AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Venture Beat

With the launch of a new site called Acrobat.com, Adobe says it’s ready to compete against online office products like Google Docs and Microsoft Office Live. For now, the site brings together three of Adobe’s office services — Buzzword for creating and sharing documents, ConnectNow for web conferencing and an “organizer” with 5 gigabytes for file sharing.

Despite the presence of other big players, Adobe could make some real headway in this field. After all, the best-known competitor, Google Docs, is favored primarily because it’s available for free, rather than for its limited functionality. Acrobat.com is free too, and in his announcement, Acrobat.com Product Manager Erik Larson says Adobe’s goal is to give users collaborative features without settling for a lower-quality product.

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