MACROMEDIA ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION OF MX
New MX 2004 product family defines the experience layer for the digital world
San Francisco, CA—August 25, 2003—Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today unveiled the next generation of its award-winning MX product family used by professional developers and designers to build web sites and applications. Major new versions of the industry-leading Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks tools will continue to move the digital world from inaction to interactive experiences, while new products such as Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 will bring the power of the Internet to a new class of advanced developers. The MX 2004 family also includes new building blocks called the MX Elements for Flash and the MX Elements for HTML, along with a unique look and feel for Internet applications called Halo.
"We launched Macromedia MX in 2002 with a challenge to the industry and to our customers: make digital experiences better. Our customers embraced this challenge and created content and applications that surpassed our expectations -- like they always do," said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia. "We built MX 2004 based on the incredible things our customers did and the feedback they provided along the way. These new products and building blocks will give them the power to run with their creativity and take digital experiences to whole new levels. "
The MX 2004 family includes new releases of Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks, and introduces a new product, Flash MX Professional 2004, which will enable a new segment of developers to create rich Internet applications. Studio MX 2004 includes Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX 2004 (or Flash MX Professional 2004), Fireworks MX 2004, and Freehand MX. The new products are expected to ship in September. For more information, visit www.macromedia.com/go/mx2004/.
"Developers are constantly being asked to do more with less, but still create content and applications of the highest quality that deliver great experiences," said Rikki Kirzner, research director, IDC. "They want an integrated toolset that provides a fluid, streamlined workflow for whatever type of project they are doing, not to reinvent the wheel every time. Companies that focus on productivity gains, decreased costs, and a commitment to making better content easier to create are on the right path."
Dreamweaver is the professional choice for building web sites and applications. Dreamweaver MX 2004 continues this tradition of innovation with new and updated support for standards and server technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), secure FTP, and ASP.NET. Dreamweaver MX 2004 continues to simplify web site and application development (see separate release).
Flash is the standard for creating rich interactive experiences on the Internet. Flash MX 2004 makes it easier than ever before to create rich, interactive content and enables designers and developers to accelerate projects, increase creative control, and extend their workspace with new functionality (see separate release).
Flash MX Professional 2004 is a new product that builds on the strengths of Flash with an entirely new development environment for advanced application developers. Flash MX Professional 2004 provides visual developers with a familiar forms-based programming metaphor, enabling them to build and deploy rich Internet applications. Flash MX Professional 2004 also allows developers to deliver video-rich, interactive experiences (see separate release).
Fireworks is the leading tool for designing and optimizing web graphics. Fireworks MX 2004 delivers a broad array of new design tools and effects for web graphics, and promotes collaboration through expanded integration with other MX products (see separate release).
Macromedia Studio MX, first released in 2002, became the most successful product in the company's history by providing a comprehensive suite of design and development solutions for creating great web sites and applications. Studio MX 2004 combines the new MX 2004 tools with FreeHand MX to provide an integrated and convenient development suite with a workflow that will reduce time to value for our customers (see separate release).
Each MX 2004 product shares consistent interface, design, and development elements, and functionality that enable developers to work more efficiently across multiple products. Studio MX 2004 will include either Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004.
Macromedia is also expanding the MX universe with the availability of the MX Elements and Halo. The MX Elements are a series of interface building blocks and a new generation of embedded, interactive design patterns and behaviors. The MX Elements for HTML and the MX Elements for Flash make it faster for customers to build effective interfaces by bringing together a range of technologies including components, templates, style sheets, and behaviors. The MX Elements, by default, have a distinctive new look and feel called Halo. The MX Elements and Halo give developers an opportunity to provide Internet users with an optimized and consistent rich user experience. Halo is inspired by the properties of light, and Macromedia believes Halo will make the digital world a brighter, friendlier place.
Other products in the MX family include ColdFusion MX 6.1, Director MX, Flash Player 7 (see separate release), FreeHand MX, and JRun.
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.
