Imminent Death of the Net Predicted! Film at 11!

The described technology may find a use of its own, but it won't displace the web. I absolutely loathe hitting a link to a PDF without a warning by the link telling me it's a PDF

Interesting concept. Now if Adobe can figure a way to let people cut-n-paste content from Flash, we're in business (which is the dumptruck-sized hole in Macromedia Flex. Looks great! So easy to use! Can I cut-n-paste from it? No? Check please!)

Dumb article with a classic FUD headline. What about community web sites where content is contributed by visitors? Obsolete? What about websites tied to databases that change frequently? What about customer authentication? What about websites that act as software repositories like sourceforge?

This reminds me of the old approach of putting everything on a CD-ROM and mailing it to the user, junk items that routinely get tossed. Contents get old real quick.

If this becomes a reality I bet the only people that'd even consider using it are the marketing departments who like the glossy and wholly useless websites.

You know, the ones that squeeze in to a fixed 800 x 600 space and read "Welcome to the future of (Service Name). Here at (Copmpany Name) we always put your needs first. Whether you are a large or a small company, we can deliver."

I like your take on Adobe's intentions. .pdf plugins are already too bulky for web browsers and PCs. Linking to .pdf files penalizes the users for 5 - 10 seconds already. I would hate to see the day where I wait over 30 seconds for a 100% packaged .pdw (portable document website) site. I hope Adobe does the opposite and Integrates .pdf into Flash players (like flashpaper).

laughed pretty hard reading this article. an annoying text editor replacing the web? lol. have you ever tried to do a simple copy and paste in a pdf file?
as for "the benefits of storing information in a PDF are huge. Instead of storing all of that information in a database, you have everything you need as a portable document" let me tell you this: Lotus Notes has tried this for more than 10 years, with IBM muscle behind it, and failed miserably. Why would this one succeed?

How long would it take to download such a PDF? What average bandwidth would have to be assumed to make the scenario realistic?

Paul Bliss goes on to say in his blog: 'Why would a company not embrace this? While it's a true a site like Amazon would not be able to take full advantage of this, they could embed pdf optimization for dvd's and cd's sent to your cell phone, based on previous selections you've made.'

'It's a marketer's dream, and it makes a buzz agent's job even easier. Word of mouth marketing will be coupled with a portable demonstration of the product or service being sold.'

'While the general public may not become aware of this technology for a few years, those who reside on the cutting edge will find great ways to use this in promotion.'