Archive for June 2nd, 2008

Adobe ConnectNow


Screenshot of Adobe ConnectNow

There’s been a great deal of chatter recently in the wake of Adobe’s two-fisted launch of acrobat.com and Acrobat 9. As Erik Schonfeld from TechCrunch elaborates ["Webtop Watch: Adobe Launches Acrobat.com and Releases Acrobat 9 (With Flash)"]:

“Acrobat.com is a combination of three recently launched online services: Adobe Brio (online meetings), Adobe Buzzword (online word processor), and Adobe Share (online file sharing). Thus with the public beta launch of Acrobat.com, Adobe is taking on Google Docs, Microsoft Office Live Workspace, WebEx, and GoTo Meeting—all at the same time.”

I have of course taken the opportunity to test drive the suite of tools that constitutes acrobat.com, however the program that has captured the bulk of my interest is their web conferencing offering - ConnectNow.

Having spent the better part of 2.5 years facilitating web conferences using Connect’s predecessor Macromedia Breeze, I’ve been taken back by the relative absence of web conferencing service providers.

There are of course Elluminate and WebEx, as well as what one might call lesser-known providers. However in light of the Instant Messaging wars between powerhouses like Skype, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN, as well as emerging livestreaming services like Justin.TV, Ustream.TV and Yahoo! Live, you would have assumed that someone would have recognised the gap in the landscape for a widely available high quality web-based conferencing provider.

Online video is an absolutely HUGE niche right now, so this absence has always been a mystery to me. In that sense the emergence of Adobe ConnectNow is long overdue.

I devoted the better part of 2 hours this evening to evaluating ConnectNow, and as Schonfeld mentions in the TechCrunch article, it is a somewhat lightened version of Adobe’s other webconf offerings. Perhaps the most noticeable gap in functionality is the inability to upload and display PowerPoint presentations in a pod within the main session. In my experiences with web conferences, next to the audio-visual elements this is the most frequently requested activity. The fact it’s been left out (at least so far) is truly surprising.

The screen sharing tool will let you conduct PowerPoint presentations, however in order to do this the bulk of the application disappears from the perspective of the presenter. So effectively the opportunity to present your slides comes at the expense of your ability to see much of the rest of the ConnectNow toolset.

(NB: I can only compare ConnectNow with my knowledge of Breeze given I haven’t had the opportunity to evaluate Connect yet.)

Perhaps this omission is an attempt to motivate users to invest licensed copies of Connect; however I would hazard to say it will be a deal breaker for many users.

This factor aside thought, the rest of the toolsuite offers a great deal of functionality and flexibility while retaining fairly userfriendly sensibilities. In addition to the audio-video chat functionality there is a whiteboard tool, filesharing pod, shared notes and agendas, teleconference dial-in support, and of course the screen sharing option.

The latter opens the door to presenting any file format or program to the meeting - regardless of how obscure or rare - because the meeting is relying upon a single machine to provide the software and file rather than all having to have duplicate copies.

In terms of obstacles to uptake there are those who argue the 3 location restriction may be significant. For example Sarah Perez from ReadWriteWeb argues (”Adobe Launches Online Office Suite and New Flash-Enabled Acrobat 9“):

“The only drawback to ConnectNow is its limitations in terms of number of people. Currently, only three people can use the service simultaneously, which limits its ability to offer a true alternative to a business’s current web conferencing solution.”

This is true to a degree I think, but I don’t think it’s going to be a deal breaker on a wide scale. This is especially true given the increasing popularity of web conferencing rooms that cater to groups of 5 or more people. In this case the restriction of 3 would refer to locations and not people. For example if 3 universities linked up 3 web conferencing rooms, each with 10 people, you’d have a meeting of 30 people; not just 3.

Trying to conduct a web conference containing 30 people isn’t a particularly good idea though of course as each individual would have very few opportunities to participate. Equally importantly is the fact the cameras would have to zoom back exceptionally far to capture all the attendees, meaning each individual appeared microscopic on screen.

Nonetheless the fact remains that we’re talking locations, not just people.

All that being said, ConnectNow is a welcome addition to the field of web conferencing and I will continue to track its progress with interest.

References:

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

web communication No Comments