I run a process that uses PDFs created on a Mac with InDesign as background art in a Windows process. Everything works perfectly.
Since updating to CS4 with Acrobat 9 Professional I can't flatten the background PDF on a Windows system without the special characters (curly quotes, daggers, ect.,) converting to the Windows ASCII equivalents. If I use Acrobat 7 or 8 on a Windows system to flatten the background art the characters don't change.
Also if I choose Reduce File Size on the Windows Acrobat 9 Professional the embedded fonts get messed up in the same way. I can perform the task on the same version on Acrobat on the Mac or a lower version of Acrobat on a Widows system without a problem.
It is hard to explain to an AD agency that the proofs were wrong because we upgraded to CS4.
It is pretty hard to provide a universal type viewer when not all systems will have all the supporting files, so if you want to use special characters you must have the PDF include the metrics for the rendering.
George Kaiser