Adobe Systems announced their acquisition of Virtual Ubiquity at the Adobe Max conference on October 2nd. Virtual Ubiquity produces Buzzwords, an online word processing application. According to the "buzz" this is a feature-rich word processor, with some very slick real-time online collaboration built in. They are only allowing a limited number of people to preview Buzzwords, so you will have to put your name in the hat like everyone else.

Lately Microsoft has been finding real competition within the word processing arena, with the announcement of both software and online word processing applications, including Zoho, Google Docs, Lotus Symphony, Zimbra, plus nods to the standbys such as WordPerfect, OpenOffice, StarOffice, and Page 08 for Mac. Don't let it be said that there isn't a choice for word processing programs. However, making a choice will become more complex as the deciding factors will be cost, compatibility, and collaboration, in addition to feature set.