Web 3.0 Communication Here - Pronto!

A fantastic new communications interface called Pronto! just emerged from the secret vault of CommuniGate. Pronto! is being unveiled today in Chicago at Adobe Max - the premier experience for Adobe users worldwide. Pronto is a RIA net communications dashboard that quite honestly blew me away. A good friend (Brian Blank of Future-Works) sent us a sneak peek at this refreshing tool that combines email, calendaring, IM, media player and even web/blog editing software in a tight package. Before you dismiss this blurb as just another Web Office wanna-be, check out an app that may blow Ajax and Java applications away.

Pronto! is built on Adobe® AIR^TM - a cross operating system application runtime for deploying RIA's to desktops. Even before reading the release and Brian's comments, I was amazed at the crispness and function of the preview he sent me. This is one of those rare applications that could be described as: “Get this - forget the rest” or something to that effect. Pronto! is just so fresh and refined, even our editor commented similarly when I shared it with her. According to the release Pronto! supports features never before possible and even detects a network presence to notify users to send all unsent messages. In short, Pronto! is a central access point for all voice and data communications.

Pronto! From Pronto!

I admire applications and developers that are ahead of their time and of the feature curve. One of the first messages I received on Pronto! was a note from technical support revealing a bulleted list of Pronto! features. How intuitive is that, they knew Phil needed a bulleted list?

On Pronto!:

• Fully integrated E-mail Application

• Calendaring

• Contacts management

• Secure IM

• Presence

• VoiceMail Management

• RSS Feeds and management

• MyPhotos

• MyVideos

• MyMusic

• Portability to Flash 9 on Windows, OSX and Linux

• Secure binary that runs in memory space rather than browser cache

My Pronto! RSS - Profy showing an earlier article last night

One Calendar view with event scheduler accessed

Is Pronto! Really Pronto!?

Pronto! is in very new beta form so it is somewhat difficult to evaluate the ultimate power of this application, but from the chiseled look and feel of the current beta it just has to be fantastic. My estimation of the application's capability is probably expressed best in the words of Adrian Ludwig, Adobe's VP of group product marketing: “Adobe AIR ties together the best of the Web and the best of the desktop and expands a whole new realm of possibilities for developers. CommuniGate Systems' Pronto! is a prime example of the next generation of rich internet applications working across operating systems, and both inside and outside the browser.” The only possible down side for everyday users is that Pronto! was developed for use with the CommuniGate Pro and or ISP applications of the technology. The service is aimed at small business as well, with several plans prices per seat, so it looks like a free or reduced fee version will have to come from an ISP or huge provider.

Conclusion

From a discoverability perspective Pronto! is like finding the road when your car is on it - just jump in and drive. A very good demo of the product is available here, and potential beta testers can sigh up here. We will keep everyone informed of developments for the application, please remember as you test the beta and view the demo that this is very new stuff and in beta. I think you will all be thrilled as I was with the sleekness and refined function of Pronto! I have always liked Adobe applications and this collaboration appears to be no less promising. The best concise description I can give for Pronto! is: “A veritable neutron star of Web 2.0 communication tools crunched into one thin slice of usability.” So, everyone spam Yahoo! or your favorite host to get this little jewel and we can all experience Web 3.0 coms for free.

Pronto slideshow showing a pic of my previous post - and Carlos of course