Adobe today introduced Adobe Acrobat 8 software to provide knowledge workers tools for communicating and collaborating across the boundaries of operating systems, applications and firewalls.
“Hundreds of millions of users of Acrobat and Adobe Reader have established PDF as a trusted format that enables documents to flow between companies and across the gap between digital and print,” said Tom Hale, senior vice president, Knowledge Worker Business Unit, Adobe, in the press release. “With Acrobat 8, Adobe is enabling knowledge workers to use next generation electronic documents to easily collaborate with people, ideas and information, regardless of all-too-common operating system or platform constraints. With the addition of Acrobat Connect, they can take collaboration a step further to instantly and easily connect with each other in real-time over the web.”
For the first time, all of the Acrobat 8 products, as well as Adobe Reader 8, provide one-button access to Adobe Acrobat Connect software, a hosted software service that provides access to a personal meeting room for real-time web conferencing. Along with Acrobat Connect, Acrobat 8 further extends the family beyond simple PDF creation and now enables users to choose the most appropriate means for engaging others, through electronic documents or in real-time over the web.
The Acrobat 8 product line introduces several major innovations in the areas of document collaboration, PDF content reuse, PDF forms, packaging of multiple documents, and controlling sensitive information. For example, shared reviews put collaboration within the reach of virtually anyone with access to a shared network folder and Adobe Reader. A participant in a shared review can see comments posted by others, track the status of the review, and work even when not connected — reducing duplicated work and enabling large groups to collaborate more efficiently. Acrobat 8 also enables PDF content to be exported into popular formats to enable reuse and repurposing of content.
The Acrobat family consists of Acrobat 8 Professional, Acrobat 8 Standard, Acrobat 8 Elements, Acrobat 3D Version 8, Acrobat Connect, and Acrobat Connect Professional.
Acrobat 8 Professional for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, and Acrobat 8 Standard for Windows, are expected to be available in November 2006 in English, French, German, and Japanese versions. Acrobat 8 Professional is expected to be available for an estimated street price of US$449, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Acrobat can upgrade to Acrobat 8 Professional for an estimated street price of US$159. Acrobat 8 Standard is expected to be available for an estimated street price of US$299, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Acrobat can upgrade to Acrobat 8 Standard for an estimated street price of US$99.
More information on the Acrobat 8 product line is available online at http://www.adobe.com/acrobat/