RSSAdobe Acrobat 8 Adds Conferencing
By Nate Mook | Published September 18, 2006, 12:29 PM
Adobe on Monday introduced version 8 of its ubiquitous Acrobat PDF software as part of a minor update to its Creative Suite. The new release brings with it Web conferencing functionality incorporated from Macromedia Breeze.
In recent years, Adobe has endeavored to turn Acrobat from simple PDF creation software into a complete platform for digital publishing - even adding support for 3D imaging. Now, the company is looking to hook businesses with collaboration features.
In examples given by the company, Adobe says engineers can share product designs up and down the supply chain, while lawyers could circulate contracts for digital signatures and architects let clients review and markup blueprints. Built-in security will let users control what content can be shared and edited.
Large groups can collaborate on the creation of a single document by accessing it over a standard network share and using Adobe Reader. Acrobat 8 will also provide export functionality so content can be reused in other applications, Adobe said.
As part of the update, Adobe also rolled out its Acrobat Connect product that offers hosted meetings rooms. Connect was formerly known as Macromedia Breeze and utilizes Flash in a Web browser. The service will compete with the likes of GoTo Meeting and WebEx, with a subscription price of $39 per month or $395 per year. A version for businesses to deploy locally will additionally be offered, Adobe said.
Adobe Acrobat 8 will ship this November in Professional and Standard variants priced at $449 and $299 USD, respectively. Upgrades from previous Acrobat versions will cost $149 and $99 USD. Version 8 will also ship as part of Adobe Creative Suite 2.3, which now includes Dreamweaver 8.
Adobe should be able to add whatever features they think people in *FIVE* years would want. Yes, folks, it may be bloatware today, but on 8/16- core 16GHz-per-core machines, giving us "only" text+pics would be considered A JOKE. Just like with MSOffice - I personally don't use 90% of the features, but you can be DAMN SURE that the 10% of the features I LOVE, are very different than the 10% features YOU LIKE...HENCE THE NEED for the 90% "useless" features "for me". BLOAT IS GOOD. BLOAT IS THE FUTURE. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD PEOPLE.
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|Wrong.
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|THUD!
That is the sound of Acrobat 8 hitting the floor. No one is looking to Adobe for PDF anymore unless they're high-end PDF professionals who use its advanced features. Otherwise, for $99 (or free), you can get everything you need from many PDF apps. Acrobat 7 changed the file format and version 8 is doing it again. Earth to Adobe: you're bloatware is already bringing 64-bit systems to a crawl.
Just stop it. Adobe is dead to most consumers.
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|I'm not agreeing with what Adobe is doing (I'm still pretty pissed they bought Macromedia). However, I understand what they're trying to do. There are freeware and shareware solutions to print pdf files. I think OO has this built in functionality. So Adobe is trying to offer something extra to set their product apart. Having said that, I would be less likely to purchase Acrobat in the future with this added baggage. I like pdf files and they're pretty much ubiquitous on the Web. But if they keep this up I'll go with CutePDF, Foxit, or another solution. Heads up, though. CutePDF turns a document from a 100kb Adobe Acrobat pdf file into a 1MB CutePDF pdf file.
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|Adobe = Norton
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|We like foxit also but we see image display/print quality issues constantly with it on a wide range of PDF's. So it's not ready in our case for production-level work. home use it's great though...
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|I agree, mjm. It's a shame, too cause Foxit is almost there...
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|Good lord. Adobe - please just make this an available addon or something. It's already a 25 meg download to read pdf's. Thanks drumcat for the Foxit suggestion. Trying it and it's SO much lighter.
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|...agreed. Adobe keeps adding support for things, but when will they remove the bloat?
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|Even when I worked at Adobe, we'd use Foxit - just for this reason. Go figure.
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|"In recent years, Adobe has endeavored to turn Acrobat from simple PDF creation software into a complete platform for digital publishing - even adding support for 3D imaging. Now, the company is looking to hook businesses with collaboration features."
Here we go again--Adobe finally had to make Adobe Reader 7.0 have better performance on slower PCs or PCs with less than 512MB of RAM, but 8.0 looks to go back to their old ways again. Not to mention Adobe Reader 7.0 used more RAM than version 6.0 did, and although it did increase performance marginally, it had to "prefetch" and waste a buttload of RAM at startup in order to do it, resulting in less available RAM for other Windows applications.
Why am I upset about it needing 512MB of RAM or more, you ask? Because general-purpose business workstations don't NEED to be replaced but every three years or so, as they don't use many applications that need cutting-edge technology. Our Dell GX260s only have 256MB of RAM each, and Adobe Acrobat Reader has been a b**** since version 6.0. It is the ONLY reason we may NEED to upgrade.
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|Anyone know if it will work on a 64-bit Windows system?
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|this makes 2 of us. Acrobat 7 does not work at all on a 64 bit system. 64 bit Adobe applications would be the ticket, but if Acro 8 works with XP 64, that would be great
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