The Adobe PDF format has been something of a phenomenon in the digital age. The humble PDF has become the de facto standard computer format for reproducing documents, and has been adopted by governments and institutions around the world.
Now Adobe Systems Inc. is rolling out a new version of their Adobe Acrobat software for reading and creating PDF documents. Yahoo.com is reporting that the newest version of Adobe acrobat was launched Monday, June the second, and for the first time the software will feature support for flash video, audio and animation.
Adobe Acrobat version 9 will come standard with Adobe’s flash software. Users will be able to easily insert Flash video or animations in any document they create or share as a PDF file. The addition of Flash support takes PDF to the next level, meaning that not only will PDF files represent a universally accepted document format, but also a full multimedia “document,” including audio and video.
Analysts see this as a huge step forward for the PDF format. In effect, it is the difference between print media and broadcast media, and the addition of audio and video could mean that PDF files become a standard not only for text documents, but also creating and sharing a variety of multimedia programs.
With the addition of multimedia support, Acrobat 9 could be used as an alternative to Microsoft’s PowerPoint, where presentations can be easily created that include text, video and voice narration. And because PDF is a portable and universally accepted format, any presentation created with Acrobat 9 can be shared easily online, and even opened as a standard web page with most browsers.
Adobe is hoping that the new and improved Acrobat 9 can do for multimedia video and audio files what earlier versions of the program did for text files — create a universally accepted standard, which will be quickly adopted by institutions and governments the world over.
For example, the Internal Revenue Service in the United States is already using PDF files for the majority of their tax documents. But just imagine; what if you could download a tax form in PDF format which also contained instruction videos right on the page; or audio narration to explain more complicated aspects of the document? It sounds pretty cool, and assuming Acrobat 9 is accepted as readily as earlier versions of the program, it could soon be a reality.
Adobe Acrobat 9 is available now from either Adobe.com, or Acrobat.com, the company’s new Acrobat support site, which include software services and training.
Sleek language- Comprehensible!
Comment by markedisonchua — June 3, 2008 @ 11:29 pm