Macromedia announces Next Generation of MX

Macromedia announces Next Generation of MX

New MX 2004 Studio, tools, MX Elements and Halo aim to make digital experiences even better

AUCKLAND New Zealand - 26 August 2003 - Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) 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 Flash, Dreamweaver, 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 MX Elements for Flash and MX Elements for HTML along with a unique look and feel for Internet applications called Halo. Studio MX 2004 combines Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, FreeHand, and Fireworks to provides an integrated workflow for designing and developing the full spectrum of web sites and Int

"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, Freehand MX and a developer edition of ColdFusion MX 6.1 (Windows only). Studio MX is "Designed for Windows XP" and "Built for Mac OS X." For more information, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/mx2004/.

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 workflow that will reduce time to value for our customers.

Dreamweaver MX 2004 builds on the success of Dreamweaver MX by further integrating visual layout tools, application development features and code editing support within a technology-agnostic, platform-independent environment. Dreamweaver MX 2004 continues its tradition of innovation by providing a solid foundation for widespread adoption of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), a well-respected but previously difficult to implement web standard. By supporting all major HTML and server technologies, Dreamweaver MX 2004 unlocks the power of open, standards-based development for the web community while enhancing the basic tools that professionals need. Dreamweaver MX 2004 also includes SecureFTP, dynamic cross-browser validation functionality, built-in graphics editing, seamless integration with Microsoft Word and Excel, and updated support. Dreamweaver MX 2004 simplifies web site and applicat

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. For more information on Flash MX 2004, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/fmx2004/.

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. Using Flash MX Professional 2004, programmers of traditional desktop applications will be able to combine the great usability and richness of their desktop applications with the efficiencies and reach of the web. Flash MX Professional 2004 provides visual developers with a familiar forms-based programming metaphor enabling them to build and deploy rich Internet applications. With Flash MX Professional 2004, video professionals can incorporate video directly from their editing and encoding tools and quickly add interactivity and customised interfaces to create immersive, branded video experiences that can be delivered to the world's most pervasive video client, Macromedia Flash Player. Supported tools include products from

Flash Player 7, the leading rich Internet client offers twice the performance of previous versions, user-controllable update notification, and powerful new development capabilities. Macromedia Flash Player is installed across more than 97 percent of Internet-connected desktops and a growing number of mobile devices including Sony Clie handhelds, the HP iPaq Pocket PC, and NTT DoCoMo 505i series handsets. The new player offers particularly significant performance gains for Mac OS X users, ensuring a consistent cross-platform experience.

Flash Player provides the robust experience layer for the Macromedia Breeze Presentation Platform, which delivers a complete solution for companies to rapidly author, manage, deliver, and track rich multimedia training throughout the enterprise. The video and performance improvements in Flash Player 7 will help make interactive Breeze Live presentations and real-time, collaborative meetings more powerful, bringing virtual meetings one step closer to being as immediate and effective as being in the same room.

Fireworks MX 2004 delivers a broad array of new design tools and effects for web graphics and promotes collaboration through expanded integration with other Macromedia MX products. Fireworks MX 2004 gives web developers the tools they need from simple graphical buttons to sophisticated rollover effects and pop-up menus. Fireworks offers the flexibility to import files from all major graphics formats and allows users to integrate and edit both vector and bitmap images. For more information on Fireworks MX 2004, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/fwmx2004/.

Each MX 2004 product shares a consistent interface, design, development elements and functionality to enable developers to work more efficiently across multiple products. Studio MX 2004 will be available with either Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004. Using Studio MX with Flash Professional, developers can easily design Flash and HTML web forms, add components, integrate with data, and build in application logic and navigation.

Macromedia is also expanding the MX universe with the availability of 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 MX Elements for Flash make it faster for customers to build effective interfaces by bringing together a range of technologies including components, templates, CSS style sheets, and behaviors. 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 optimised 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. For more information on MX Elements and Halo, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/halo/.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Studio MX 2004 is available for Mac OS 10.2.6 and Windows. Pricing is NZ$2005 for new users, NZ$915 for upgrades from Studio MX, NZ$1130 for upgrades from any eligible product, and NZ$475 for education customers. For detailed upgrade information, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/studioupgrade/.

Macromedia DevNet Professional members will receive the products contained in Studio MX 2004 automatically as part of their annual subscription. Education, corporate and government volume licensing will also be available. These products will be available in English in September, with Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish expected to ship shortly thereafter.

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 available for Mac OS 10.2.6 and Windows, is priced at NZ$1125. Upgrades from Macromedia Flash 5 or Macromedia Flash MX are priced at NZ$465. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is also available as part of Macromedia Studio MX 2004.

Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 available for Mac OS 10.2.6 and Windows, is priced at NZ$1550 per user. Upgrades from Macromedia Flash 5 or Macromedia Flash MX are priced at NZ$680. Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 is also available as part of Macromedia Studio MX 2004 for NZ$2215 to new users, NZ$1130 for upgrades from Studio MX, NZ$1345 for upgrades from any eligible product, and NZ$249 for education customers.

Macromedia Flash Player 7 will be available as a free download from www.macromedia.com in September, and will ship simultaneously in both English and localised versions.

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, available for Windows and Mac OS 10.2.6, is priced at NZ$890 for new users, NZ$455 for upgrades from Dreamweaver MX and Dreamweaver 4, and NZ$239 for education customers. The product is also available as part of Macromedia Studio MX 2004.

Fireworks MX 2004, available for Mac OS 10.2.6 and Windows, is priced at NZ$675 for new users, NZ$349 for upgrades from Fireworks MX and Fireworks 4, and NZ$239 for education customers. The product is available as part of Macromedia Studio MX 2004.

Beta users have learned how to truly leverage the Internet with the break-through new power of MX 2004.

Webqem

"Dreamweaver MX 2004 new streamlined interface makes using this mighty program just that little bit easier. There's more space to work, more tools to use and amazingly it all runs faster! Using Dreamweaver MX 2004 in conjunction with Contribute 2 provides us with all the tools we need to rapidly build sites that can be maintained by our clients - regardless of their skill level - the tools make it easy for them."

-Andrew Crowe, Executive Director

Daemon Internet Consultants

"Probably one of the most important new features of Flash MX Professional 2004 is the support for data that's now available directly within Flash. With an increasing demand for Rich Internet Applications here in Australia we believe that Macromedia have done an excellent job of extending Flash's data connectivity to include Web Services and an easier XML implementation while continuing support for Flash Remoting. Flash MX Professional 2004 also offers management of data via new features such as validation, advanced sorting and filtering."

"The UI components have been given a great new look and feel, but better still have been revved up dramatically with increased performance. Two long time coming but very welcome additions to the general work area are a spell check and a history panel that allows the developer to not only quickly reverse mistakes but capture actions to save and run as commands later on."

-Andrew Muller, Senior Developer.

CSC Australia

"The new software coming out of Macromedia is really changing the role of a Web developer, no longer are we constrained by Web browsers and coding standards that added multiple layers of complexity to achieve a common interface across platforms and browsers. The video and audio capabilities of Flash are allowing us to keep users within one environment, which is dramatically improving the usability of the applications we produce. Macromedia have turned Flash into a standard for delivering rich content. Smart clients are going to be the standard way of delivering content in the near future and Macromedia is perfectly placed to capitalise on this."

"CSC is developing several applications and prototypes for global clients with Macromedia software."

-Martin Ollman, Solutions Architect, Business Integration Services.

D3.UNcom.com

"The new features of Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004, including ActionScript 2.0, form based development, project and source code control integration and rich data connectivity, allow a greater ease of development for the serious Internet application developer. In Flash Player 7, the superior ActionScript and video performance also enables my Flash applications to run up to twice as fast!"

Ian Chia, Co-Technical Director.

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