Acrobat 9: The Web/Desktop Hybrid for Documents

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REVIEW: When it comes to document collaboration and sharing, there can be little argument that most of this activity is moving to the web. But there can also be little argument that the current slate of Web-based tools come up short in features and capabilities when compared to desktop tools.

Perhaps what is needed is a hybrid approach, something that combines the strong feature set of a desktop application with the easy collaboration of a web-based approach. If this is truly the case, then Adobe may be on the right track.

That's because the latest release of their flagship Acrobat document platform is definitely focused on combining Acrobat's strong document editing and creation features with broad web-based collaboration, sharing and conferencing tools.

To do this Acrobat 9, which was released in June, relies heavily on the recently released Acrobat.com to provide web-based collaboration and sharing tools, as well as leveraging other products from the Adobe portfolio to add conferencing and live document reviewing features. And while there are few completely new capabilities in the core Acrobat feature set, many of been overhauled and improved to such a degree that they feel like completely new features.

Firefox 3: The Next-Generation Web Browser

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REVIEW: At first glance, it doesn't look that different from previous versions of the browser. And while there are nice improvements from a usability standpoint, there's nothing radically different for Web users.

But appearances can be deceiving. And with its release today, Firefox 3 is poised to usher in a new phase of Web browsing that will change how Web applications are built and delivered, and even how most of us use and think of the Web.

That's because most of the innovations of Firefox 3 are under the covers. Among the major new features in Firefox 3 are its offline capabilities and its ability to seamlessly interact with Web-based applications and services. With these enhancements, Firefox 3 makes it possible for sites to deliver applications and content that people can use—even when they aren't connected to the Internet—and that work with a browser in much the same way that traditional applications work with an operating system.

In this way, Firefox 3 may make it possible to finally deliver on the old promise of the Web as operating system. Because of these features, along with many welcome usability, security and performance enhancements, I am awarding Firefox 3 an eWEEK Analysts' Choice Award; as of this moment, it is clearly the top choice in Web browsers.

Opera 9.5 Syncs Up Web Browsers

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REVIEW: It has a tiny percentage of market share compared with the bigger players such as Microsoft and Mozilla. And if you ask your non-techie friends if they've every heard of it they'll probably say that they don't like opera music.

But one can easily make a very good case that, outside of the early Mosaic and Netscape Web browsers, no other Web browser has been as innovative or introduced more new features and interface standards than the Opera browser.

And with the release of Opera 9.5, Opera has succeeded in some small innovations in browser usage and has streamlined and improved what was already the most powerful and customizable browser interface available today.

But this isn't as groundbreaking or innovative as some of the past Opera releases. And while Opera 9.5 adds some new security features and capabilities, these don't live up to the innovation and ease of use one normally expects from Opera.

Microsoft's Top Ten 'Innovations'

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Back during Microsoft's antitrust battles, one of the arguments that the company made to defend itself was that antitrust penalties would stifle Microsoft's ability to innovate. At the time this drew more than a few chuckles from onlookers who struggled to find much in the way of innovations from the software giant.

And this is true on the technical side. It can definitely be hard to come up with any significant technical innovations from Microsoft. But that doesn't mean Microsoft isn't innovative.

During the Bill Gates era Microsoft has come up with truly unique, innovative and effective business processes and competitive strategies that have helped make it one of the most powerful companies in the world. In many ways they've written the book on how to build and maintain a dominating monopoly.

So in honor of Bill Gates' impending retirement here's my list of 10 "innovations" that have helped propel Microsoft to the top of the technology market. Take a look at and let me know what would be on your list.

OLPC Provides First Look at the XO 2.0

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At a special One Laptop Per Child event held today, May 20, at MIT, OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte provided a first glimpse at the next generation of the XO laptop.

The XO 2.0 takes a radically different approach from the current version of the XO laptop. This version is designed more as a e-book reader than as a traditional laptop.

No working model was displayed by Negroponte, but in photos the XO 2.0 was seen as a smaller sized (about half the size of the current XO) right and left pane e-book that could be used in multiple modes, including as a tablet and as a laptop. (Click here to see images of the XO 2.0, some of which were photographed from a presentation so I apologize for the quality.)

The 10 Biggest Hurdles to Innovation

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Get a group of technology workers together and it is pretty much a certainty that if you ask if innovation is the life blood of technology that everyone will agree.

After all, innovation is what keeps our jobs interesting and challenging and is what creates the new and exciting companies that enable the jobs of tomorrow. Without innovation, claims about the death of IT would have been spot on instead of way off.

But while everyone will pay lip service to innovation, there are many both inside and outside of technology circles who actually work hard to stop or at least slow innovation. That's because while innovation may be good for most of us, for some special interests and companies it is mainly seen as a threat to their profitability or even existence.

So what are the biggest hurdles that innovation faces today? I've put together this list of . Take a look at let me know what you think the biggest threats to innovation are.

Expression Studio 2 Is a Small Boost for Microsoft Web Developers

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Expression Studio is Microsoft's competitor to Adobe's Creative Suite, but in terms of features, functionality and maturity of tool sets, there's really no competition: Adobe trounces the Microsoft design and Web development suite across the board.

But just because Microsoft Expression Studio can't currently take down the reigning of king of design and Web development suites doesn't mean it's without merit. While I've found some of the tools in Expression Studio to be very basic and lacking in advanced functionality, I've also found some very well-implemented tools for building rich Web sites and applications.

And with the recent release of Expression Studio 2, Microsoft has slowly but steadily improved the core tools of its suite. These tools are Expression Web 2, designed for the authoring and editing of Web sites and a direct competitor of Adobe Dreamweaver; Expression Blend 2, a development tool for creating Web animations and rich Internet applications including those based on Silverlight 1.0; Expression Design 2, a graphics and image design tool; Expression Media 2, a simple but well-designed personal digital asset management tool; and Expression Encoder 2, a newcomer to the suite used for encoding media files for use in Web sites and rich Internet applications.

The 6 Phases of a Technology Flop

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Get a group of people together to talk about technology and inevitably the conversation will turn to classic technology flops. Whether it was a technology that disappointed, failed to deliver or was just out-and-out hated, people like to talk about technologies that failed as much, or maybe even more, than technologies that succeeded.

But the interesting thing about technology flops is that none of them started out as failures. In fact, it is quite the opposite: In nearly all cases, classic technology flops started out as very promising and highly touted innovations.

So how does a promising technology go from burgeoning star to tossed-aside has-been? In most cases they follow a clear path on their journey to the technology garbage heap.

I call this path the Six Phases of a Technology Flop. In this list I detail the six phases and as an example I've used one of the most classic cases of a promising technology that became a major flop, Push technology.

So read my list and let me know what you think.

Zoho CRM Goes Enterprise

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The recent release of Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition is a step toward making the software-as-a-service application a good choice for handling sales and customers for a business.

A few of the key features added in this release include SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security, the ability to manage access and security based on customized user roles, and integration with the Zoho Sheet spreadsheet application.

I was able to take a quick first look at the Enterprise Edition of Zoho CRM and came away impressed with its usability and core feature set. While it may not compete with Salesforce.com and other applications in high-end requirements or the ability to run very large companies, Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition looks to be a valid option for many small and midsize businesses.

WordPress 2.5 Is Top Choice for Blogging

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With the recent release of WordPress 2.5, the popular open-source blogging application has greatly improved its already good administration and blogging management interface and has made it much easier for bloggers to add widgets and do extensive customizations of their blogs. That's right, the best blogging platform just got better.

WordPress 2.5 represents the first major overhaul of the administration interface in a long time and while I never hated the old interface, I have to admit that this new one is a major improvement. Based on the improvements in this release, on top of the already very strong capabilities of WordPress, it's become even clearer that for anyone planning to start a new blog or looking to change platforms, WordPress should be the first choice.

To test WordPress 2.5 I launched brand new blogs and also upgraded existing WordPress installations to the new version. For clean installations everything went very smoothly and the blogging platform continued to live up to the promise of its 5-minute installation process.