Posting this in GQ rather than IMHO, only because I think there may be specific conditions to the answer…
As a person that rarely needs to convert documents to .pdfs, I cannot justify the cost of a full Acrobat license. I’ve used OpenOffice for the task of converting .doc and .ppt files to .pdf format. It has never failed me, but before I recommend it to a co-worker who is thinking of updating her Acrobat, I must ask the teeming millions - Is OpenOffice a good choice for the person who wants to occasionally “pdf something”?
Anecdotes, recommendations, personal experience also appreciated.
When I used it, it made a no-frills pdf that looked just as good as anything Acrobat could do. I don’t think the version I had (forget which one that was) did anything except make a pdf (i.e. no encryption, print protect, etc.). I don’t know if there are newer version that do all that stuff.
If you don’t need digital signatures, add and subtract pages from other programs, etc., it should be fine for them though.
She can always upgrade to Acrobat later if OO isn’t up to her needs.
Another option, also freebies, is Pdf995. This acts like a printer. In other words, you do a File, Print… from within Word, and instead of choosing your usual printer, you choose pdf995, and it produces a pdf document. They offer a couple more applications, PdfEdit995 and Signature995, which add more functionality. All are free, though each time you use one of them, it pops up a web page to encourage you to upgrade to the paid version, which, as the name implies, costs $9.95. Cute.
I’ve used ghostview also, but it has the disadvantage of requiring Postscript. Open Office / StarOffice eliminates the extra step of needing to run another program, and has the slight advantage of all its office capabilities. I’ve generate pdfs for complicated papers and presentations using it, without ever having a problem.