Adobe Contribute 4.0 supports the three most popular blogging platforms - Blogger, Typepad, and Wordpress. Like the Google Blogger Add-on for Microsoft Word, Contribute 4 will let you blog directly inside Excel, Word or Microsoft Outlook. And then there's the BlogThis like toolbar for IE and Firefox that will automatically public the selected content on the webpage to your blog.
None of these Blogging features in Adobe Contribute are ground-breaking in any sense and we have seen all of them [and even more] in existing blogging software like the ubiquitous Windows Live Writer from Microsoft. The only difference here is that Adobe is asking you to shell out $149 for something that's available for free on the internet.
Agree that Contribute is more than just an offline blog editing software and is aimed primarily at non-techie content publishers who can update website content in a collabarative manner without having to learn HTML and other technical details.
However, if you watch the Adobe Contribute Feature Tour or read this DevNet article, it becomes clear that Adobe is targetting bloggers with this new release. Even the press release says "Adobe Adds Sophisticated Blogging Capabilities to Contribute 4"
I feel that it may be very tough for Adobe to justify the high cost of Contribute 4.0 which is infact limited to just three blogging platforms and offers no new features that are not available in Windows Live Writer. The millions of bloggers out there can stay away and they won't miss anything.
Macromedia Contribute 4.0 blogging features were first demonstrated at the Macromedia MAX conference.
Adobe Flashpaper 2, which was initiall a part of Macromedia Contribute 3, is now available as a separate product or as part of Adobe Studio 8.
Adobe Contribute 4.0 | Download Adobe Contribute 4.0
