Remember Writely? The little online web based word processor, one of Web2.0 darlings. Google had acquired Writely, incorporating it into their line of web based office suite, Google Docs.
Web based apps are the future. Few software based companies had notice this trend and are experimenting with web technologies and the possibilities. Adobe is one of such companies.
Adobe have been experimenting with the web space for sometime. They first had released Kuler, a web based application for generating color themes. Then they come out with a web based application, Photoshop Express that was hyped as the ‘web based Photoshop’. It’s not much of a Photoshop replacement just a basic image editing application. Nevertheless, it’s pretty impressive the fact that it’s web based.
Adobe’s new web app Buzzword is pretty impressive too.
Buzzword is Adobe’s answer to an online web based word processor. Buzzword was originally created by Virtual Ubiquity, a Boston-based startup, which had join Adobe System, sometime in December 2007.
You may notice that all three of Adobe’s web based application are powered by Flash technology. In the era of Web2.0 with Ajax being the hyped catch phrase, Adobe decides to use what they know best, Flash.
I’m not much of a Flash developer myself, and I do despised websites that are 100% Flash with long annoying Flash intro. However, in a rare occasion I sometime found a Flash site or Flash based web app, made in the right way. Desktop Tower Defense was one of it, and Buzzword is another, although I think Buzzword is somewhat a mix of technology, Flash and Acrobat (Flash Paper?).
If you are running Safari 3.1, you may find that Buzzword doesn’t support your browser, but it seems to support Safari 3.0, might just be a bug. Ignore the warning and just start the application.
When you sign-up, login and start using Buzzword, you will notice the ‘lickable’ user interface. Yes ‘lickable’ is a technical term for something beautiful, stylish, elegant and all around coolness.
I like the how the toolbar is presented. Functionalities are grouped together and represented as icons. Mouse over and click to reveal more. This simplify the screen and lets you focus your visual attention on the document.
Buzzword could be viewed as a direct challenge to Google Docs. Both of them are free web based application. Both of them allows comments and collaboration. Both of them pretty much does the same job, but Buzzword has a more appealing layout.
If Adobe is really serious in venturing into web based application business, then there is a new player in town. Who knows maybe in a near future, Adobe’s Flash based online office suite might take out Google dreams of web office, crash Zoho’s plans and defeat Microsoft’s dominance in office suite software. If this is the direction Adobe is taking. It is pretty far-fetched though.
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