Adobe ConnectNow

Adobe gave us a very slick collection of tools when they launched acrobat.com.  If you have not checked it out, here is the run down of its free tools: web collaboration and screen sharing (like WebEx), document sharing and online word processor.  Since all of it is built with a flash interface, it is oh so sexy, and provides more of a desktop application feel than a web application feel.  Read the full text for the details. 

The first tool we'll discuss is ConnectNow.  ConnectNow is a web-conferencing collaboration product that provides a way to conduct live meetings over the internet and do full screen sharing. 

The business uses for this technology are many.  It is perfect if you need to show a client a presentation.  Or, if you need to help someone in a different office with a cool Excel feature.  If you want to hold a webcast for a few users, try ConnectNow.  You can even let the guest become the host and switch around.  ConnectNow is Adobe's entry-level free collaboration product.  It supports webcam, chat, shared notes, shared documents, remote control, whiteboarding, and up to 3 additional guests.  Adobe also offers bigger products (Adobe Connect Standard and Pro) that enable webcasts of over a thousand participants, plus recording and some additional enterprise features.

Through acrobat.com, Adobe has released Buzzword, a web based word processor.  While similar in concept to Google Docs in that document editing and collaboration is performed online, Adobe's offering feels more like a desktop application than a web application due to its sexy flash-based interface. 

Acrobat.com also offers document sharing, and enables the documents to be shared or embedded into websites and blogs.  The embedded document is displayed as a document image that can be scaled to full size, and is basically a little flash piece.

Well, if you haven't been there yet, its worth checking out: http://acrobat.com