and the ability for Adobe and Google users to
share documents without having to get an account
on the competing service.
Adobe launches competitor to Google Docs
Summary
Acrobat.com, an online collaboration tool designed to rival Google Docs, provides meetings and PDF creation at different levels of pricing.
Topics
Adobe has launched Acrobat.com, an online document collaboration tool that the software company is pitching as a competitor to Google Docs.
The cloud-based service, introduced in the United States on Monday, allows business users to collaborate on presentations and spreadsheets that are updated in real-time.
"Sometimes it's hard to work with other people," Erik Larsen, director of product management for Acrobat.com, said in a Friday press call. "Sometimes [circumstances] are inherently annoying. With Acrobat.com, work teams can be in multiple locations. Everyone understands the online medium."
No European launch date has been set for the service, which comes in both free and paid-for versions with tiered benefits. Depending on the package businesses opt for, users can share files, and create and password-protect PDFs. All the packages include online meetings, via Adobe's ConnectNow service, and use of Buzzword, Adobe's online word-processing tool.
The company has introduced two new tools for the Acrobat.com launch: Tables, a spreadsheet that can be edited and updated by multiple participants on the fly; and Presenter, which lets people collaborate on building a presentation. It also provides file storage online.
The service is compatible with Adobe Air and Adobe Reader. In the autumn, Adobe plans to begin an Acrobat.com smartphone service compatible with iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry and Windows Mobile smartphone operating systems.
Larsen said Acrobat.com will be a direct competitor to Google's online document collaboration service, Google Docs. He noted that the major difference between the two is that email does not come with Acrobat.com.
"We don't include email in this service," Larsen told ZDNet UK. "It's not a necessary solution for the future. To make things more efficient, you should bring people to documents, not send attachments in email."
However, Larsen added that it is possible to send email from the service using other email services, including Outlook and Gmail.
Adobe is not concerned about the future launch of Google Wave, Google's upcoming collaboration and communication platform, he said
"Google Wave will make a big splash, [but] it's a complex idea, and I don't think complex ideas work in terms of collaboration," said Larsen. "A survey by Acrobat.com asked business people if they knew the meaning of 'wiki', and only a tiny percentage knew what a wiki was — that's not a complex idea. We are focused on business people, focused on fun, and we're not forcing people to change the way they think."
This year, a number of critical security vulnerabilities have been found in Adobe Acrobat and Reader, and a patch released this week addressed 13 holes in the software. Larsen said that Adobe "takes security seriously" and said Acrobat.com will encrypt data traffic. "We follow industrial best practice," he said. "You can't get to the physical servers, and at the network and application levels we use SSL."
Larsen added that business people could regulate document sharing by protecting files with a password.
Adobe plans to introduce a Linux version of Acrobat.com, but Larsen declined to give a timescale. "It's a matter of finishing our testing," said Larsen. "We have aggressive plans for the end of the year."
For developers, Adobe will provide Acrobat.com APIs, and coders can use the Flash collaboration service to develop apps in real time.
The service is being launched in the US only. The free service allows two people to meet online, but they have no ability to create PDFs. A Premium Basic service at $14.99 (£9) per month, or $149 per year, provides online meetings for up to five participants, with 10 PDFs per month and phone support. The Premium Plus service costs $39 per month, or $390 a year, for up to 20 participants and unlimited PDFs.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.
Just In
the very last thing they want is for someone to defect to a competitor.
Google is pretty much open with everything they put their hands in... within reason. They open their APIs wide open, and the revolutionary Google Wave will be completely open to anyone.
Adobe.... What's the betting it will be fat, slow and security bugged? That's my experience of Acrobat PDF reader.
MS invented bloatware, Adobe perfected it. Life is too short to sit around and wait for the usual truckload of Adobe code to come down to the desktop and get assembled into something useable.
Just tried it and ran into a bunch of issues.
First, it wouldn't run on Google Chrome (not
compatible). On IE, pop-up blocker wouldn't
stop for Import Word doc (even after repeatedly
telling IE to stop blocking the site). Anyway,
after restarting IE, turned out to have a cool
interface and very nice rendering compared to
Google Apps, but a tad too sluggish to use.
You're right, it kind of reminds you of PDF
docs - render great but painfully slow.
Also, wonder why they named it acrobat.com if
they want this to compete with Google Apps.
First, it wouldn't run on Google Chrome (not
compatible). On IE, pop-up blocker wouldn't
stop for Import Word doc (even after repeatedly
telling IE to stop blocking the site). Anyway,
after restarting IE, turned out to have a cool
interface and very nice rendering compared to
Google Apps, but a tad too sluggish to use.
You're right, it kind of reminds you of PDF
docs - render great but painfully slow.
Also, wonder why they named it acrobat.com if
they want this to compete with Google Apps.
I think Adobe is too focused on paradigm-changing in
the way its apps function and how elegant they look.
Google apps may not be elegant but if you know how to
use MS Office, you have almost no learning curve for
Google Docs.
Also, I don't see very solid organizational
methodology. With G-Docs, you can organize in numerous
obvious ways--and, of course, search for what you
want. Adobe also has some organizational capabilities,
but doesn't appear to let you structure by topic,
folder, tag, etc.
I just don't think this is going to set the biz world
on fire.
the way its apps function and how elegant they look.
Google apps may not be elegant but if you know how to
use MS Office, you have almost no learning curve for
Google Docs.
Also, I don't see very solid organizational
methodology. With G-Docs, you can organize in numerous
obvious ways--and, of course, search for what you
want. Adobe also has some organizational capabilities,
but doesn't appear to let you structure by topic,
folder, tag, etc.
I just don't think this is going to set the biz world
on fire.
Acrobat.com has been out in beta for a couple of months and I took a look at it back then; but not recently. At the time it was fairly limited and because it is built with Adobe AIR, I suspected it was not very accessible to people using assistive technologies. At the time, I also didn't think Google had anything to worry about. But I will look again.
Sorry, not going to pay for something i can get for free at google. The limitations they put on the free part is crap. PLUS its seriously slow... no thanks.
And you shouldnt either. Anyone that puts their information "in the cloud" is asking for theft. If you want to protect your information, DO NOT use any cloud-type of service at all. Plain and simple.
Join the conversation!
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
Facebook Activity
