Macromedia Contribute & FlashPaper:
Macromedia released Contribute 2 which has the ability to integrate e-commerce into a site with Paypal. This version is also including Flashpaper, a printerdriver which prints out pdf’s like flash. I guess it is not a direct competitor to pdfs, but is taking up the niche space of puting any document type on the web. Pdfs don’t perform this part well enough on the web, they rule on the desktop. One handicap of swfs is that, they loose their identity when they come out of the browser, on to the desktop. With swfs doing lots of different things, there should be a way of differentiating between flashpaper, breeze presentations, RIA’s, etc. Making icon previews possible for swfs might also solve the problem. Maybe central will rectify this problem by storing and categorizing swf’s on the desktop, providing icon previews, correct viewing size, etc. Also, searchengine enabling swfs is a big issue here. If standard applications begin producing swfs, instead of FlashMX, they might have a chance of being archived by search engines. But the searchengines need a way to distinguish between all the different kinds of swfs.
Contribute is getting ready to be on all the desktops of corporate users. JD says, “Getting new efforts into wide use early is vital for course-correction before implementing the next step“. It’s success will create the channel that macromedia will use to pump in new technologies on to the desktop. The next version of contribute may even have central with it. To make sure that macromedia gets revenue from all the installed base, it is including the DRM technology by Macrovision’s SafeCast. TurboTax removed the same technology after a backlash from its customer base. Macromedia will probably succeed in pushing DRM because contribute does not have a broad installed base. But making it a widely used product will be a little difficult.
Macromedia Contribute & FlashPaper: …
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