Web-based Computing with Acrobat

Recently, I wrote that I wanted to 'un-tether' myself from my home computer, and signed up for some of the web-based Google Apps services or Cloud Computing, as they call it. The premise is that you use the computing power of a central server and keep all your documents in one place. I also recently had a chance to take a look at some of the offerings by ADOBE.

ACROBAT.COM, is a flash-based set of applications run directly from the internet – Buzzword, ConnectNow, Create PDF and Share, and MyFiles. Buzzword is Adobe's Word processor, ConnectNow allows live video-conferencing with the web, and MyFiles allows the user to organize and store files online - right now, Adobe is giving 5 Gigs of storage and a trial of PDF creation (up to 5 documents).

The exciting part is the ability to easily share documents, thus eliminating the need for large email attachments. With Share you can easily keep track of who has viewed which documents and give permission to people outside your company to access documents and make comments. Everyone's comments can be viewed, noted and collated into a final document. In the past, there would have been multiple copies available in the form of different email attachments – this would be eliminated with the share ability.

After viewing the demonstration it's fairly clear that Acrobat is slick and easy to use. With its simple flash-based design, changes are easy to make and graphics are very simple to add and manipulate within a document.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOGLE 'CLOUD' AND ACROBAT.COM

There are some key differences between Google's and Adobe's offerings. Google also offers a spreadsheet, whereas Acrobat does not (yet). With Google, you have the ability to host your email services directly with them. You can imagine the cost savings by not having to host your own email – not having to pay technicians or buy an additional computer. This is in addition to Gmail (that many people already use) which Google already offers – you can have the ability to have your own domain name as your email address mostly for free.

Adobe seems to be focusing more on content/web-based creation right now and creating a simple and convenient environment to work in – by using technology that is already proven and widely-used (flash). It seems that Acrobat.com would still be used in conjunction with your current network – you wouldn't be getting rid of some of your software or hardware just yet.

THE FUTURE

One thing is clear, the future of 'Cloud' computing, whether or not you use Google or Acrobat is very exciting. In this age where we use multiple computers, it's getting annoying having to carry a USB thumb drive around with all our documents. The old paradigm of emailing documents out and waiting for feedback will soon be a thing of the past.

Another thing is also clear – competition is heating up and I wonder who will ultimately win if it turns out to be a bit of a battle …

Will it be the company with the best interface or the company that provides the best integration or all-in-one solution?

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