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Adobe Systems on June 2 introduced Adobe Acrobat 9 software, an upgrade to its popular document management technology that will transform the process of creating and sharing electronic documents.
San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe said Acrobat 9 delivers native support for Adobe Flash technology, the ability to unify a wide range of content in rich PDF Portfolios and access to real-time capabilities for co-navigating a PDF document with colleagues.
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Acrobat 9 also provides support for a new suite of productivity and collaboration tools that are being unveiled as part of a public beta, as reported last week in sister publication PDF Zone.
The new suite of tools gives customers an alternative to more onerous on-premise applications from Microsoft without having to sacrifice the user experience.
For the first time, Acrobat 9 provides deep support for Adobe Flash technology, enabling users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents. Recipients simply need free Adobe Reader 9 software to consume the content.
Acrobat 9 also includes the ability to unify a wide range of content into a single document with the new concept of PDF Portfolios. PDF Portfolios enable business professionals to assemble multiple media types, such as documents, video, audio, and even 3D objects, into one, compressed PDF file.
In addition, Acrobat 9 provides access to capabilities for collaborating live within a PDF document-enabled by working with Acrobat.com, a new suite of hosted services Adobe introduced as public beta today, the company said.
Acrobat.com Provides Collaboration and Productivity
Acrobat.com is a set of online services – file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and Web conferencing – that take advantage of PDF, Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR technologies to deliver online experiences that go well beyond traditional office productivity tools. Acrobat.com also is accessible through Adobe Acrobat 9.
Acrobat 9 users can access Acrobat.com for storing and sharing files, use it as a central location for collecting data as part of a forms process, and to gather comments in a shared document review.
Acrobat.com includes other services, such as Adobe ConnectNow, personal Web conferencing that provides desktop sharing, video and voice conferencing, and integrated chat; and Adobe Buzzword, a Web-based word processor that can be used to easily co-author and share documents for comment and review, creating high-quality print results.
“Fifteen years ago, PDF moved the world from paper to electronic documents without sacrificing print quality, changing the way we share information,” said Rob Tarkoff, senior vice president, Business Productivity Business Unit at Adobe.
“Acrobat.com extends that vision, moving the world from e-mail attachments to online collaborative documents without sacrificing authoring quality. With rich Internet applications enabled by Adobe, we can combine desktop and cloud computing to create innovative productivity applications that will change the way we create, store and share documents together.”
The Acrobat 9 family consists of Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro and the new Acrobat 9 Pro Extended software. The most comprehensive member of the family, Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, includes Adobe Presenter software for easily turning Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into multimedia experiences that can be published as PDF files.
Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat 9 Standard for Microsoft Windows, and Acrobat 9 Pro for Mac OS X, are expected to be available by July with upgrades starting at $99 for existing customers and going up to $699 for a copy of the new Pro Extended version.
Dustin Wax, professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and manager and editor of http://www.lifehack.org, said that Buzzword is a new approach to online word processing.
“It looks like actual printed pages, which is not only great from a design standpoint but also helps non-tech-savvy users get started faster and create better quality work together,” he said.
Adobe officials also said the new Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro software will be integrated into Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium and Standard editions, Creative Suite 3.3 Web Premium and Creative Suite 3.3 Master Collection editions. Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium also includes Adobe Fireworks CS3 as a special offering for designers who need to rapidly prototype and generate Web sites.
“Adobe continues to expand its leadership and innovation in PDF to serve designers, developers and content providers,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “With Acrobat 9 we’ve combined the power, reach and richness of two ubiquitous technologies, Adobe Flash and PDF, to empower customers to create engaging experiences, prepare high-quality PDF files and collaborate more efficiently.”