Update - 7.0.4
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.5 Professional - 7.0.5
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.7 Professional - 7.0.7
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.8 Professional - 7.0.8
Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.3 Update - 6.0.3
Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.4 Update - 6.0.4
Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.5 Update - 6.0.5
Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01
Adobe Acrobat Reader for Pocket PC 1.0
Adobe Reader 6.0 - 6.0
Adobe Reader 6.0.1 - 006.000.001
Adobe Reader 7.0 - 7.0.0
Adobe Reader 7.0.5 - 7.0.5
Adobe Reader 7.0.5 Language Support - 7.0.5
Adobe Reader 7.0.7 - 7.0.7
Adobe Reader 7.0.8 - 7.0.8
Adobe Reader Chinese Simplified Fonts - 1.0
Adobe Reader Japanese Fonts - 1.0
Adobe Reader Korean Fonts - 1.0
If anyone can answer this, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Answer 1

Junlie et al,
Starting with Acrobat 9 (announced on 6/2/08), Adobe will support the new ISO/IEC 19770-2 standard for universal software tagging. The new standard will allow customers to correctly identify the name, version, type and licensing status of Adobe software (starting with the Acrobat 9 family and later on as new versions of the products are introduced later this and next year).
I DO understand your frustration with the in consistencies in the naming of our software, but the problem of software discovery goes well beyond our lack of discipline. This is one of the many reasons why Adobe invested time and effort with the industry group defining the new open standard, and in software asset management in general.
More information about tagging standard can be found here: http://www.agnitioadvisors.com/info/content/view/44/1/
- Juan-Carlos