Adobe Online Office Suite; Sweet!
Yes that title was fantastically lame, get over it. Here at BGR, we fully embrace anything and everything that takes us one step closer to never having to use any Microsoft Office application ever again. That’s right, we said it. In recent history of course, this means embracing the advent of online office suites. At the forefront of the online office suite movement is Google, of course. It wasn’t the first but Google’s suite including documents, spreadsheets and presentations has most certainly been the most widely adopted. Other contenders gaining ground include Zoho and ThinkFree, but none have come anywhere close to displacing the giant. Will Adobe’s offering come any closer? Probably not, but we can dream can’t we? First things first. The UI is pure unadulterated hotness. Based on Flash / Flex, the overall look and feel is awesome, transitions and animations are smooth and it’s very fast on a capable computer. There are a few elements missing though, so let’s have a quick run through:
- Buzzword – A sleek and capable word processor that allows easy collaboration and utilizes an excellent WYSIWYG interface.
- ConnectNow – A very well-constructed web conferencing / whiteboard app that allows real-time interaction; currently limited to three participants.
- Share – A feature-rich and versatile file sharing app; direct shot at offerings such as box.net.
- CreatePDF – Free basic PDF converter limited to five conversions.
- MyFiles – Online personal file storage with a great visual UI and 5 GB of free space.
So a few key elements are missing of course – can you say spreadsheets? This is an early release though and we’ll continue to play with it to see how it develops. The Adobe office suite tools are also accessible using an on-PC app built with Adobe AIR. Do yourself a favor and check it all out.
[Via RWW]
it would be interesting to see how they stack up to google
Never knew BGR were MS haters, why then do you bother reporting on WM and anything to do with MS? Dont be hypocrites, if you have an opinion/point of view stick to it and dont pretend you are being objective in relation to any MS products.
@ boogalooboy
I’m pretty sure their primary focus is not what they care about, but what their readers want to read. If they don’t care for MS, thats fine, but MS still makes gadget/tech news all the time, so to keep people coming back to their page, they report it.
@boogalooboy
You can (personally) dislike MS products and still blog about it. (Just be prepared for the backlash from Fanboys.)
No spreadsheet or Presentation App? The only thing that sounds interesting (to me at least,) is ConnectNow. And I’m sure Google will devise an answer to that using Gtalk.
Try it folks, Buzzword simply draws circles around Google’s online word processor. Its user experience is close to what you get from desktop office apps.
Buzzword far out performs Google Docs. Its user interface is stunning and the WYSIWYG is so good its scary that its created in a browser. The sharing capabilities are great. It lacks a few niche things like a full blown integrated Websters dictionary for synonyms and stuff but its great for school projects. Once the online functionality is there it will be amazing.
And there is a online Presentation software. Check out SlideRocket.com. They got a great thing going on and by the UI I have a feeling that they have been acquired by adobe and will eventually be added to acrobat.com
Blist is a spreadsheet like thing that looks kinda the same as well and works really well for personal stuff, not so sure about corporate settings or anything but the user reviews are great. It’s not like MS word though
Just wait for adobe to make them all AIR compatible and then the fight between the MS suite and Adobe will really begin.