It's time for Adobe Buzzword to go on AIR

I have been hearing a lot about Adobe's AIR platform recently (for instance, they have now released it for Linux). In case you don't already know, AIR is a system that lets you run certain web-programs on your desktop, offline. Sometimes it takes the form of a Flex/flash app from the net ported down, or an rich application using APIs of a web-application (such as all the various Twitter apps, Pownce, Finetune, or the Google Analytics Suite).

Anyway, Buzzword is supposed to at some point have a version that is installable on the desktop, and I am looking forward to this very much. The features I understand that it will have are as follows:

1. Launch from desktop
2. Run without using a bulky web-browser
3. Offline use (edit while not connected to the Internet, and then synchronize when reconnected)
4. Better integration with desktop filesystem (I seem remember something about drag-and-drop support in and out of Buzzword; if this feature is not planned, it should be)

There are probably some other great benefits of AIR, but those are the ones that stood out for me. The reason that offline support is so important to me is that there are tons of computers that have really bad resolution. How does this relate? I'll tell you.

Let's say that I was at a location where there was one of these said awful computers; when Buzzword loads thereon, only about half of the toolbar is visible because the screen is set to 800x600 when it could easily handle 1024x768. Unfortunately, I can't get the permissions to switch the resolution, so I am stuck with it. The only real solution is to bring my laptop. The problem then is that they are terrified that plugging in outside laptops into their Ethernet will somehow spread viruses, trojans, worms, you name it, into their massive network and kill their systems. Now, there is no solution: I can't use their computers because they suck, and I can't use mine because I can't get Internet.

The only way to solve this problem is with offline support, and from what I hear, it is not too far away.

Buzzword down for maintenance at 12am tonight

I wonder if they will be adding anything new? Some fruits of the Adobe acquisition perhaps? Nah, I doubt it.

I do hope that they are back up and running soon, though; I will need Buzzword tomorrow afternoon...

Waiting to see who picks up SlideRocket

I am extremely surprised that no one has purchased SlideRocket yet (helloooo, Adobe, are you there????). I have been playing with it a lot lately, and have been extremely impressed.

Now, mind, I don't have any need for presentations, so my use of Sliderocket is merely self-entertainment, with fun, pretty animations, etc.

To give you a look at some of the fun things you can do in SlideRocket, such as neat animations, take a look at this unfinished presentation I made regarding my equally unfinished translation of Beowulf:

Perhaps this in it self is the best feature: the ability to embed SUPER-HIGH-QUALITY, Keynote-like presentations in a flash box on a blog, or a website. I mean, come on, look at those awesome slide transitions, and build effects!

Sithen erst I began to salivate over SlideRocket, waiting for my invitation, I thought of how cool SlideRocket would be if it were couple with a more mature app like Buzzword. SlideRocket and Buzzword are really in the same space, just for presentations and documents respectively.

Ever since Adobe purchased Buzzword, I have been thinking that it would be a great idea for them to snatch up SlideRocket too, while they can. SlideRocket, as it matures, is quickly becoming one of the coolest things on the net, and Adobe would be wise to add it to their collection.

Why Adobe's Purchase of Buzzword May Mark a Change in Adobe's Philosophy

As I said in my previous post, I haven't been on my site in a while, so even though I have been following my feeds (you can check out my link blog which is on my sidebar), I haven't "broken" any news.

So, despite the fact that the Adobe acquisition of Virtual Ubiquity is OLD NEWS, I feel the need to write about it, because I am very enthusiastic about the possibilities that could stem therefrom.

Adobe is one of the coolest companies around, I think, for one. The only thing I don't like about them is how insanely expensive their software is. Insanely expensive. Even so, each of their software products is the best in its market. That is why they can charge so much.

Buzzword, from Virtual Ubiquity, is also the best in its market (online word processing)*, but it sports one major departure from the Adobe product-line: it is super cheap. In fact, it's free. Now, don't get me wrong; Buzzword has a limited feature-set, and does not compare in professional-ness to other Adobe Products, like InDesign CS3.

But this is where it gets interesting. It looks to me like Adobe is endeavouring to open their products up to a new audience: people like me who have no money wherewith to purchase awesome, but insanely expensive products.

They have now purchased a simple but awesome word processor that will work on the Web from any computer with Flash 9, and will in the future work on the desktop. Not only are they making a neat word-processing tool accessible to everyone, they are making several extremely high-quality Adobe fonts accessible to people. With the addition of some more features, this could be a viable competitor to other companies in the same space. I think that the one major thing that will allow it to rise above Zoho Writer and Google Documents is simultaneous editing. I must admit, I have given up the usage of all other online and not-online word processors in favour of Buzzword, but one thing that I really miss about Google Docs and friends is the aforementioned feature, to be able to edit with a friend and not have the document lock out every time someone starts typing.

Adobe is also working on a consumer-level, free, online version of Photoshop, called Photoshop Express, which creates an easy way to edit photographs and make them look good, as opposed to really bad.

This program, like Buzzword, is built in Flash/Flex.

While this program does not provide the feature-set of full Adobe applications, it will effectively bring Adobe-style functionality to the masses.

I think that the acquisition of Buzzword and the creation of Photoshop Express mark this move that will ultimately lead inexpensive, yet high quality photo-editing, word-processing, and desktop publishing software for everyone (yeah, who wants to build InDesign in flex?????).

* I do not want to be misunderstood when I say this. It is difficult to pit Flash-based software against Ajax-based software, because they are so very different. An accomplishment in Ajax may be something that has been around forever in something like Flash, but the reason Ajax is significant is that it is (hopefully) fast, and more accessible to people on all sorts of computers.

How to try out the UI of Virtual Ubiquity's BuzzWord, without an account!

UPDATE: Virtual Ubiquity has asked me to remove the details of this hack, and I have complied (as you can see). This access point has been removed by VB. I have received an invite, so I will tell you about the actual product in a later post.

To the BuzzWord team: sorry for any inconvenience this post caused you, thanks the invite!

You can sign up for the beta by emailing your request to s1i2g3n4u5p[at]virtub[dot][com] (without the numbers; I did this at the request of BuzzWord, b/c they are getting a lot of spam from this site), but you probably won't get in for a very long time. I'll tell you if I get invited; if I am allowed at some point, after getting into the beta, to send invites to others, I will send them to my readers here.