Adobe Entering the Office Apps Market?

http://www.wired.com/software/coolapps/news/2007/08/adobe_officedocs
from JoeUser Forums

Microsoft Office is pretty much the standard office suite for businesses and many home users, even though the popularity of alternatives such as OpenOffice and the presence of online applications such as Google Docs.

Well there's the chance now that a new major player could put its feet in the "Office" waters, and that could be Adobe.  The company best know for Photoshop and its Creative Suites threw out the possibility that an Office platform could be in its future, although there was no official confirmation of this.

An Adobe Group Manager was quoted as saying, "Though we have not yet announced any intentions to move into the office-productivity software market," he says, "considering we have built this platform that makes it easy to build rich applications that run on both the desktop and the browser, I certainly wouldn't rule anything like that out."

So is anyone really interested in another Office platform?  Is there anything new or different you would like to see in a newly developed office suite that you might not find from Microsoft or another developer?


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3,561 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It'll be interesting to see what they come out with.  Adobe's expertise isn't in the office area, so unless they're just rebranding OpenOffice or something, I bet it'll be a pretty poor offering.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
unless they're just rebranding OpenOffice or something, I bet it'll be a pretty poor offering.


And what would be my motivation to buy it if they just rebranded OO?

I'll stick with what I've got, because OpenOffice rocks my socks.
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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
and probably over priced as well   
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Wouldnt be interested. Microsoft Office is a catch all product in terms of features and abilities for Corporate and Home use, but primarily aimed at Corporates which is where the money is, not Home User. To compete with that you need to hit a niche market so that you dont have to offer "all" the whizbangs. The latter has already been done, and as they are finding out, its hard if not impossible to compete with something that already "does it", there is no real incentive for the buyer to change, especial Corporates who are not interested in emotive theory just their Bottom Line - therefore it will end up competing with the numerous other MS Office wannabes in niche markets for the Home User or Small Businesses. Not much money in that, so I would be surprised if they tried Adobe has other fish to fry with their available Capital that have far better potential returns on Capital invested.