Dov, I am not sure I understand this: "the PostScript generated by InDesign is optimized strictly for PostScript printing and absolutely not for PDF generation" ...
Just piping in here, as we are setting up our print workflow on new Windows 7 workstations, not just upgrades, new computers, while also going from CS4 to CS6.
At the risk of initiating verbal abuse from people who do it differently, the reason we set up a single distilling target on our internal network to begin with was so all the files generated from different workstations would be consistent. We use the Distiller "watched folders" method.
Final pages have specific naming conventions that differ from the nomenclature used internally (numeric codes required by the printer, inside-baseball titles required by the editors), and most certainly specific color profiles.
If the page has any RGB we get a call-back and may get charged a fee for correction. We get a call back if there's color in grays or blacks, as we pay more to print color pages than we do for black and white. There are density limits on CMYK.
The specific page sizes, and sizes of individual ad pdfs within the pages, are very precise, as they obviously would be. Acrobat already rounds the dimensions when viewing. #annoying
Every PDF we need to create a single print issue gets placed in the same network folder, accessible by all. We have the printer codes on the master template pasteboards to make it easy to remember what they are... and so updated pages or ads get saved over the ones that need correction, with exactly the same name in exactly the same place.
We are not fascists about people's personal workstations, so some rogues may indeed have anomalous preferences out there. But as I said, the final result has to be consistent.
We put no restrictions on files we get from clients, but we redistill them, to make sure they meet our profiles and settings. (I am sure someone's head just exploded reading that.)
You don't undo 15+ years of a foolproof workflow overnight!
But maybe we can change. I am open to it. My IT guy even pointed me to this discussion and said, hey, can we do it this way?
I do in fact use the Export to PDF or Print to PDF -- ALL THE TIME -- for files that aren't going to the printer.
But meanwhile, to go back to the original question: I chose to Add a Local Printer in Devices and Printers, choosing FILE: Print to File, and using the Adobe PDF Converter as the printer.
In InDesign, the Printer is PostScript File, PPD is Adobe PDF. And I am still updating my Print Presets.
We haven't fully implemented the new machines... there's still time to tell me how to do this better! Whaddya all think?