I finally got my invitation from Adobe informing me that I could now start using their latest beta – Adobe Share. Those are the only two words you need in this review – “Adobe” and “Share.” Hope you enjoyed this review!

Actually, I will go ahead and tell you a little about this great product from Adobe. I am a big fan of Adobe, not to mention this new look that is starting to appear on their new products. I recently purchased Photoshop Elements 6.0 and I absolutely love the look and simplicity of the program. Adobe Share does not fall short of look (UI) and simplicity.

What is Adobe Share? Well, it, put simply, is a place to store your files to access from anywhere. You can also share them with others. In their own words, “Share {Adobe Share} beta is a web-based service that allows you to upload and share files. You can distribute the URL for the file to a selected number of users, post the link for the URL on a website, or embed the code for previewing the file in a web page. You have the option to allow recipients to invite others to view your shared files or limit access to only the specified recipients.”

The  web application’s fantastic interface is very easy to use and navigate. If you have used any of the new Adobe applications, you will feel right at home. It allows you to share files for yourself to access from anywhere or for sharing with friends, it is as easy as selecting your friends you need to share the file with and send them an invitation to download the files. It also gives you the ability to embed the content into your blog, or have a link to it to use it or send it to your friends via email.

If you are wondering what file formats are supported, here they are:

 Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 formats, Rich Text Format (RTF), Open Office formats, text, and PDF, and HTML. Adobe supported image formats are: GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, Creative Suite file formats ,SWF and Captivate formats,  and ZIP. You cannot use Share to upload these files (yet):

• Media: MP3, AAC, MOV, WMV, OGG, FLV, XVID, DIVX.
  Fonts: TTF, DFONT, OTF
  Archive: TGZ, 7Z, SIT
  Executable files or script code: EXE, DLL, JAR, WAR, CAB, JS, VB

As the title says, I love it. Adobe Share is great, and I think as they continue in improving this beta, we may see a few more file formats supported. You get 1024MB of free memory to get you started and of course, more options for greater storage. I am not particularly fond of that free size limit, considering there are some services that offer more memory free. I guess you get what you pay for, right? Regardless, you will enjoy it.

I have to admit, I am beginning to wonder if the end of human originality is at an end. I mean every day I look for new and exciting things going on to review and offer to the public at large and for some reason after a while they all begin to look the same. Sure there is the occasional difference in design and occasionally execution, but all in all anymore it seems the internet is full of copy cats, each taking a good idea and trying to use it themselves. Of course this could be just a bit of a thanksgiving hangover that is making me a little on the unenthused side. Whatever the case, I stumbled on Box.net and after looking it over a bit decided it was worth writing up a review on.

The main function of Box.net is to act as a place to store your files online, and by files I mean pretty much any file you want to store be it a pic, a text file, a spreadsheet or even bits of code. Then you can let people who you are working on a project with gain access to the file and they can download it, make changes to it, or simply just read it. While there are a lot of similar services online (google docs, edocr) this site does have some things the others don’t. First with box.net you are not limited to only a few templates as with google docs, and others can make changes to the files unlike edocr. Second it is fairly easy for almost anyone to use and figure out considering that if you want to modify a file you simply download the file make changes on it in its native format and then upload it back on the site.

While really there is little of use to someone who is pretty much a solo act, this would be a great place for teams of people to combine together and work on shared projects together. Also it can have use for a group of friends who all want to keep tabs on each other without using other social networking sites. All in all I have a positive feeling for the site, but honestly don’t feel that it really does anything super unique. However if you are currently considering a place to collaborate online you should give Box.net a try here.