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Rob
Burgess |
| Chairman
and CEO |
Macromedia
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Having just celebrated our Tenth Anniversary
at Macromedia, we've spent a lot of time lately
tracing our evolution from multimedia to the
web and beyond. From our earliest days, we relied
on and rallied around a powerful multimedia-authoring
tool called Director. Macromedia Director has
helped businesses use multiple media types to
communicate ideas more effectively for more
than 14 years. Whether you were creating corporate
presentations, learning applications, or games,
Director helped you communicate with customers
in the most interactive and engaging way.
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With the advent
of Director MX, we're offering the most advanced and integrated
version of our most powerful environment ever—one
that has renewed relevance in today's post-web world. This
is a major new version of Director, one that provides a
range of exciting capabilities to meet the evolving needs
of today's multimedia developer, while retaining all the
power of its core features. I know that the original members
of the core Director team—David Calaprice, Gordon
Smith, Greg Yachuk, Mark Shepherd and many others—who
are still playing active roles here at Macromedia are excited
by the continuity and possibility represented by Director
MX. And, speaking of history and the future, Director MX
features unparalleled support for Mac OS X, bringing the
two pioneers of multimedia together again, to create the
rich content of tomorrow. |
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| Looking
beyond the web: Building a better experience |
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| Experience
matters. |
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| Without a good
experience, customers don't come back. And the web isn't always
great at providing those effective experiences. In fact, as
a base platform, the web leaves a lot to be desired. Now we're
seeing a shift toward experience-driven development that crosses
platforms, functions, and devices. We're moving towards an
experience-based digital economy, where users expect more
from their encounters with media and technology, and are willing
to pay a premium for a more effective experience. From its
beginnings, Director has been aimed at enhancing the user
experience, empowering you to combine rich and varied media
to communicate more effectively. |
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| Director builds
a better user experience by managing media effectively, delivering
smooth, consistent playback, offering a seamless user experience
between applications and media types, and providing greater
control over input devices. |
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| You've probably
heard us talk about Rich Internet Applications—experience-driven
applications that offer the best of both the desktop and the
browser, along with the added ease of communication. This
is the guiding principle behind our MX products, an integrated
family of client, tool, and server technologies that provide
more intuitive, responsive, and effective user experiences
across platforms and devices. And now Director has joined
the fold, featuring strong cross-product integration, the
streamlined Macromedia MX user interface, Mac OS X support,
major new workflow efficiencies, and the ability to create
accessible content that can be enjoyed by people with disabilities.
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| But one of the
most promising product-to-product relationships, especially
from a user experience standpoint, is the integration between
Director MX and Macromedia Flash MX. |
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"So what have we learned from the years of web
mania? Experience matters."
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| Director
and Macromedia Flash: A killer combination |
| Macromedia Flash
developers, I have a tip for you: Check out Director MX. Using
Macromedia Flash MX and Director MX together will help you
expand your skills and creativity in ways you've never imagined.
Now some customers I've talked to see Macromedia Flash as
a competitor to Director. While there is some overlap, Macromedia
Flash and Director are complementary, not competing, technologies.
Each has its own strengths, but they become even stronger
when used together. |
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| Used together,
you can create compelling experiences that combine the best
of both tools. For Flash developers, Director offers support
for more powerful interactive authoring, including QuickTime,
RealMedia and true interactive 3D content. For Director developers,
Director MX provides access to Macromedia Flash MX features
within Director, as well as the ability to work between Macromedia
Flash and Director seamlessly. And, of course, Director also
allows projects to be linked to databases via ColdFusion and
other server technologies. Director MX even ships with a copy
of Macromedia Flash Communication
Server MX Personal Edition. |
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| Now, let's take
a look at some of the other strengths that make Director such
a robust environment. |
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“Macromedia Flash developers, I have a tip
for you: Check out Director MX."
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| Author
once. Deliver anywhere. Reach everyone. |
| With all the power,
control, and extensibility you'd expect from such an advanced
multimedia authoring platform, only Director lets you create
your content once, then deliver it to so many users, across
so many platforms, both online and off. With Director, you
can integrate more media types, with greater ease, than any
other software—ever. This gives you the broadest creative
palette imaginable. |
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| If you're new to
Director, drag-and-drop behaviors make it easier to create
content. If you're an experienced developer, you already know
the power of Lingo, the object-oriented scripting language
in Director. |
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| As for deployment,
you'll find a wide audience for your Director content online,
with over 335 million web users who already have Macromedia
Shockwave Player installed. Since Macromedia Shockwave Player
for this release doesn't change, millions of users can enjoy
Director MX content with their existing players. |
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| While we're excited
by the web and remain committed to Macromedia Shockwave Player,
Director is most renowned for offline delivery—and that's
becoming increasingly important in these days of DVD and cross-platform
delivery. Simply put, there is no better tool than Director
for deploying rich content to fixed media. |
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"Integrate more media types, with greater ease,
than any other software—ever."
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| It's
all about the work |
| I encourage you
to learn more about the new features and functionality of
Director MX, on the Director
product page and here at the Director
MX Application Development Center. |
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| It still is amazing
to me, how many people I meet who got started with Director,
or its predecessor, VideoWorks in the late 1980s. People's
eyes light up when they tell me about how this tool really
transformed their lives, enabling entire new avenues of creativity.
And I can't wait to see the next body of work as the Director
community gets on to MX. |
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| Enjoy! |
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"If you've been waiting to upgrade, Director
MX is the version to get."
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| About the author |
Rob Burgess
has been leading Macromedia since 1997. |
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