Quick Summary: Adobe has rebranded Macromedia Breeze web conferencing software as Adobe Acrobat Connect. Adobe has also announced Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe Presenter, redesigned Acrobat 8 Reader and Acrobat 3D for CAD professionals.
In another expected move, Adobe has removed Adobe Golive CS2 from the Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 Premium to be replaced with Macromedia Dreamweaver 2006 [both are popular WYSIWYG HTML Editors]
Adobe Acrobat 8 vs Acrobat 7
The much awaited Adobe Acrobat 8, the quintessential software for creating and editing PDF documents, will be available starting next month. Adobe will also release a revamped Acrobat Reader 8 for reading PDF files around the same time. However, Acrobat 3D Version 8 will be available in early 2007.
Adobe has simplified the workflow for creating PDF documents inside Acrobat. Like other Adobe graphics software, Acrobat users are shown a task-based start-up dialog with the most commonly listed tasks like creating new PDF files, Review & Comments, Combine files, Create PDF forms or Digitally Sign and certify PDF documents.
The most useful addition is the new Acrobat redaction tool that helps you permanently delete confidential text information and picture illustration from PDF files before sharing them [More about Redaction Process]
PDF documents can be directly saved in Microsoft Word format retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables. [read other workarounds]
With Acrobat 8, you can also combine different sources like webpages, Microsoft office documents, visio drawings or even emails into a single PDF file. And as with previous versions, multiple PDf documents can be combined into one PDF.
In addition, Acrobat 3D 8 lets you export to varios 3D document formats and claims to produce a much small sized PDF documents. CAD users can also pan and zoom the 3D PDF files inside the Acrobat Reader.
Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional
Acrobat 8.0 has strong integration with Acrobat Connect [formerly, Macromedia Breeze meeting], allowing users to discuss with text-chat and edit PDF documents in a real-time conference. Adobe Connect professional also includes VoIP Internet phone calling and increased storage.
Acrobat Connect using Flash player so the clients need not download additional plug-ins or desktop client software like they have to do with WebEx or other web conferencing software.
Adobe Acrobat Reader 8
Adobe has given a facelift to Adobe Reader 8 interface with a variety of new document viewing options. Zoom in, pan over, or leverage the loupe feature to take a closer look. There are some new markup and review tools, customizable toolbars, and combined search and find.
Adobe Software guru Terry White walks us through the new features of Acrobat 8 in a screencast video. There's another Acrobat 8 Overview Video at Podtech with the Acrobat program manager.
Adobe Acrobat 8 Homepage | Compare Acrobat 8 Versions | Acrobat Connect Demo