PDF Musings
Anyone may create applications that can read and write PDF files without having to pay royalties to Adobe Systems; Adobe holds patents to PDF, but licenses them for royalty-free use in developing software complying with its PDF specification.
There are many alternative PDF applications and online tools for creating, editing, and filling out pdf files. Some are free and some are paid, For the UC System, all applications should be on the list of UC Davis Approved Software.
Most browsers either have built in tools for converting web pages to pdfs or utilize an Adobe Acrobat plugin. This option can usually be found in the print link under the file menu.