The list of companies offering free, Web-based word processors just got longer. Today, Adobe is entering the Webtop game (watch out, Microsoft Office) with its announcement that it will purchase Boston-based startup Virtual Ubiquity, the company behind Buzzword. Terms were not disclosed, but Adobe had previously invested in the startup through its $100 million venture fund. Adobe’s new browser-based word processor (Buzzword is currently in open beta) joins a crowded field that already includes Google Docs, Zoho Writer, Glide Write, ajaxWrite, ThinkFree, and . . . well, you get the picture.
But all that competition is not deterring Adobe. “The current Web 2.0 apps leave a lot to be desired,” sniffs Adobe product manager Erik Larson. “They do not live up to desktop apps.” Neither yet does Buzzword. But it does take several new steps toward closing that gap. Built on Adobe’s Flex development platform (which takes advantage of the ubiquitous Flash player), it’s fonts and typography easily match the fidelity of Microsoft Word. (Altough you don’t get as wide a choice of fonts right now in the beta, Adobe should be able to fix that). An Adobe AIR version that will operate offline is also in the works for sometime next year. (Google Docs will have similar offline capabilities when it is integrated with Google Gears, while Zoho has already done so).
“This is not an HTML editor,” points out Rick Treitman, Virtual Ubiquity’s CEO and a former exec at Lotus. “It is the first paginating editor that lives on the web. It is laying out the page and figuring out line breaks.” Buzzword also lets you insert tables and images, see every historical revision of a document, and share it with others. You can invite others to read it, to leave comments, or to edit the document. And, yes, it does have spell-check.
Buzzword’s drawbacks are that it is still slower than a full-fledged desktop application (not so much when typing, but when doing things like cutting and pasting); it doesn’t support hyperlinks (unconscionable for a Web-based app, though this is on Treitman’s to-do list); and there is no easy way to export a document to a blog or other Web publishing system other than cut-and-paste.
Soon, though, Buzzword will be integrated with another Adobe service launched in limited beta today called Adobe Share. This is a file-sharing app that is geared towards document sharing. You get one gigabyte of storage free and you can embed a Flash preview of your documents into any Web page, from which anyone can download and print a PDF (think Scribd or DocStoc on steroids). Even Microsoft is getting in on the game, accepting sign-ups today to an upcoming beta of an online document-sharing service called Office Live Workspace.
The worlds of the desktop and the Web are becoming more interchangeable every day. Now, if only Adobe could figure out how to turn those documents into actual Web pages, we wouldn’t have to mess with workarounds like embedded documents.
Join the party! As if there were not enough online office suites
interesting take on your TC40 winner Mint….
http://www.open...wesabe-and-mint
I’m a Buzzword beta tester and it is an amazing app. Can only get better with AIR.
The piece that I really like is the pagination, which I haven’t seen in most other online word processing apps. If something is going to eventually get printed, it’s nice to know where it’ll break.
Awesome!
Like John, I have been testing Buzzword for a couple of months now – and I am a big fan of Buzzword. The difference between Writely and Buzzword is almost like the difference between Word and Notepad.
http://www.blist.com
Are the document formats portable between all these apps, or does using one continue to lock you to a single provider, a la Microsoft Office?
Well I guess it will just be a little while and we will all be absolutely internetized. What kind of coaching / therapy will we need then if the biggest virus ever crashes the Internet? Just be aware…
I’m not yet sold on the web-based office apps yet. Wouldn’t it be better to port the web-based features into the desktop apps than the other way around?
I can more easily imagine sharing and saving online documents within something like Word than having to struggle with working within a browser. Having to manage windows/panels, keyboard shortcuts, drag and drop and OS integration all within a browser sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen.
Its a good move by Adobe, i wonder what Microsoft will do now.
Google is making sure now this (office suite) money machine for Microsoft is commoditized.
More and more players means more choice for customers and end on monopoly
“The current Web 2.0 apps leave a lot to be desired.”
I agreed…
Maybe now Google will view this a real competition and put more effort into their currently-crappy Office Apps.
The Buzzword SignUp doesn’t even recognize a German keyboard (where the @ is created as q.
I suppose I’m going to have a lot of fun once I start using the application…
While TechCrunch understands the German keybord, it ate my ALT GR:
I wrote … where @ is created as ALT GR q
Adobe Share is an interesting bit of news. This will be of concern to file-metaphor online storage services such as fluxiom.com and box.net. Especially if Share will display thumbnail images for non-raster file formats like EPS, PDF or native Adobe file formats like PSD and AI. This is where most other file hosting sites fail, other than fluxiom. Should be very good news for creative folk if it’s well executed by Adobe.
Adobe Share crashes for me on FF in OSX.
Versionate already offers document sharing for all types of Office documents, where as Share only works with PDF & Image files now.
It’s very interesting now that adobe is entering the space. So far all of the other big players (Google, Zoho, etc) are betting on web based office apps. Adobe seems to have more faith in the desktop world.
Adobe Share crashes for me on FF in OSX.
Versionate already offers document sharing for all types of Office documents, where as Share only works with PDF & Image files now.
It’s very interesting now that adobe is entering the space. So far all of the other big players (Google, Zoho, etc) are betting on web based office apps. Adobe seems to have more faith in the desktop world.