Long-time readers know that I am no fan of webcams for business presentations in public webinars. It’s almost impossible to create a professional video image that matches audience expectations created by our collective exposure to commercial productions such as television programs and high end studio webcasts.

But my antipathy does not apply to webcams used in collaborative sessions with people you already know. Why not invoke a little more personal interaction in your virtual meeting? Goodness knows, video is a hot selling commodity today in the web collaboration space.

One of the many problems with setting up a good space for video is getting rid of distractions in the background. I remember watching a professional presentation instructor give a webcast from his office. His webcam broadcast not only his image, but the desk of a fellow worker behind him, who came and went during the course of the webinar. It was immensely distracting and I found myself concentrating on my attempts to see what was on the other guy’s computer screen!

When I work from my home office, I am plagued by the same problem. I have bookcases against the wall behind my chair that are filled with knickknacks and paperwork. They don’t look very good as a backdrop to my video meetings.

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Adobe’s launch of a hosted suites of services, not to mention this huge shift with Acrobat 9, now a web-powered tool, shows the company’s focus on combining the best of web office tools with their current set of products.

Another major change in Adobe’s steer towards their online presence is that of the just launched Acrobat.com. It is the combination of their online meetings tool - Adobe Brio, online Word Processor - Adobe Buzzword and online file sharing - Adobe Share. This new announcement comes with the release of their latest offering - Adobe Acrobat 9 - with Flash built into the PDF experience.

Adobe Buzzword

Buzzword is the word processor from Adobe and sports a sleek and elegant design interface. Of course, Adobe uses Flash/Flex to prove the UI and interaction complete with a WYSISYG tool. Adobe have taken care that your Buzzword document whether on a large screen or small screen or on a printed page, what you see on the screen - fonts, letter spacing, colors, and graphics - are all reproduced perfectly.

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