MACROMEDIA ANNOUNCES MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004
New release dramatically increases performance, simplifies installation and migration, and streamlines product line
San Francisco, CA—August 25, 2003—Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced Macromedia Flash MX 2004, the latest version of the industry standard tool used by more than a million designers and developers to create effective rich content. Flash MX 2004 enables designers and developers to accelerate projects, increase creative control, and extend their workspace with new functionality. Macromedia today also announced Macromedia Flash Player 7, the new, high performance, rich client runtime for Flash content and applications, and Flash MX Professional 2004, a new advanced tool for creating data-driven rich Internet applications and video experiences. For more information on Flash MX 2004, which is expected to ship in September, visit www.macromedia.com/go/fmx2004/.
"Flash has always provided our customers with a rich palette for delivering great experiences, and Flash MX 2004 will help them take it to the next level," said David Mendels, senior vice president and general manager, Macromedia. "We're always amazed at the incredible experiences they create, and we can't wait to see what they do with new features like Timeline Effects, Behaviors, and the new extensibility architecture. "
Flash MX 2004 enables users to accelerate projects with productivity and performance improvements that unleash their creativity and improve the end user experience. Timeline Effects allow designers to add common transitions such as blurs and drop shadows without scripting. Predefined Behaviors eliminate the need for complex scripting of navigation and media controls. The high performance compiler significantly improves playback performance, even with content created for earlier versions of Flash Player. Optimizations in Flash Player 7 deliver additional performance gains for the best end user experience. The product also includes tighter integration with Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and other design and development tools in Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (also announced today, see separate release).
New tools in Flash MX 2004 give developers fine-grained control over content quality and interactivity to better ensure user satisfaction. The new ActionScript 2.0 scripting language enables developers to add sophisticated interactivity to their content. New support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) enables users to deliver hybrid sites that blend Flash and HTML with a consistent look and feel. Accessible components, Unicode support, and localization tools extend content reach to include visually-impaired users and international audiences. Full spell-checking and global search and replace help improve content quality.
"We already use Macromedia Flash to develop MLB Gameday, an interactive application that allows fans worldwide to follow every baseball game in real time," said David Yu, director of front-end technology, MLB.com. "The features we've seen so far in Macromedia Flash MX 2004 have really impressed us and we are already starting to see ways we could use them in future applications."
For the first time, Flash offers an extensible architecture that enables users and third parties to add functionality and customize the development workspace. Members of the worldwide Flash community will use the new Extensibility API to create and exchange powerful extensions and custom effects that simplify tasks and address emerging market needs.
"The new extensibility layer architecture in Flash MX 2004 has created exciting new opportunities for customers to harness third-party tools that further enhance their development and design process," said Mike Soucie, president, Electric Rain, Inc., a Macromedia Alliance partner. "This architecture has opened up new doors for our 3D-to-Flash technology, making it possible for the first time to see the seamless integration of 3D design directly within the Flash authoring environment. The Swift 3D Xpress Plug-in for Flash MX 2004 is a terrific example of how Macromedia is delivering expanded capabilities to their users through third-party software developers like Electric Rain."
Flash MX Professional 2004 (announced today, see separate release) includes all of the features of Flash MX 2004, plus advanced capabilities for visual development of rich Internet applications, including a new forms-based development environment as an alternative to the traditional timeline metaphor, a rich component library, and easy data-binding to web services and XML. The product also offers high-quality video capabilities and streamlined development for mobile devices.
Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 also include the MX Elements for Flash, application components that follow Macromedia Halo design principles to enable developers to rapidly create great experiences with a consistent look and feel. The MX Elements for Flash include templates for common projects such as presentations and online advertisements, as well as helpful user interface components such as a data grid, a media player, and an accordion pane. The MX Elements have the distinctive Halo look and feel.
Flash MX 2004 joins other products announced today in the MX 2004 family (see separate releases), which share core new features including site definitions, file management, and Property Inspectors.
Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 are "Designed for Windows XP" and "Built for Mac OS X." For details on the new features in Flash MX 2004, visit www.macromedia.com/go/fmx2004new/.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
Flash MX 2004, available for Mac OS X v10.2.6 and Windows, is priced
at $499 and expected to ship in September. Upgrades from Flash 5
or Flash MX are priced at $199. Introductory pricing for Flash MX
Professional 2004 is $699 and it is expected to ship in September.
Upgrades from Flash 5 or Flash MX are priced at $299. Flash MX 2004
and Flash MX Professional 2004 are expected to be available in English
in September, with Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, German,
Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish expected to ship shortly thereafter.
Flash MX 2004 will also be available as part of Studio MX 2004 (see separate release), which costs $899 for new users, $399 for upgrades from Studio MX, $499 for upgrades from any eligible product, and $199 for education customers. Flash MX Professional 2004 will also be available as part of Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional, which is available for $999 to new users, $499 for upgrades from Studio MX, $599 for upgrades from any eligible product, and $249 for education customers. Macromedia DevNet Professional members will receive Flash MX Professional 2004 automatically as part of their annual subscription. Discounted pricing for government and volume purchases is available.
ABOUT MACROMEDIA
Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great
experiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions
of business users, developers, and designers to create and deliver
effective, compelling, and memorable experiences - on the Internet,
on fixed media, on wireless, and on digital devices.
