Macromedia Announces New Generation of MX

Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) today unveiled the next generation of itsaward-winning MX product family used by professional developers anddesigners to build websites and applications. Major new versions of theindustry-leading Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks toolswill continue to move the digital world from inaction to interactiveexperiences, while new products such as Macromedia Flash MXProfessional 2004 will bring the power of the Internet to a new classof advanced developers. The MX 2004 family also includes new buildingblocks called the MX Elements for Flash and the MX Elements for HTML,along with Halo, a unique look and feel for Internet applications.

"We launched Macromedia MX in 2002 with a challenge to the industryand to our customers: make digital experiences better. Our customersembraced this challenge and created content and applications thatsurpassed our expectations -- like they always do," said Rob Burgess,chairman and CEO, Macromedia. "We built MX 2004 based on the incrediblethings our customers did and the feedback they provided along the way.These new products and building blocks will give them the power to runwith their creativity and take digital experiences to whole newlevels."

The MX 2004 family includes new releases of Dreamweaver, Flash, andFireworks, and introduces a new product, Flash MX Professional 2004,which will enable a new segment of developers to create rich Internetapplications. Studio MX 2004 includes Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004, Fireworks MX 2004, and Freehand MX.The new products are expected to ship in September. For moreinformation, visit www.macromedia.com/go/mx2004.

"Developers are constantly being asked to do more with less, butstill deliver content and applications of the highest quality thatdeliver a great experience," 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, notto reinvent the wheel every time. Companies that focus on productivitygains, decreased costs, and a focus on making better content easier tocreate are on the right path."

Dreamweaver is the professional choice for building websites andapplications. Dreamweaver MX 2004 continues this tradition ofinnovation with new and updated support for standards and servertechnologies such as CSS, secure FTP, and ASP.NET. Dreamweaver MX 2004continues to simplify website and application development.

Macromedia Flash is the standard for creating rich, interactiveexperiences on the Internet. Flash MX 2004 makes it easier than everbefore to create rich, interactive content and enables designers anddevelopers to accelerate projects, increase creative control, andextend their workspace with new functionality.

Flash MX Professional 2004 is a new product that builds on thestrengths of Flash with an entirely new development environment foradvanced application developers. Flash MX Professional 2004 providesvisual developers with a familiar forms-based programming metaphor,enabling them to build and deploy rich Internet applications. FlashProfessional also allows developers to deliver video-rich, interactiveexperiences.

Fireworks is the leading tool for designing and optimizing webgraphics. Fireworks MX 2004 delivers a broad array of new design toolsand effects for web graphics and promotes collaboration throughexpanded integration with other MX products.

Macromedia Studio MX, first released in 2002, became the mostsuccessful product in the company's history by providing acomprehensive suite of design and development solutions for creatinggreat websites and applications. Studio MX 2004 combines the new MX2004 tools with FreeHand MX to provide an integrated and convenientdevelopment suite with workflow that will reduce time to value forcustomers.

Each MX 2004 product shares consistent interface, design,development elements, and functionality that enable developers to workmore efficiently across multiple products. Studio MX 2004 will beavailable with either Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004.

Macromedia is also expanding the MX universe with the availabilityof the MX Elements and Halo. The MX Elements are a series of interfacebuilding blocks and a new generation of embedded, interactive designpatterns and behaviors. The MX Elements for HTML and the MX Elementsfor Flash make it faster for customers to build effective interfaces bybringing together a range of technologies including components,templates, CSS style sheets, and behaviors. The MX Elements, bydefault, have a distinctive new look and feel called Halo. The MXElements and Halo give developers an opportunity to provide Internetusers with an optimized and consistent rich user experience. Halo isinspired by the properties of light, and Macromedia believes Halo willmake the digital world a brighter, friendlier place. For moreinformation on the MX Elements and Halo, visit www.macromedia.com/go/halo.

Other products in the MX family include ColdFusion MX 6.1, DirectorMX, Flash Player 7, FreeHand MX, and JRun.

About Macromedia
Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that greatexperiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions ofbusiness users, developers, and designers to create and delivereffective, compelling, and memorable experiences – on theInternet, on fixed media, on wireless, and on digital devices.