adobe acrobat 7 activation nightmare - maybe OO is the solution?

I installed Acrobat 7 standard on my old computer. When that computer died, I tried to move the license to my new computer. When I try to use it, I get a message saying I have exceeded the permitted number of installations. I cannot uninstall the initial installation because that computer doesn't work. I have spent hours and hours on the phone trying to get a solution. I have made over a dozen phone calls to Adobe. I have gotten over a dozen new activation codes, each one of which is supposed to solve the problem, but doesn't. I am pretty sure Adobe are paying their customer service folks to just drag the process out and give customers the runaround until they give up. And I'll admit, I'm close to giving up.

Evidently I am not alone in this experience: http://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/493/i-hate-adobe-activation

Is the only way to get Adobe to fulfill its side of the bargain by blogging about it? Or can someone tell me if there is a way to make Adobe actually solve the problem?

Otherwise, can someone tell me if OO Draw's PDF-editing capacity is comparable to Acrobat 7 standard? I use Acrobat to re-arrange pages, add headers and footers, "typewrite" on non-fillable forms, and that's about it. Can OO do that?

Thanks to anyone with insight on this.

I feel your pain.  If you have the money, then nothing beats the Adobe suite of products.  However, for most nonprofits, one of several free tools often does the trick.

Check out this video. There you might find some cool tools that might help you get by in the meantime.

As far as I know, OOo does *not* have the same PDF editing capabilties as Adobe Acrobat.  There are lots of 3rd party tools out there that supposedly help do that, and there are supposedly some cool OOo plugins on the horizon, but I haven't played with them yet.

(When I need text, I tend to just open up a PDF in GSview and just extract the parts I need, if it's locked. I rarely need to edit a PDF and leave it relatively intact)

The way Adobe activate software is inane and utterly amateurish for such a large company. You are not the first I have heard complain about this (and I'm sure not the last). We dropped Adobe products from our software inventory due to the continual hassle of getting anywhere with Adobe support.

For alternatives (there are many) I suggest you just Google 'edit PDF' and look at all the options with regard to your budget and requirements. If nothing else you will definitely save some money by giving Adobe the flick!