Stupid Adobe Illustrator

I'm working on my poster for GSA, and I came across the most retarded bug ever. Illustrator CS2 cannot save a file into it's own *.ai format! The problem seems to stem from putting text in your file (required when making a poster) and saving a PDF-compatible file (makes it easier for proofing and printing mini-posters). A quick search on the internet comes up with a fix, which I shouldn't even have to do. You MUST install Adobe Reader 7 or 8, and copy a couple fonts from those install folders into the Adobe common fonts folder. It pisses me off that I have to have a different program installed to even save my work in Illustrator! Stupid!