Adobe Acrobat 8 Adds Videoconferencing--It's a BREEZE!

Hoooooooie!!! This is some news, ya'll. Check this out:

"Adobe has announced that version 8 of its Acrobat file-sharing product will have improved functions for multiple users to collaborate on documents including videoconferencing."

ZDNet announces that the new version 8 of Adobe Acrobat--not "Acrobat Reader" that ubiquitous download everybody (excepting the more opensource-geeky of us) seems to need to read the ubiquitous .pdf files everybody (excepting the more computer-display-rather-than-print geeky of us) seems to put up on the Web--will include enhanced collaboration tools including videoconferencing.

Wheeeeeeesh! Wooooooooot! This is very good news (cue the ominous music), or is it?

Well, it remains to be seen, now doesn't it. Adobe, having purchased Macromedia and thus gained possession of a truly nice desktop videoconferencing tool, Macromedia Breeze, has taken that puppy and integrated its functionality into Adobe Acrobat. The U.S. version of this service will initially cost users a 39 dollar subscription, or an annual fee of 395 dollars.

Now, anyone with even slightly better math skills than moi can see that's a great deal more than SightSpeed's 4.95 a month (or free) or iVisit's 49.95 a year (or free), but I predict that the fact that it's Adobe, ya'll, Adobe, I'm talkin', will have a greater impact upon adoption of desktop IVC than we've yet seen any product make. Heck I may even have to spring for Adobe Acrobat 8. This product's impact on the growth of challengers like SightSpeed and iVisit will be huge. Intuitively, one thinks it might be damaging, but ever the optimist, it might just make way for some really interesting competition (cue the nefarious giggle).

Don't take it from me: Read the whole article from ZDNET here!