Wave Issue 2039 7/25/00 Article 6-01

***Macromedia Announces Macromedia Flash 5 Player
(July 24)

Macromedia has announced a free Macromedia Flash 5 Player that
will enable developers to engage site visitors with various next-
generation Web applications. Macromedia Flash 5 is the
professional standard for producing high-impact Web experiences.

The Macromedia Flash 5 Player is integrated with server
technologies such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), for
structured data transfer, and Macromedia Generator, for
delivering server-created, real-time visual content to data-
intensive, content-rich, highly trafficked sites. For example, an
e-commerce site can use Macromedia Generator to process catalog
information based on user input, keeping the Macromedia Flash
content compact by moving all the data-intensive graphics
processing to Generator's scalable server infrastructure. The
Macromedia Flash 5 Player also has support for HTML formatted
text within Macromedia Flash content, as well as the ability to
maintain a persistent connection between the lightweight client
and server to share real-time XML information for mission-
critical business applications.

The player also uses the ActionScript language that can be
authored in Macromedia Flash 5, which has the same syntax and
structure as JavaScript. The Macromedia Flash 5 Player is also
backward compatible, which will enable Internet users to continue
experiencing Macromedia Flash content authored with earlier
versions of Macromedia Flash.

The free Macromedia Flash 5 Player is currently in public beta,
and is expected to be available in late August. Macromedia
Generator 2 Enterprise Edition delivers real-time, personalized
graphics to the Macromedia Flash Player for news and information
sites such as CBS Sportsline, e-commerce sites such as Tiffany &
Co., and entertainment sites such as Disney. This enables the
sites to update their Macromedia Flash content with interactions,
product configurations, and data visualization for personalized
applications. Macromedia Generator 2 Enterprise Edition is
available now and pricing starts at $30,000, including support,
and maintenance. Professional services and 24x7 support are
available at additional cost. It runs on Windows NT/2000, Sun
Solaris, and Red Hat Linux platforms. Registered users of
Macromedia Flash can purchase the Flash 5 Generator 2 Pro
Developer Upgrade for $648. This offering includes the upgrade to
Macromedia Flash 5 as well as Macromedia Generator 2 Developer
Edition at half of its $999 price until December 29, 2000.
Macromedia Generator 2 Developer Edition is now shipping and runs
on Windows 95/98/NT/2000, Sun Solaris, and Red Hat Linux
platforms.

www.macromedia.com

www.macromedia.com/go/flashplaypr