Adobe launches Acrobat Connect Pro
updated 10:20 am EDT, Tue May 20, 2008
Acrobat Connect Pro debut
Adobe has launched a new online service, Acrobat Connect Pro. The platform is intended as a tool for professional web conferencing and teaching, and is primarily Flash-based, requiring no extra software and making it platform-independent. Hosts can delegate roles such as presenters, and the service supports not just slides and text chat but streaming audio and video, as well as software simulations.
Users can further automate registrations and reminders, authenticate participants through an LDAP server, and record sessions for viewing later at any time. Several different purchase options are available; while software and annual subscription licenses require negotiation, Connect Pro can also be used in "Starter Pack" and pay-per-use arrangements beginning at $375 a month or $0.32 per minute.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2006
Connect Pro is a Pig!
Running the little presentation at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/
only eats up about 120 Kbit/sec. bandwidth but it gobbles up 60% of both (i.e., x2) of my MacBook Pro's 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo processors.
Just as a comparison, running the "Sad Song Long" Get a Mac ad at
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
in HD resolution eats about 300 Kbit/sec. bandwidth and only uses 25% of both processors (only 17% x2 in medium resolution, which is more comparable to the Acrobat/Flash-based presentation).
I'd hate to see what their video-conferencing would require ... bet it makes a laptop real "toasty warm" (good for a shorter life).