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Chris Grande · Aug 25, 2003, 12:50 AM

Macromedia has announced the new versions of their software. Just thought you would all like to know. http://www.macromedia.com

zkmusa · Aug 25, 2003, 01:30 AM

This is exciting...

I hope Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks MX 2004 will both have the "single window" option that their Windows counterparts have. That's the one feature I really miss about the Windows MX lineup.

Chris Grande · Aug 25, 2003, 01:52 AM

One thing that looks good to me is the 85% speed increase in Fireworks, it can get damn slow on both the Mac and Windows. Another thing that caught my eye was that these apps are OS X 10.2.6+ only. Its good to see that OS 9 is good and dead for the big boys.

Leonis · Aug 25, 2003, 02:27 AM

Product activation are now on all Macro's products

It sucks but at least it looks better than Quark XPress' implementation

Chris Grande · Aug 25, 2003, 02:42 AM

Hmmm...maybe this error came up today because they want me to upgrade....

workerbee · Aug 25, 2003, 02:52 AM

Originally posted by Chris Grande:
One thing that looks good to me is the 85% speed increase in Fireworks, it can get damn slow on both the Mac and Windows. Another thing that caught my eye was that these apps are OS X 10.2.6+ only. Its good to see that OS 9 is good and dead for the big boys.

FW will still be extremely slow compared to Photoshop, I guess, especially when handling hi-res images (Print -> web). And I really dislike MM always showing only WinXP screenshots, even though I have to admit it does look somewhat cleaner that OSX.

Still, looks like a nice upgrade, even with the M$-like new activation scheme. OS9 finally being declared dead might help getting OSX consistency... and if Apple brings the help viewer up to speed with Panther, we might even be able to start using this feature, too.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Chris Grande · Aug 25, 2003, 02:56 AM

I found one, count it, one, OSX screenshot on the entire site! Located here: http://www.macromedia.com/software/f..._tour/version/

It seems when any site shows screenshots of XP it is always with the Silver theme applied, never the blue.

Oh..and the Help viewer in Panther is wicked fast. You can actually use it now!

workerbee · Aug 25, 2003, 03:11 AM

Originally posted by Chris Grande:
I found one, count it, one, OSX screenshot on the entire site! Located here: http://www.macromedia.com/software/f..._tour/version/

It seems when any site shows screenshots of XP it is always with the Silver theme applied, never the blue.

Oh..and the Help viewer in Panther is wicked fast. You can actually use it now!

Nice detective work, Chris!

Good to hear about Panther Help, too. It was always a bit embarrassing to start or use help when Windoze citizens where present...

BTW: I had forgotten just how awful this XP silver theme (title bars!) is

workerbee · Aug 25, 2003, 03:15 AM

Originally posted by workerbee:
Nice detective work, Chris!

But not perfect.

Peter · Aug 25, 2003, 05:28 AM

Any sign of a release date?

superblue · Aug 25, 2003, 07:21 AM

Looks like Freehand misses the update again - I can't see anything "2004" about it - and oh, how I wish for Unicode support in Freehand!!!!

But 85% speed increase in FW? About bloody time!!!

Now then, just the matter of a $399+ upgrade pricetag...

philzilla · Aug 25, 2003, 07:54 AM

hmm. nobody else seems to have mentioned there's 2 versions of Flash. looks like a Pro version, and a kinda "i don't need all that new-fangled propeller head code you added!" version

BrunoBruin · Aug 25, 2003, 08:09 AM

I'll happily upgrade if they've addressed the bug that causes Dreamweaver documents to go comatose behind your other windows. Clicking on the window won't bring it to the front, you have to click the icon in the dock. Other than that, DW has completely replaced GoLive for me.

workerbee · Aug 25, 2003, 08:09 AM

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
Any sign of a release date?

PLEASE LOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR CREDIT CARD STATEMENT DR*Macromedia - Global Store

Additional information for: Pre-order Macromedia Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional Upgrade<WPD070D100-English> Digital Pre Order
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
serial number: Not Available

************************************************** ***************************
Your digital pre order is not yet available. Your products will be available
for download in mid-September. You will be notified at this email address
when your product is ready to be downloaded. Your credit card will be
charged upon notification of the download availability.
************************************************** ***************************

workerbee · Aug 25, 2003, 08:34 AM

Originally posted by BrunoBruin:
I'll happily upgrade if they've addressed the bug that causes Dreamweaver documents to go comatose behind your other windows. Clicking on the window won't bring it to the front, you have to click the icon in the dock. Other than that, DW has completely replaced GoLive for me.

I'd really like MM to fix the DW MX UI bugs where
a) all one's palettes disappear for no obvious reason and
b) the site window's little roll-over help thingies never ever disappear for no obvious reason (the only OSX software that manages this feat AFAIK).

philzilla · Aug 25, 2003, 10:14 AM

Originally posted by workerbee:
I'd really like MM to fix the DW MX UI bugs where
a) all one's palettes disappear for no obvious reason and
b) the site window's little roll-over help thingies never ever disappear for no obvious reason (the only OSX software that manages this feat AFAIK).

they have to be two of the most annoying bugs, EVER!

apart from when the site window sticks to your mouse cursor for no reason, while the window focus goes haywire

<rant>still. Dreamweaver MX doesn't get me as annoyed as Flash MX does. i've lost count of how many times i've deleted that application, in fits of anger. FLASH MX IS THE MOST UNTESTED MACROMEDIA APPLICATION... EVER! i hope they give it to more than 2 blind monkeys to test, this time round. Fireworks MX is probably their best OS X effort, to date. we can only hope they can start from there, and get better, with the new versions </rant>

MojoRising022 · Aug 25, 2003, 10:40 AM

It looks like this fall is going to be extremely expensive! Adobe is prepping upgrades on almost half it's line, the G5 is shipping ($3000), and now Macromedia is upgrading MX Studio ($500).

The upgrades to the MX Suite look compelling and Flash MX Pro (you knew this was coming) seems to be worthwhile - at least for my needs.

While no one is making me buy any of this...I just cant say no!

I need a second job (and third maybe).

zkmusa · Aug 25, 2003, 10:47 AM

Originally posted by workerbee:
I'd really like MM to fix the DW MX UI bugs where
a) all one's palettes disappear for no obvious reason and
b) the site window's little roll-over help thingies never ever disappear for no obvious reason (the only OSX software that manages this feat AFAIK).

This is sooooo true! I can't believe how many times both of those bugs occur in a single use of the application.

The most annoying bug, though, is when you try to browse your computer files through the Site Files panel. The program crashes at least 30% of the time I do that.....

MojoRising022 · Aug 25, 2003, 11:48 AM

Can someone give me an idea of what Macromedia's activation process looks like and what the restrictions are?

I would like to install the suite on both a desktop and laptop...in the past, this was no problem...with activation it may be.

I do not plan to use the systems concurrently, but their licensing agreement is vague.

podragon · Aug 25, 2003, 03:22 PM

Originally posted by MojoRising022:
Can someone give me an idea of what Macromedia's activation process looks like and what the restrictions are?

I would like to install the suite on both a desktop and laptop...in the past, this was no problem...with activation it may be.

I do not plan to use the systems concurrently, but their licensing agreement is vague.

See http://www.macromedia.com/software/activation/faq/

Apparently - you should not have a problem installing on both a desktop and a laptop as long as you do not run them concurrently

MojoRising022 · Aug 25, 2003, 03:31 PM

It cossts $499 to upgrade to the Studio MX 2004 w/ Flash Pro from a previous Studio MX Version.

For $100 more, you can grab a DevNet Pro subscription that comes with the Studio, Contribute, JRun, Flash MX Remoting, Flash MX Communications Server, ColdFusion MX Enterprise, and Quaterly DevNet CD's.

Seems like a no brainer.

My only question is - what happem at the end of the 1 year subscription? Do I then have to pay full price for the next year's DevNet subscription or is their a reduced renewal rate?

MojoRising022 · Aug 25, 2003, 03:42 PM

Answered my own question: $999 to renew.

Superchicken · Aug 25, 2003, 05:21 PM

I wonder if that 85% speed increase would be due to Altivec enhancements. I just bought a G3 900Mhz iMac like two days ago.. and I LOVE fireworks, I'll have to download the demo and see how fast it is. MX was useless on my iMac 333Mhz before, even under OS 9. Fortunately Macromedia does offer demos. I might have to see about buying this if I can afford the cash. Anyone know if you get FreeHand with this? FreeHand 9 has some sorta conflict with a library under X

crystalthunder · Aug 25, 2003, 08:21 PM

Academic Superstore says that Studio MX 2004 ships mid-September. Just to let you know.

Nebrie · Aug 26, 2003, 03:36 AM

Originally posted by MojoRising022:
Answered my own question: $999 to renew.

It's $599 to renew isn't it? I just bought the renewal for $599.

MojoRising022 · Aug 26, 2003, 09:00 AM

Where does it say that on the website? On the DevNet pricing page (http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/sub...s/pricing.html) it shows $999 for a Pro Subscription renewal.

chris.p · Aug 26, 2003, 04:03 PM

Anyone know how the upgrades work? I have a copy of version Flash 4 that I received free when I purchased my computer, (in-store promo), and could upgrade to Flash MX with an upgrade. If I did that now, Would I be elligable for a free upgrade to the new version (or pay a small fee for the pro version?) The problem is that you cant upgrade Flash 4 to Flash 2004 - it seems the upgrades only go 2 revisions.

Cheers,

Chris

MojoRising022 · Aug 26, 2003, 04:45 PM

It looks like you can still upgrade from Flash 4 to MX and then get the MX 2004 upgrade for free.

You need to have a valid serial number for Flash 4, though, to activate MX.

Mac Write · 04:52 PM

I hope Dreamweaver MX 2004 supports long file names. It would also be nice to have sheets for save.

I hate it when doing a create site cache boom DW crashes. Also the property inspector not showing up on launch. Another annoyance is taking up to 30 seconds for pages to load and be usable. Although that might be solved by the end of the wee for me with my G4 500 Sonnet upgrade for my Beige 266.

One thing I am not sure about is I travel to my moms every fourth week, and have DW on her iMac since I need to work there (she's on a iMac DV SE 1999 SLOW, and years (yes years) away from upgrading).

So the product activation should allow me to have it on both Mac's so I can still work there?

chris.p · Aug 26, 2003, 05:45 PM

Originally posted by MojoRising022:
It looks like you can still upgrade from Flash 4 to MX and then get the MX 2004 upgrade for free.

You need to have a valid serial number for Flash 4, though, to activate MX.

Thanks for the info- It seems like this is the case, but do you have a link to confirm this? All I see on MM are pages to pre-order- normally there is something like "Buy MX now, and recieve a free upgrade to MX 2004 when it ships!"... All the retailers I have checkk online (in the UK) are still listing MX only - not the new one too- perhaps they will in a few days

Thanks for the help!

eggman · Aug 26, 2003, 08:15 PM

It's funny... I was just thinking that it would be nice if Macromedia had a minor bugfix release for Dreamweaver MX. It looks like I'll have to pay for the bug fixes - which I really hope are there.

In additions to others mentioned, I can't be the only one whose copy of DWMX sits in the corner, spinning a rainbow beach ball for minutes on end, when I save a modified template or library item and site files need to be updated. Most of my sites are relatively modest (fewer than 50 pages) and I'm frequently boggled - BOGGLED - by how long it can take to update a site.

MojoRising022 · Aug 26, 2003, 09:30 PM

I must say, I am a little sick of Macromedia also. I work on both indows and OS X for web development and there is no parity between the platforms. Macromedia offers windows developers a much faster, easier to work with, more robust suite of applications (Mac user pay the same as PC users, but we do not get ColdFusion or HomeSite).

Most of Macromedia's product line at this point, is not Mac compatible. Dreamweaver and Flash - core products - don't support PHP nearly as well as ASP.NET and nowhere near as well as ColdFusion.

Their customer service lately, has been on par with Quark, as has their upgrade pricing.

Unfortunately, with Go LIve being such a dog and no substiture for Flash, I have no choice.

Superchicken · Aug 27, 2003, 12:42 AM

hehe to bad they couldn't merge with/be bought out by Apple. I suspect Adobe would just plain stop photoshop development on the Mac if Apple ever decided to buy Macromedia.

Then again Apple could simply maintain development for both windows and os x

Anyway what is with Macromedia being so freaking PC centric lately anyway?

workerbee · Aug 27, 2003, 11:10 AM

Originally posted by Mac Write:
I hope Dreamweaver MX 2004 supports long file names. It would also be nice to have sheets for save.

Long filenames and sheets, ohhh yes please!

Another annoyance is taking up to 30 seconds for pages to load and be usable.[/B]

Have you tried turning off BBEdit Integration? Worked wonders for me.

DeathMan · Aug 27, 2003, 12:00 PM

How does BBEdit integration work, anyway? It would be sweet if they let you just substitute bbedit for their little text editor area. Is this what that means?

Mediaman_12 · Aug 27, 2003, 04:14 PM

Originally posted by workerbee:
Long filenames and sheets, ohhh yes please!

Can some one please tell me the point of long file names in a web page/site development app?
All the documents you create are ultimately going to be on a web server, where shorter names are better.

Photoshop and the like I can understand (where a file name like 'Edited photo of uncle Dave on a country road in the summer of 2002' may be useful) but in a web dev situation.

Just make the app more stable, and less likely to damage it's own site directory, would be a fantastic update.

timmerk · Sep 5, 2003, 03:52 AM

Originally posted by DeathMan:
How does BBEdit integration work, anyway? It would be sweet if they let you just substitute bbedit for their little text editor area. Is this what that means?

yes, anyone know? im buying this for sure!

workerbee · Sep 5, 2003, 01:25 PM

Originally posted by DeathMan:
How does BBEdit integration work, anyway? It would be sweet if they let you just substitute bbedit for their little text editor area. Is this what that means?

No, DWs text editor area is not changed in any way by "BBEdit integration" -- luckily, I have to say, because BBEdit integration really slows down DM MX a lot, and the built-in text editor is not bad at all, better that BBEdit for some things IMHO.
The way BBEdit is "integrated" is that documents open in both apps automatically change, no matter which app you're using to edit. Open a file in DW, fiddle with it, tell DW to "edit in BBEdit" -> File is opened in BBEdit including the changes you made to it in DW. Edit some more in BBEdit, tell it to go back to DW -> the file's window is refreshed in DW and includes the edits you did in BBEdit. The file does not have to be saved to disk for any of this.
Very very nice, if it wouldn't slow DW down to a scrawl: opening or saving a simple html document can take dozens of seconds.

timmerk · Sep 5, 2003, 01:39 PM

I just hope DW 2004 is a LOT faster.

workerbee · Sep 6, 2003, 05:18 AM

Originally posted by timmerk:
I just hope DW 2004 is a LOT faster.