From the looks of it, it seems that this year had everything for Adobe: ISO standardization, marketing innovations, and product launches.
Yet, Adobe’s enormous successes were all but equaled by the controversies and technical vulnerabilities that sprang up. In short, it turned out to be the best of times and the worst of times for Adobe.
In the annual tradition of looking back over the past year, here are some Adobe highlights from 2007—the good, the bad and the ugly.
PDFs ISO Certification
(January)
Having PDF 1.7 as an ISO standard should make life easier for organizations that need to comply with government-mandated strategies to use the format.
Indeed, Adobe and Microsoft were racing to see who could make it easiest in 2007 as the Adobe/Microsoft competition got even closer with the PDF spec submission to ISO, the OOXML fast track submission, and the release of MS Vista with its PDF/XPS creation functionality. 2008 will definitely see more of this with the race for online applications that’s already begun.
Adobe CS3
(April)
A customer-inspired release, Adobe Creative Suite 3 presents an unprecedented variety of integrated configurations and stand-alone products, with comprehensive support for the most cutting-edge workflows for any design discipline.
2007 was the year for graphic designing products, and it was backed by a whopping product release known as Adobe Creative Suite 3. Taking image editing applications to a designing level especially catered to the user, Adobe indirectly took the PDF to another level as well by integrating streamlined PDF support.
Adobe Acrobat and PDF Conference 2007
(May)
I’m still processing all the things that went on during the conference, but this year’s conference struck me as an evolution in process. The conference itself was broader than last year, as it included all of the creative aspects – in fact, it was marketed as the CRE8 Conference.
2007 was also a great year for Investintech.com. We not only participated in conferences dedicated to pushing PDF innovation, but also did some innovating of our own with the Able2Extract product line: we added image conversion and PDF form creation.
LiveCycle Enterprise Suite
(June)
By transforming processes such as account enrollment, claims processing or guided self service into engaging applications, businesses and governments can improve customer service, decrease costly cycle times, and manage information faster and more accurately.
The release of LiveCycle ES further enhanced workflows that efficiently process interactive PDF forms. Yet, with all its benefits, how could this service/software not enhance more than just PDF workflows? Adobe PDF technology is always aimed at doing more than just what’s required for the PDF; it does what the user requires.
Digital Editions
(June)
The public beta of Adobe Digital Editions generated more than 300,000 downloads in less than six months.
This is a 2007 product release that will no doubt further promote the PDF and PDF e-book as a digital commodity in 2008. In essence, it’s a super Reader being the ubiquitous software it was meant to be.
PDF Spam
(July)
As PDF usage continues its ubiquitous growth, unfortunately so does the spammers creative use of it to engage readers to buy into bogus offerings.
PDF spam campaigns happened more than once this year with July being one of those times. This PDF pump-and-dump spamming period put all PDF users at odds with their own files—not a good time for the format’s popularity, or its reputation as a trusted format.
Kinko’s Fedex Controversy
(August)
I was hoping that Adobe would take real advantage of the hubbub and create a new, more platform-oriented feature. The timely burial of “The Kinko’s Edition” could be converted to a significant opportunity.
The outcome of this innovation didn’t turn out as expected. As a consequence of singling out Kinko’s Fedex, a major controversy between Adobe and print publishers ensued, leading to the removal of the functionality altogether. A lesson for future endeavors in 2008? Or, as Duff Johnson puts it, “a significant opportunity”? It’s always hard to tell at the moment.
XSS and PDF backdoors
(September)
I am closing the season with the following HIGH Risk vulnerability: Adobe Acrobat/Reader PDF documents can be used to compromise your Windows box. Completely!!! Invisibly and unwillingly!!! All it takes is to open a PDF document or stumble across a page which embeds one.
When it seemed like it couldn’t get worse, more format vulnerabilities popped up. Unlike the PDF spamming campaign, this PDF setback also involved other software application vulnerabilities. The event underscored a digital irony for PDF users: what was once used to protect their data was now used to exploit it.
Bruce Chizen Announces His Retirement
(November)
"Bruce Chizen's vision has helped transform Adobe from a company that was known mainly for its popular design products into one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world," Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, Adobe's board chairmen and the company's co-founders, said in a joint statement.
With more than 10 years invested in the company, Chizen announced his retirement. It was a major shocker of the year that will significantly shape the company’s future. In short—the vision is shifting, the company is metamorphosing.
Yahoo! Ads
(November)
The service could hold great promise for PDF publishers, which are trying to find new revenue streams for their content and are tired of running ads by selling ad space and linking to the ad.
This marketing innovation leaves 2007 on a cliffhanger: How will it turn out for Adobe? Controversy or success? Will 2008 be any different? Or will it contain a bit more drama?
Thus, Adobe’s 25th year ends.
