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Acrobat.com Beta

Jun. 2, 2008 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

Adobe:

Work. Together. Anywhere.

Acrobat.com is a set of online services — file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing — you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. It's free, so sign up now.

Share
Send files to others for easy access while you maintain control.

Adobe Buzzword
Write and collaborate on documents anywhere, anytime.

My Files
Store your files online for easy access from anywhere.

Create PDF
Convert up to five files to Adobe PDF online.

Adobe ConnectNow
Meet live over the web and share your screen with anyone.

Get Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR
An ideal complement to Acrobat.com online services.

Related: From June through August, Adobe will be holding weekly online seminars to introduce Acrobat.com and its services.

So this is all a bit disjointed, but interesting. Adobe is calling its Buzzword online word processor the "first real Web word processor," and certainly it's nice looking. But I think that the weird physical separation of "Create PDF" and Buzzword in the UI is unnecessary and potentially confusing. It's all very attractive, however. I'm curious to see if this gets any traction. My guess is that those who really need to "write" (i.e. students, productivity users) will still prefer "traditional" Web-based word processors like Google Docs. (And how weird is it to call anything like this "traditional"?) Acrobat.com leans a bit heavily towards presentation for my tastes. (Mac users should love it.)

Discuss this Article 10

lotsamystuff
on Jun 2, 2008
"Acrobat.com leans a bit heavily towards presentation for my tastes. (Mac users should love it.)" Yeah, because when you're presenting things visually, it's great to, you know, look good visually.
Waethorn
on Jun 2, 2008
"Yeah, because when you're presenting things visually, it's great to, you know, look good visually." ....until it gets in the way of functionality. see: Time Machine
daProject
on Jun 2, 2008
How does Time Machine UI get in the way of functionality? Its actually quite nifty and serves its purpose well. And if you want to just browse a bunch of time dated folders, you can do.
RunTimeError
on Jun 2, 2008
"see: Time Machine" Spoken like someone who has never used it.
Waethorn
on Jun 2, 2008
"Spoken like someone who has never used it." WRONG! I've used it a few times before on Mac systems that I've had to service where the user's system decided to just conveniently remove certain files out of the blue. In one case, Time Machine didn't keep backups. I recommended a Windows machine to that user. To quote Paul: "the company mucked up Time Machine with a truly juvenile user interface" "The restore UI, as mentioned previously, is absolutely insane....not attractive or professional looking" Although, I do disagree with this statement from Paul: "Leopard will be attractive to a certain class of Windows users for the same reasons that Tiger was. Maybe you're a big fan of Apple's iTunes and iPod and want more software tools that work similarly" I have a real problem with this statement. Time Machine is absolutely in no way like iTunes. iTunes' UI is a giant Excel spreadsheet - much more "professional" looking (read: drab, in this case) than Time Machine. Apple put the UI luster on the wrong program.
tayme
on Jun 2, 2008
@Waethorn - You know...you are as much of an Anti-Apple bigot as "lotsamystuff" ever was Anti-MS. We get it...you don't like Apple, you don't like MS, you sell and support Windows systems - and from all indications, you are damn good at it. Stick to that, its your strong suit...leave Macs and Mac users alone. You do not use OS X on a regular basis...you are as unqualified to speak about it as an auto mechanic is to discuss the finer side of manicures and pedicures... On the other hand...when baseless rants come from the anti-MS crowd I will call them out, too. --tayme
daProject
on Jun 2, 2008
Waethorn So you have an issue with the starfield background and NOT the actual UI? Because all the starfield is is a wallpaper. The actual UI for time machine.... is a Finder window, or an iPhoto window, or an Address Book window. How this "gets in the way of functionality" I will never know.
Waethorn
on Jun 2, 2008
"The actual UI for time machine.... is a Finder window, or an iPhoto window, or an Address Book window. How this "gets in the way of functionality" I will never know." No, the UI for Time Machine is this GAWDAWFUL full screen mess that's overly dramatic and screams "LOOK AT ME! I'M YOUR BACKUP ON ACID! LET'S TAKE A TRIPPY WILD RIDE SHALL WE?". .... "This is Windows' Previous Versions" "This is the Cupertino photocopier on drugs" "Any questions?" BTW, tayme: :p (you're no fun!)
lotsamystuff
on Jun 3, 2008
"I recommended a Windows machine to that user." What a shock.
lotsamystuff
on Jun 3, 2008
Isn't it amazing how WaeThorninmyside took a conversation about the relative merits of Acrobat.com and turned it into an anti-Mac rant? FWIW, I think the Adobe offerings look fantastic, both from an aesthetic viewpoint and a functional one.

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