Thats Interesting

The review team at odinjobs.com showcases up and coming companies and their products. Who knows one of them may be the next Google.

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Can’t Afford Adobe? Hit the PDFescape route.

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Given the ubiquitous nature of PDF forms, PDFescape is right there among winning applications. Easy to use, online, PDFescape allows you to download, fill, edit, and even create your own PDF forms. For free with no side effects like installation or downloading.

But doesn’t everyone have an Adobe Reader?

Surprisingly, no. PDFescape scores for having looked at the whole PDF phenomenon from a small to medium consumer point of view. While big companies don’t blink while buying and installing expensive software, for a smaller guy, getting into the whole Adobe wagon for the sake of a few forms simply doesn’t work.

And here’s how it works for the user.

The PDFescape package works from helping you create forms to filling out those found on other sites. PDFescape, drawing on its original application PDFtypewriter allows you to open PDF files on the web or on your computer. You can create your own forms, fill them, add text, images and fields. Files can be saved and e-mailed. PDFescape express uploads PDF forms onto your website HTML, so that PDF files now get embedded into your website. Users can see your PDF forms online, fill and save them as well. This reduces the whole faxing, printing and physical paperwork side of things.

The icing on the cake - tax forms, job applications and any document requiring a PDF format become easy with PDFescape.

Prweb agrees.

Typically, enabling a PDF to be saved requires hundreds of dollars of software and potentially thousands of dollars in server license fees. PDFescape Express is one of the online first products to offer this service free of charge. PDFescape Express will automatically display PDF files to online viewers in an attractive reader frame.

Currently, PDFescape is compatible with all operating systems supporting Firefox 1.5+ or 2+, Internet Explorer 6+ or 7+, or Safari, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Add a valid email id and an active internet connection and get going.

The word from killerstartups:

PDFescape enables its users to professionally complete tax forms, job applications, and other documents distributed in the PDF format. PDFescape requires a modern web browser and an active internet connection. That's it. It doesn't require the download, purchase, or installation of any software.

PDFescape In Chat Mode

For those who have not heard of PDF escape, what are the main benefits of using your product?

Originally modelled on our desktop software PDFtypewriter (see http://www.pdftypewriter.com), PDFescape is an online application which replicates many of the features found in software such as Adobe Acrobat Professional. We like to think of PDFescape as not just an online PDF reader, but a PDF editor, form filler, and form creator. It really goes above and beyond what your typical PDF reader does, which is the mistake many people make at first glance.

There are other online offerings which allow the creation of PDF files. PDFescape was the first to let you actually work with the document.

Best of all, users of Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux distributions can use PDFescape without downloading or installing any software. PDFescape does not require Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, or any other software beyond a compatible web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari.

How did you all come up with the idea for PDF Escape?

When we first started planning out PDFescape over a year ago, we noticed a serious gap in the online document web application offerings. Google has Word and Excel documents covered pretty well. Zoho overlaps with Google, also bringing some presentation and database application capability. There simply was no good offering for PDF files. PDF files are more common on the web than just about any other file format, HTML excluded of course.

What type of programming is PDF Escape built on?

I can't go into great detail about the behind the scenes workings of PDFescape. But the programming foundation of PDFescape is built using a combination of compiled C, COM, SQL, and ASP. We hope to venture into .NET in the coming months, however because we also offer a deployable version for our enterprise customers, being as backwards compatible as possible was important (see http://enterprise.pdfescape.com).

In your growth stages, what characteristics will you look for in potential employees?

While we aren't hiring currently, we are always looking for enthusiast individuals to come forward. When we do start looking though, marketers and programmers with strong PDF or network scaling backgrounds will be critical.

Who are your ideal users?
PDFescape targets two distinct user groups.

First, the person with a PDF form that really needs to be filled out. Many people can't afford expensive tools such as Adobe Acrobat Professional and only have a handful of forms they need to fill out and save. Adobe Reader typically doesn't allow you to save PDF files after filling them out, PDFescape offers a great service to these people who otherwise would need to purchase very expensive software.

Second, the forward thinking company with forms to be filled. Many companies have forms for their customers. Car rental agencies, tax preparation services, government offices, the list goes on. Many companies want to enable their PDF to be saved using something like Adobe Reader, however doing so again requires very expensive software and licensing to be purchase from Adobe. PDFescape can accept PDF forms to be "published" to it. These forms uploaded to our servers can be worked with and saved online, without the end user ever needing to download or install any software. This is especially great for forward thinking companies which want to be Mac OS X and Linux friendly. The default PDF viewing application in OS X, Preview, doesn't even support form fields. Linking your forms to PDFescape allows companies to keep their forms in the format they already love (PDF), while making it very friendly and easy for their customers.

What are some of the problems with online forms?

The major problem from a company perspective is that typical HTML online web forms really aren't standardized. When bridging the paper / paperless gap, presentation and format are important; PDF forms are the obvious choice. The problem is that while most companies can afford the software to create and work with PDF files, the average form consumer can't or simply doesn't know how. PDFescape makes it easy for the customer. The customer can fill out the form in the format the company wants, without having to deal with the confusion (or expense) often associated with PDF files. PDFescape really brings the ease of working with a simple HTML web form to the PDF file format.

What types of sites or businesses would make great partners with PDF Escape?

Any business with a web presence and the need to have forms filled out. We'd love to see all government forms be released onto our system. Especially as Linux and Mac OS X gain a greater percentage of the market, cross platform web applications like PDFescape are going to become more important. If PDF is going to continue to be chosen as the form file format of choice, it needs to be more accessible. PDFescape makes PDF forms more accessible.

PDFescape – No Escaping This Phenomenon

Be it open source or web based free-for-all versions of office tools, the writing on the wall is clear. The traditional way of writing and selling software needs serious rethinking. For smart companies like PDFescape are always out there, changing not just the rules, but the game itself. And they picked the most common and often tedious part of the process, the PDF. If I were Adobe, I’d be seriously worried. If I were Microsoft, I’d be even more worried. For these new applications, including some we’ve featured (Zoho, Clicky, Near Time) are all out there, luring the customer with not just a tempting offering, but one that’s free as well.

Posted by Sally Richardsson       Posted at 02:50AM Jun 20, 2007 by Sally Richardsson   


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