TONY WALTHAM
Cloud computing is coming - indeed, you may already be aboard the next wave of computing if you use web-based email, such as Yahoo!, Hotmail or Gmail.
Google has been one of the pioneers in this space with Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, while Microsoft has seen the writing on the wall, as it were, and has launched Microsoft Office Live workspace (home.officelive.com). Other large companies with similar services include EMC with its free Mozy storage (http://www.mozy.com), and now Adobe has joined the fray, offering word processing, file sharing and storage up to 5GB, a PDF converter and web conferencing - and all are free to anyone who signs up at Acrobat.com.
I am writing this online in Adobe's word processor called Buzzword to get a feel for the tool, typing in my browser (IE 7, since Acrobat.com doesn't support Opera). Collaboration is the big new capability that Adobe is enabling and Acrobat.com offers a shared view of a single document, and it is possible for more than one person to simultaneously edit a file. There's also a chat feature that offers video and voice conferencing.
The word processor is easy to use and (English-only) text appears on screen as you type with no delay, while the Flash-based display is rich and highly-customisable. There is a choice of seven fonts, and when you have finished, you can export the finished document to one of several formats, and you are then prompted to download the file.
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