December 13, 2005

Day two at Adobe (and why my email address is changing)

It's still strange to say I work for Adobe now, but the integration is going well. For the most part, the change is gradual, but a few things have happened overnight:

  1. We now have free sodas. With all the complexities of merging two big companies, someone actually took the time to make sure our sodas were free on day one. Nice touch!
  2. Email. I spent most of the day yesterday getting Outlook reconfigured. My favorite email client is Apple's Mail.app, but when I switched to Windows a few months ago, I decided to go all the way and give Outlook a try. Despite the fact that it's woefully lacking in some areas, and not overly easy to work with, it's pretty powerful when combined with Exchange. Anyway, my Macromedia email account (folders and messages) was migrated, but not my filters, so I spent a large portion of the day yesterday unsubscribing from email lists, resubscribing with my new Adobe email address, and creating new filters to keep my mail organized.

I was also informed yesterday by the Adobe IT department that my external Macromedia email address accounts for 77% of all virus related email inside of Macromedia, and 40% inside of Adobe. That's quite a distinction to have bestowed upon me. I don't have any viruses myself -- those numbers refer specifically to virus related email being sent to me. The reason is most likely because my Macromedia address is very public. It's posted everywhere, and apparently it is in a lot of infected Outlook address books. Anyway, the upshot is that my old external Macromedia email address, cantrell@macromedia.com, is getting shut down to reduce email traffic, and I'm switching to this one:

The old address will get shut down at some point today at which point this will be the best way to reach me.

Posted by cantrell at 10:05 AM. Link | Comments (5) | References

October 10, 2005

Video of Flex Announcement at Web 2.0

Although you've probably already seen the Flex 2.0 product family announcement, you can now see a video clip of Kevin Lynch actually delivering the official announcement at Web 2.0. Mike Chambers got Kevin's entire presentation on tape. It's only about 15 minutes long, but Kevin packs in a ton of good information, including building a very nice little application using Flex Builder 2 (Zorn) in only about 5 minutes. The clip is available as Flash video both on Mike's blog and on Google Video. If you get seasick, brace yourself for about the first 30 seconds, but after that, it stabilizes.

Posted by cantrell at 11:33 AM. Link | Comments (3) | References

August 17, 2005

Free Studio 8 Launch Seminars

You can check out some of the new features of Studio 8 first hand (for free) at a Macromedia studio 8 Launch Seminar. From the website:

We’ll demonstrate Studio 8’s exciting new features, many of which were developed based on input by people like you. While space is limited, we certainly hope you can join us.

In North America, seminars will be held in:

Outside of North America, seminars will be held in Australia, China, India, New Zealand, and in South Asia. These look like a really good way to quickly get up to speed on new Studio 8 features. And it's cheaper than a movie, so bring a date!

Posted by cantrell at 9:59 AM. Link | Comments (3) | References

August 8, 2005

Studio 8 Resources

By now, anyone who reads this blog probably knows that Macromedia announced Studio 8 today, so I won't get into details about something you already know. Rather, I wanted to point out some good resources for learning about what's new.

First, check out Greg Rewis's new blog. Greg is the Macromedia Studio Evangelist, and he'll be using his blog to post details about several important new features (like today's post about code collapse in Dreamweaver). Scott Fegette has started a "Feature of the Day" campaign on his blog, and will post about a new Studio 8 feature each day until the actual launch. And finally, there's the new MXNA Studio 8 Smart Category which will show you what the rest of the Macromedia community is saying about the announcement.

If you come across any other good resources, feel free to post them here.

Posted by cantrell at 10:34 AM. Link | References

July 11, 2005

Macromedia Product RSS Feeds Restored

A little over a year ago, the Macromedia Developer Relations team introduced the Macromedia Product RSS feeds to help our community keep up with product updates, security bulletins, tech notes, and Developer Center articles. We took them down for about a week as we began migrating community services from the old markme.com server to the new Macromedia weblogs server. I've been getting several emails a day from people wondering what happened to the feeds, so I decided my priority for the day was to get them fully migrated (it wasn't just a matter of copying the files over -- we also switched to a new system for generating and maintaining them). Anyway, I got it all done, so all the product feeds should be working again. Please let me know if you notice anything screwy.

Posted by cantrell at 5:36 PM. Link | Comments (2) | References

July 4, 2005

The Macromedia Developer Relations podcast gets added to iTunes

Finally. The Macromedia Developer Relations podcast is now available in iTunes. Go to Podcasts > Technology > Developers. To learn more about iTunes support for podcasts, see Apple's podcast homepage.

How many people out there listen to podcasts? Do you iTunes, or something else? (I'm wavering back and forth between iTunes and Shrook right now.) And what podcasts do you listen to regularly? I'm flying to New York tomorrow for Flashforward, so I'd like to stock up on some podcasts for the flight.

Posted by cantrell at 10:38 AM. Link | Comments (2) | References

July 1, 2005

markme is Going Down Temporarily

If you've been following Macromedia weblogs for longer than the last few months, you know that we used our own domain (markme.com) before migrating to weblogs.macromedia.com. We haven't fully completed the migration, though. We still have several weblogs to move over, as well as the Macromedia Product RSS Feeds. We need to bring markme.com down for a few hours today as part of some unexpected maintenance, so if you still count on resources on the markme.com domain, they will be unavailable for a little while today. We'll let you know when the server is back up.

Posted by cantrell at 2:13 PM. Link | References

June 29, 2005

Developer Relations Podcast in iTunes

I finally got the Macromedia Developer Relations Podcast submitted to iTunes. The documentation Apple provides for the special iTunes meta-data tags has some inconsistencies, and I found at least one major bug in their submission process, so it took several hours for me to finally get it submitted. In case you're having problems, as well, it seems you can't add iTunes category tags at the channel level (even though the docs say you can). For some reason, if you use bogus or incorrect categories, the feed is accepted (but the categories ignored), but if you use real and current categories, you get back an error saying that the iTunes Store is experiencing technical difficulties, and to try again later. The work around seems to be to remove the category tags at the channel level altogether (they seem to work at the item level), and just pick a category and sub-category through the feed submission interface.

Anyway, the feed hasn't shown up yet. After you submit your feed, it tells you that it may not show up right away, and it might need to be reviewed or something, so I'm not sure how long that will take. If anyone notices that it has been added, please drop me a comment. It's in the category "Technology" under the subcategory "Developers".

In other news, I'm about to move yet again, so I'm going to be offline most likely until next week. This is the third time I've blogged about moving in about 2.5 years, which isn't a good sign. I'm staying in San Francisco, but moving from a rental into a house that I bought, so hopefully I'll actually plant some roots and stay in one place for a while.

Off to finish packing...

Posted by cantrell at 12:20 PM. Link | Comments (2) | References

June 27, 2005

Macromedia Developer Relations Launches It's First Podcast

Mike Chambers and I put together the first Macromedia Developer Relations podcast which we released this morning. The podcast covers the following topics:

If you're into podcasts, check it out, and be sure to subscribe.

Posted by cantrell at 12:12 PM. Link | References

February 1, 2005

Macromedia is Looking For a Flex Evangelist

Macromedia is hiring! If you are excited by innovative new web technologies, and think you can inspire excitement in others, this could be an opportunity for you. The two most important qualities for a position like this are technical knowledge and speaking/meeting skills. Here's a summary from the job posting:

As a Technical Evangelist for Macromedia Flex, the new presentation server for building enterprise-class Rich Internet Applications, you will be responsible for generating excitement around the technology. Your unique combination of deep technical skills and outstanding communication skills will allow you to inspire a wide variety of audiences, from business owners to hardcore architects and developers.

Requirements include a strong background in software engineering (server- and client-side), thorough knowledge of J2EE and/or .NET, knowledge of design patterns, outstanding speaking and writing skills, and one or two other key qualities.

Check out the job posting for more information, including how to apply.

Posted by cantrell at 3:39 PM. Link | Comments (1) | References

January 27, 2005

Flash Detection Kit Macrochat Tomorrow (Friday)

Check out tomorrow's Macrochat to learn everything there is to know about the Flash Detection Kit. Specifically, you will learn:

If you're interested in attending, go ahead and register!

Posted by cantrell at 4:51 PM. Link | References

January 20, 2005

Fireworks Macrochat Tomorrow

If you're into Fireworks, or if you've been meaning to get into it, check out tomorrow's Macrochat. Here's the official description:

Macromedia Senior Product Support Engineer, Alan Musselman, will demonstrate various rollover menu options, slice behaviors vs. button symbols, popup menus, using symbols to increase productivity, and batch processing.

What You Will Learn

If you're interested, make sure to register.

Posted by cantrell at 12:11 PM. Link | References

January 18, 2005

New LiveDocs Features

The Macromedia IMD and web teams have added some new features to Macromedia LiveDocs. You can now generate comment reports, sign up for email notifications when new comments are added, and read comments via RSS. Just drill down to any LiveDocs page, and look for links to the new features at the bottom.

Right now, only documents with existing comments contain links to RSS feeds. If the document has no comments, no RSS link is available. However, if you're determined to track documents with no comments via RSS, just find a document that does have an RSS feed, and make the appropriate adjustments to feed's URL so that it points to the page that you want to track.

Posted by cantrell at 10:58 AM. Link | Comments (4) | References

January 7, 2005

Macrochats Are Back!

Macrochats are Breeze Live presentations focusing on a specific technical topic given by product engineers or community leaders. We first experimented with Macrochats during Community Week, and found they were extremely successful (attracting more than 700 people for a single topic), so we're bringing them back. This time, however, we are going to limit attendance to 200 people per session in order to better manage the question and answer period (imagine 700 people asking questions all at once!), but they will all be recorded, and presentations which prove wildly successful will be given again. Here's the official messaging:

"Macromedia is now offering in-depth technical live product presentations called Macrochats. These differ from our traditional seminar series because Macrochats are precise technical demonstrations on specific products. Macrochats are live technical discussions led by product engineers, technical support engineers and customer leaders. The content of the Macrochats vary across all Macromedia products and technical levels. MacroChats are done online utilizing Macromedia Breeze Live and there is no charge to participate. Each Macrochat is limited to 200 participants.

We record Macrochats so you can view at your leisure. Check out the schedule and recordings here:

www.macromedia.com/community

Posted by cantrell at 11:32 AM. Link | Comments (2) | References

December 15, 2004

Holiday Fun From Macromedia

Make time to play! Check out this holiday game from Macromedia:

http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/holiday2004/

The water is video, mixed with bitmap images and vector art, and the entire game is coded with ActionScript 2.0, giving more realistic movement and control of the penguin during the dives. Apparently there’s an easter egg in the game (for the "truly gifted" but I haven't been able to find it yet.

Posted by cantrell at 7:41 PM. Link | Comments (2) | References

Macromedia Product RSS Feed Updates

You may have noticed there were some technical problems with the Macromedia product RSS feeds recently (I know a lot of you noticed because I got a ton of email about it). The problem was actually a bug in the tool we use to generate the feeds. The bug has been fixed, and now all the feeds are successfully parsing once again.

Also, we are going to be adding dc:subject tags to each item in the feeds pretty soon which is something several people have been asking for. It will allow developers to programatically distinguish between tech notes, security bulletins, Developer Center content, and product update information. I'll let everyone know once the changes are in place.

Posted by cantrell at 2:52 PM. Link | References

December 7, 2004

Macromedia News Firefox Extension

If you use Firefox (which you should), and you like to keep up with Macromedia news (which you should), check out Mike Chambers' new Macromedia News Firefox Extension. I've been using it in various forms for about the last week, and I'm totally addicted to it.

Posted by cantrell at 4:05 PM. Link | Comments (1) | References

December 3, 2004

Macromedia Launches New Support Knowledge Base

So how many of you have had trouble finding a tech note, security bulletin, or Developer Center article on Macromedia's site? Adding search powered by Google has helped tremendously, and now Macromedia has just added a second very powerful tool: the Macromedia Knowledge Base.

The idea of the Macromedia Knowledge Base is that it focuses specifically on support documents as opposed to indexing the entire site. In addition to returning highly relevant results, the Knowledge Base gives you a great deal of additional control over your search, and offers categorized alternatives to help you narrow down and further focus your results. If it sounds complicated, it really isn't, and if it sounds powerful, it certainly is.

During a test this morning, I did a search for "jrun flash remoting" and although I only got back 53 results, they were 53 highly relevant results like "Consuming Web Services with Macromedia JRun 4 and Flash Remoting," "Configuring Flash Remoting with JRun 4," "How to connection to a JavaBean using Flash Remoting and JRun 4/J2EE," and "Flash Remoting checklist for JRun 4 users." I was also presented with several related alternatives as well as the ability to search within my existing search results. Very nice.

For more information, have a look at the Macromedia Knowledge Base FAQ (which includes a cool demo), or just jump right in!

Posted by cantrell at 10:50 AM. Link | Comments (3) | References

November 8, 2004

RSS All Over Macromedia.com

I'm sure you already knew about the Macromedia product RSS feeds, but did you know that forum posts are now available via RSS now, too? Just look for the "rss feed" link at the top of any Macromedia support forum.

Posted by cantrell at 11:11 AM. Link | Comments (2) | References

November 5, 2004

Three New Macromedia Product RSS Feeds

Captivate, Flex Builder and RoboHelp have been added to the Macromedia Product RSS Feeds. If you're not already using these feeds, you should be! If you're new to RSS, you can find all the information you need to get started at the aforementioned link.

Posted by cantrell at 11:39 AM. Link | References

October 11, 2004

New TattleTale Product Page: Macromedia News On Your Desktop

Just wanted to mention that I finally got around to putting together a product page for TattleTale, the application that lets your receive Macromedia news on your desktop. In case you haven't seen it yet, there's a Windows, OS X, and cross-platform Java version. The product page contains all the information you need to get going with TattleTale, including screenshots of all three versions.

Posted by cantrell at 11:34 AM. Link | Comments (1) | References

October 4, 2004

Macromedia Launches Captivate

From the website:

Macromedia Captivate (formerly RoboDemo) automatically records all on-screen actions and instantly creates an interactive Flash simulation. Point-and-click to add text captions, narration, and e-learning interactions without programming knowledge.

You can find out more at the Captivate product page...

http://www.macromedia.com/go/captivate/

... or, for those of you short on time, check out this recorded Breeze Live presentation which spells the whole thing out, including a demonstration.

Posted by cantrell at 2:18 PM. Link | References

September 16, 2004

Breeze Live by the Month or the Minute

Peter Ryce talks about the new Breeze Live monthly and pay-per-use plans through a recorded Breeze Live presentation. Even if you aren't interested in new ways to use Breeze Live, it's worth checking out the presentation just to see the live, real-time polls he conducts. Very cool stuff.

Posted by cantrell at 11:00 AM. Link | References

August 25, 2004

A Glimpse of Life at Macromedia

I haven't been posting much lately for two very good reasons. 1) I was at the main office in San Francisco all last week, attending meetings for almost the entire week (they only let us out to sleep, and use the rest rooms), and 2) because I'm really busy working on something that will be announced shortly. I did manage to take a few pictures while at the main office, however, so I thought I'd give the community a quick glimpse of the Macromedia workplace.

Do kids today even know who this guy is? Or even what claymation is, for that matter?

Quite possibly the coolest cube at all of Macromedia.

A plasma screen cycling through posts aggregated by MXNA, keeping the company up to speed on what's happening in the community. Rumor has it the subliminal message "Obey the Customer" occasionally flashes by.

Myself, Mike Chambers, and Danny Dura risking life and limb to reach our next meeting on time. (If only Segways didn't cost as much as I sold my last car for, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.)

Posted by cantrell at 10:12 AM. Link | Comments (12) | References

August 6, 2004

Get Macromedia Certified For Less

Register for a Macromedia Certified Professional Exam during the month of August and save 60% off the regular exam price. See the Macromedia Certified Professional Program for details and your promo code.

So how many of you are Macromedia certified, and in what technologies? What do you think of software certifications in general? Personally, I think they're a good thing. If I were hiring, I certainly wouldn't base a decision solely on certifications, but it could help tip the scale one way or the other if two candidates were close. That, and of course a small bribe, or perhaps a new watch. :)

Posted by cantrell at 10:26 AM. Link | Comments (3) | References

July 29, 2004

Macromedia Developer Center Content as RSS

Developer Center content has been available as an RSS feed for some time, but here's a new twist. Developer Center content is now being included in the individual Macromedia Product RSS Feeds as well, so in addition to TechNotes, security bulletins and product update notifications, you can also watch for relevant Developer Center content.

How many of you are subscribed to the Macromedia Product RSS Feeds? If you're not subscribed, why not? There's no better way to keep up to speed on Macromedia technology. Click here to get started.

Posted by cantrell at 2:18 PM. Link | References

July 20, 2004

Two New Product RSS Feeds Added

We added two new product feeds to the collection of Macromedia Product RSS Feeds today: FlashPaper and Contribute Publishing Services. We now have the following 18 products covered:

  1. Authorware
  2. Breeze
  3. Central
  4. ColdFusion
  5. Contribute
  6. Contribute Publishing Services
  7. Director
  8. Dreamweaver
  9. Flash Communication Server
  10. Fireworks
  11. Flash
  12. FlashPaper
  13. Flash Player
  14. Flash Remoting
  15. Flex
  16. FreeHand
  17. HomeSite
  18. JRun

For more information on what these product feeds are, how they work, and how you can use them, see the Macromedia Product RSS Feed page.

Posted by cantrell at 12:24 PM. Link | References

July 15, 2004

Macromedia.com Feedback

Thanks for the feedback on the forums yesterday. I'm going to pass this information on to the forums team for them to consider in upcoming releases. The forums are an important part of the Macromedia community, and we want to make sure they are moving in the right direction. (Also, if you have some time, how about responding to the new forum poll over in the right-hand margin?)

Today I'm interested in Macromedia.com, and specifically what you think of the flow and organization of the site. Are you easily able to find the information you're after? Is it where you were expecting it to be? How often do you have to use the search feature to find what you are looking for? Tell us what we can do to improve the Macromedia.com experience.

Posted by cantrell at 4:14 PM. Link | Comments (38) | References

July 14, 2004

Macromedia Forums

Just wondering how many of you out there use the Macromedia web-based forums on a regular basis. Any specific feedback you'd like to pass along?

How many of you are using NNTP rather than the web-based forums? Anything in particular about the NNTP hook you'd like to report?

And finally, what news readers do you like for both Windows and Mac? I've tried several for OS X, and I can't find one I like. Rather than reading dozens of news reader reviews before trying another batch, I'd rather get some feedback from my readers since it's obvious you have excellent taste!

Posted by cantrell at 5:39 PM. Link | Comments (17) | References

July 6, 2004

Try Breeze For Free in July

No doubt you've heard about Breeze, and chance are, you have either seen a Breeze presentation, or even participated in a Breeze Live meeting. If you're curious about how it works, you can get a free Breeze account during the month of July and check it out.

Posted by cantrell at 9:16 AM. Link | Comments (1) | References

June 29, 2004

Two More Product Notification RSS Feeds

It didn't take long for the requests for additional product feeds to start rolling in after we launched the initial set yesterday. This morning, we added HomeSite and Authorware RSS feeds. We now have 16 total. Check out the Macromedia Product RSS Feed information page for details.

Posted by cantrell at 3:25 PM. Link | Comments (1) | References

June 28, 2004

RSS Feeds For *All* Macromedia Products

Earlier this month, we announced that we were opening up the ColdFusion, JRun and Flex TechNote RSS feeds to the public. We got a very positive response, however several people asked me why we were stopping there. Why just three products, and why just TechNotes? The answer was that we were trying to gauge interest before investing in the process any further. Well, there was enough enthusiasm that we decided to go ahead to start publishing RSS feeds for 14 different Macromedia products, and to include not just TechNotes, but also security bulletins and product updates, as well. Introducing the new Macromedia RSS Product Feeds:

http://www.macromedia.com/go/rss_info

A word of caution: the Macromedia RSS Product Feeds make heavy use of "go" URLs, or redirects, which means that although the URL above points to macromedia.com, you will actually be redirected to a page on another domain. It's very important that when posting this URL and when adding the individual feeds to your aggregator, you use the go URLs rather than the URLs they redirect to since it's likely these feeds will end up needing to move at some point in the future.

Enjoy, and spread the word!

Posted by cantrell at 2:30 PM. Link | Comments (3) | References

June 21, 2004

Studio MX 2004 Price Drop

It looks like Macromedia has dropped the price of Studio MX 2004 by $200 for a limited time. The savings applies to both the upgrade, and the full version. Check out the Macromedia Store for details.

Out of curiosity, how many of you use studio vs. DevNet vs. purchasing products individually? Which do you think is the best deal, and why?

Posted by cantrell at 6:14 PM. Link | Comments (8) | References

June 16, 2004

I Need Your Help Testing RSS Aggregators!

I'm working on a super top secret project involving RSS (which will be revealed shortly), and I need everyone's help. I need to see how many aggregators support redirects. In other words, if you point your aggregator to a URL that redirects to another URL (using a 302 HTTP header generated by something like CFLOCATION), will your aggregator follow the redirect, and successfully parse the feed? I'm guessing most or all will, but I need to be sure.

If you would like to help out, please point your favorite aggregator to the URL below:

http://www.markme.com/cantrell/redir_test/index.cfm

Remember not to point it to the URL that the URL above redirects to, but to the exact URL above, then post your findings here. Anyone who can find an aggregator that doesn't follow redirects wins either a Gmail account, or any DRK you want (up to a reasonable number, of course, and aggregators you have written yourself are not eligible).

Thanks for your help!

Posted by cantrell at 1:54 PM. Link | Comments (30) | References

"Instant-on" Breeze Meetings

Macromedia issued an interesting press release yesterday highlighting the "instant-on" capabilities of Breeze (made possible by the Flash player), and the new Breeze extensibility layer that allows for some interesting application integration. There's a link to a short, two-minute Breeze presentation that demos starting up a Breeze Live meeting from an IM client, and automatically inviting the people in the IM conversation into the Breeze meeting. The idea is that two people are chatting, and decide they need to talk in person or share their screens (the remote equivalent of looking over someone's shoulder), they can get a meeting up and running in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. It's a very cool concept as I find myself in that position all the time. Although it's easy to create Breeze meetings in the traditional way, simplifying the process by integrating aspects of Breeze into other applications makes it more practical, efficient, and accessible.

Posted by cantrell at 11:03 AM. Link | Comments (4) | References

June 9, 2004

ColdFusion, JRun and Flex TechNotes Available as RSS Feeds

ColdFusion, JRun and Flex TechNotes are now available as RSS feeds at the following URLs:

Whenever a new TechNote is posted, these feeds are updated immediately. Spread the word, and enjoy!

Posted by cantrell at 1:23 PM. Link | Comments (4) | References

May 19, 2004

Technology Sneak Peek MacroChat Today

Today's MacroChat is going to be a good one. At 9:00AM, 4:00PM and 7:00PM Pacific today, you can get a special sneak peek at some very cool upcoming Macromedia technology in the Worldwide User Group Meeting MacroChat. Here's the description from the website:

"Take advantage of this special opportunity to get a glimpse of the future technologies, features, and functions that Macromedia engineers have been working on in our development labs. Be among the first to see some of the goodies that may (or may not) make it into future Macromedia product releases. There is only one place you can get this special sneak peek - your local Macromedia User Group. Please check their web site to find when they are holding a meeting."

Also, check out the schedule for the entire week, if you haven't already.

Posted by cantrell at 12:02 PM. Link | References

May 14, 2004

New Macromedia University Courses

I just learned there are some new Macromedia University courses available for Flash and Dreamweaver:

Flash MX 2004

Dreamweaver MX 2004

For more information, check out the course listing page on Macromedia's website.

Posted by cantrell at 1:33 PM. Link | References

May 5, 2004

Macromedia Announces Community Week

Macromedia has declared Monday, May 17th through Friday, May 21st to be Community Week! Get all the details from the Community Week Home Page. The main attraction will be daily "MacroChats" which are "hour-long, in-depth, technical presentations by Macromedia Product Managers, Technical Support Engineers, Certified Trainers, and Team Macromedia members. MacroChats will utilize the Macromedia web communication tool, Breeze Live. There is no charge to participate in any of these presentations." Between one and four chats will be held every day next week, so check out the schedule and start planning!

Posted by cantrell at 11:57 AM. Link | References

March 11, 2004

Dreamweaver and MX 2004 EULA Updates Released

All you Dreamweaver MX 2004 users out there are definitely going to want to go check out the newly released updater. Now that the Dreamweaver updater is out there, the entire Studio MX 2004 suite has been optimized since its original release.

Macromedia has also released updates to our MX 2004 End-user License Agreement (EULA) to address product version and Flash component issues. Let me know what you think of the changes.

Posted by cantrell at 11:19 PM. Link | Comments (3) | References

November 7, 2003

Dreamweaver Docs Go Live

I just found out that Macromedia has posted the Dreamweaver API Reference and the Extending Dreamweaver documentation on LiveDocs. If you use Dreamweaver, you will want to bookmark the link below:

http://livedocs.macromedia.com/dreamweaver/mx2004/index.html

Posted by cantrell at 12:06 AM. Link | References

October 21, 2003

Curious About Royale?

Have you heard of Royale? If not, "Royale is the internal code name for an initiative at Macromedia that addresses the requirements of enterprise programmers who want to develop Rich Internet Applications." Royale isn't available yet, but it is rapidly maturing, and will soon be ready for beta testing. If you're interested in becoming a tester, apply now.

Posted by cantrell at 10:44 AM. Link | References

Overview of the Future of IE

By now, I think we're all aware of the upcoming changes in Internet Explorer, however I'm still occasionally seeing questions and debates in the community. Macromedia recently published a short, concise Breeze presentation which does an excellent job of describing the issue and the available solutions. If you have questions about if or how the new version of Internet Explorer will affect you, I encourage you to check it out.

Posted by cantrell at 10:24 AM. Link | References

October 6, 2003

Upcoming Version of IE Requires Updates to "Active Content" Tags

Due to upcoming modifications in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, changes will have to be made to web sites that use embedded "active" content such as Macromedia Flash, Shockwave, Authorware content, QuickTime video, Java applets, etc. You can find out more about the upcoming version of Internet Explorer on Microsoft's website at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate/

Macromedia's goal is to ensure developers are able to easily update their sites, so we created the Active Content Development Center to assist them. This site provides information, tools, and resources. Once these changes are implemented (sometime early next year), the result should be completely transparent for the end-user. The Active Content Developer Center can be found here:

http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/

For active content update related discussions, check out the Macromedia Active Content Update forums here:

http://webforums.macromedia.com/activecontent/

Check out the active content update FAQ here:

http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/faq.html

Posted by cantrell at 9:22 PM. Link | Comments (4) | References

September 17, 2003

Choosing Macromedia Technologies over .NET and Java

There's an interesting article on INTERNETWEEK about a company called Mitem Corporation which has decided to go with Macromedia technologies over .NET or Java for an application they are building for the healthcare industry. The application is called Blue Iris, and it will allow doctors to use computers to do a lot of things they currently use stacks and stacks of paper for now, like documenting medical histories, recording test results, and prescribing medication.

According to the article, what Mitem finds particularly attractive about using Flash to implement the Blue Iris user interface is that they are able to easily recreate some of the paper-based processes that doctors are accustomed to. Apparently doctors are generally not overly excited about getting acquainted with new technologies, so the key to getting them to accept a new system is to keep the learning curve as gentle as possible.

The article is actually slightly misleading (though not intentionally so). What it should say is that Mitem has decided to use Flash over Microsoft technology or a Java applet for their user interface. They are still using Java on the back-end, though they are going with a 100% Macromedia solution since JRun is their server of choice.

As an aside, what is it with doctors and new technology? Whenever I am in a doctor's office, I'm always amazed by how low-tech their operation is, and I always envision myself writing a bunch of applications to make their lives easier, and passing out tablet PCs or laptops for everyone to use. They have fancy diagnostic equipment, but then they have entire walls -- from floor to ceiling -- of paper files and require as many administrative assistances as there are nurses and doctors to keep it all organized. And it's not like doctors excel in penmanship, so what do they have against computers? I was having my house painted a few months ago, and one of the painters asked me who I worked for. I told him Macromedia, and he recognized the name right away, and told me how much he loved Flash technology. Then I went to the doctor a few weeks later, and the doctor asked me the same question, but not only had he never heard of Macromedia, but he hadn't heard of Flash or Java, either. Any doctors out there who can provide an explanation?

But I digress. Check out the article.

Posted by cantrell at 12:05 PM. Link | Comments (5) | References

September 11, 2003

Macromedia Product Decision Tool

Macromedia recently launched a very cool little app called the "Product Decision Tool" which helps customers who are new to Macromedia software find products that are right for them. I'm pointing it out not because I think anyone who reads this post needs help picking out Macromedia products (though if you do, it works quite well), but to point out what I think is an excellent use of Flash. Why do I think it works so well?

  1. It doesn't try to be an entire application. Although you can certainly build entire applications in Flash, sometimes you just need to embed a little extra functionality that you can't get with any other technology. Basically, an applet.
  2. It isn't something that could be done better in HTML, DHTML or JavaScript. There is no other technology on the web that can give you an experience like this.
  3. It fits perfectly in the page. Flash application developers have to be careful about the use of scrollbars. I hate having to switch back and forth between my browser's scrollbar and a Flash scrollbar. Well designed apps either fit on the page, or take scrollbar use into consideration so that users don't have to alternate between the two.
  4. It integrates perfectly into the page. Not only does it just fit well, but it integrates well with the content.
  5. It looks great.

Anyone have examples of Flash apps like this you or someone you know built?

Posted by cantrell at 1:43 PM. Link | Comments (1) | References

September 10, 2003

SYS-CON Media Launches MX Developer's Journal

SYS-CON Media launched the brand new MX Developer's Journal (or MXDJ) today in conjunction with the Macromedia MX 2004 product launch. MXDJ is a resource dedicated to developers who use multiple MX products like Macromedia Flash, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, FreeHand, ColdFusion and Director. Apparently it is to be distributed to 2 million Macromedia MX developers. Check out the announcement on SYS-CON's site.

How many Developer Journal fans are there out there, and which ones do you like?

Posted by cantrell at 12:39 PM. Link | Comments (9) | References

September 3, 2003

MX 2004 Public Product Previews

If you are interested in finding out what Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004 and the all-new Flash Professional MX 2004 can do, hook up with your local Macromedia user group today and watch the very first MX 2004 public product demonstrations over Breeze Live. All the details are on Macromedia's website, including times and information on user groups near you.

Posted by cantrell at 1:17 PM. Link | Comments (5) | References

August 25, 2003

Macromedia Launches MX 2004

Macromedia announced the new MX 2004 product line this morning with five new products:

Click on any of the links above to learn more about each product. You can also hook up with your local user group and participate in the first world-wide, public demonstration of the MX 2004 product line on September 3rd. There will be a copy of Studio MX raffled off at each participating user group.

Posted by cantrell at 11:08 AM. Link | Comments (6) | References

July 15, 2003

Macromedia Launches Affiliate Program

Macromedia is going to start rewarding people in the community for what they already do: recommend Macromedia products. Anyone who has a website or a weblog that doesn't promote inappropriate and/or illegal material can become a Macromedia affiliate and earn up to 10% commission on each sale of Contribute and Macromedia Studio MX that originates from their site (other products will be added in the future). All you have to do is create a free account, then add some links to your site. You can even monitor your account through Macromedia's online reporting interface. Check out the following URL for details:

http://www.macromedia.com/go/affiliate/

Posted by cantrell at 10:55 AM. Link | Comments (1) | References

July 9, 2003

What Are You Building with MX Products?

A message from Macromedia:

We know many of our customers are creating amazing experiences with Macromedia MX products. As part of the evolution of MX, we want to tell your story.

Send us an email and tell us what you're doing with Macromedia Flash MX, Fireworks MX, or Dreamweaver MX. We're talking weird, wild, different, extraordinary, breakthrough, entertaining - you name it - we want to hear about it.

Please email your project description and include the following information:

  1. Full name, street address, and telephone number.
  2. Indicate which Macromedia software you used.
  3. A short description (3 - 5 sentences) of your project detailing what sets it apart from the rest.
  4. Provide links to your work.

If your project raises enough eyebrows around here, we'll contact you and take it from there. What's in it for you? The chance to share your work with a global audience (okay, and some free stuff).

Send all submissions to castingcall@macromedia.com

Posted by cantrell at 12:19 PM. Link | Comments (7) | References

May 22, 2003

Macromedia On Demand Seminars

If you have already been around the weblog circuit today, you might have seen this, but this is so cool that I had to blog it anyway. Macromedia is now offering "On Demand" multimedia seminars to help people quickly understand new products and new features. They have free on-line seminars for Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, ColdFusion MX (server and J2EE), Studio MX, Support and Training and the Flash MX Data Connection Kit.

From the Macromedia website:

Evaluating a new product can be difficult, and with each version there are always new features to navigate. Enter Macromedia On Demand seminars, the fastest way to get up to speed quickly. Our seminars feature multimedia presentations and demos designed to help you maximize your evaluation experience with our products.

Check it out here:

http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/events/online/ondemand/

Posted by cantrell at 1:53 PM. Link | References

May 19, 2003

$100 Rebate on Studio MX

Macromedia is offering a $100 rebate on Studio MX Plus for Windows and Studio MX for Mac purchased before June 30th. You can find out more at the Macromedia online store.

Studio MX Plus also comes with the DevNet Resource Kit, Special Edition. From Macromedia's website:

The special edition DevNet Resource Kit included with Studio MX Plus provides an introductory sample of the tested, documented and reliable extensions and components that are available in DevNet Resource Kit Volume 1 and DevNet Resource Kit Volume 2.

Posted by cantrell at 9:45 AM. Link | References

April 22, 2003

About Macromedia Central

If you have any questions about what Macromedia Central is and how it works, check out this Breeze presentation:

http://marketing.product.breezecentral.com/p45237277/

Lea Hickman from the Macromedia Central product team explains both the technical and business aspects of the Macromedia Central application development model.

Posted by cantrell at 10:13 AM. Link | References

April 21, 2003

Macromedia Helps Keep Chinese Students Learning During SARS Scare

From the article:

After the deadly SARS outbreak, Hong Kong schools were ordered shut last month. But technologies provided by Bay Area firms have kept many classes in session.

San Francisco's Macromedia Inc. and First Virtual Communications Inc. of Santa Clara have helped thousands of those students keep up with their studies via virtual classrooms conducted over the Internet.

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/21/BU190788.DTL

You can view the online presentation here.

Posted by cantrell at 9:58 PM. Link | References

April 14, 2003

Macromedia Merchandise Available This Week

Macromedia is going to start selling a limited quantity of merchandise on their online store this week. Looks like hats and tee-shirts, at least to start out with. I especially like the long sleeve tee-shirt. Too bad nobody sent me one to beta test!

Posted by cantrell at 7:48 PM. Link | References

April 3, 2003

Readers' Choice Awards - Cast Your Votes!

The Java Developer's Journal is currently holding it's sixth Readers' Choice Awards. ColdFusion MX has been nominated for both "Best Team Development Tool" and "Best J2EE Application Development Framework". JRun was nominated as "Best Java Application Server". Distinctions like these can be a big win for us all! Cast your vote here:
http://www.sys-con.com/java/readerschoice2003/index.cfm

The ColdFusion Developer's Journal is also hold it's Readers' Choice Awards, for which several Macromedia products have been nominated. Have a look and cast your vote here:
http://www.sys-con.com/coldfusion/readerschoice2003/index.cfm

Finally, Web Services Journal and XML Journal are jointly holding their Readers' Choice Awards. Both Macromedia ColdFusion MX and JRun 4 have been nominated in the "Best App Server for Web Services" category. And ColdFusion MX has also been nominated as the "Most Innovative Application of XML". Make your opinions known here:
http://www.sys-con.com/webservices/readerschoice2003/index.cfm

And, of course, check out the "ColdFusion & Java" story by Ben Forta while you are there.

Posted by cantrell at 11:01 AM. Link | References

March 31, 2003

DevNet Center Update and New RSS Feed

Macromedia has just published new DevNet Center content which relates to all the announcements at Flashforward 2003:

First of all, DevNet Center content is now available through an RSS feed in addition to the old Macromedia XML format. The old format is deprecated, so if you are using it, make a note to switch over to new the RSS version. We will continue to publish both for a while, but eventually we will standardize on RSS. You can read more here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/articles/xml_resource_feed.html

The Macromedia Central Development Center (Beta) has launched. If you are interested in Central or in possibly joining the beta, have a look:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/central/

What is Flash Central:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/central/articles/what_is_it.html

Macromedia Central White Paper (Kevin Lynch):
http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/whitepaper/central_wp.pdf

JD's Forum: Macromedia Central (John Dowdell):
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/jd_forum/jd027.html

Here's Mike Chamber's perspective on Flashforward 2003:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/logged_in/mchambers_flashforward.html

Information on the new Flash 6 player for PocketPC:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/fp6_ppc

Macromedia Flash Player 6 Pocket PC 2002 Developer Kit:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/pocketpc/devkit/

Macromedia Flash Integration with Pocket PC E-mail and Contact List:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mobile/articles/ppc_email.html

Exploring Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flashcom/articles/exploring.html

Posted by cantrell at 10:52 AM. Link | References

March 27, 2003

Live - Flashforward 2003 Keynote

Central
Central lets you download and install Flash applications that you can run locally with or without an Internet connection. Very cool, very new, very different. Check out the details here: http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/

Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC
What more needs to be said? It's available now right here: http://www.macromedia.com/go/fp6_ppc

Flash Communication Server
New version available today. New features include:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/

DevNet Resource Kit
Mike Chambers did a sneak peek of a couple of apps that will be available on DRK Volume 3. The first one is RSSify which lets you produce RSS feeds on a server (Flash and ColdFusion). The second one is called News Aggregator, which is a Flash client that consumes RSS feeds. Good combination. Very cool stuff. DRK Volume 3 will be available in about 3 weeks to DevNet Professional and Devnet Essential subscribers.

Royale
Meet "Royale" (codename), a new way to generate Flash user interfaces using XML. Neil Balthaser did a demo from the office of a credit card form that automatically does validation which he build with just a few lines of XML. More on Macromedia Royale to come.

Posted by cantrell at 2:38 PM. Link | References

March 26, 2003

Updating the ColdFusion Exchange

I wanted to let people know that we have been getting some complaints that the ColdFusion Exchange has gotten a little full and that extensions are getting difficult to find, so we are going to be updating the content starting today. If something that you wrote gets removed and you believe it is still current and valuable, please resubmit it.

Posted by cantrell at 2:49 PM. Link | References

March 21, 2003

Making Your ColdFusion Applications More Platform Independent (Part I)

One of the things I really like about ColdFusion is that it is platform independent. That's important to me since I use OS X, Linux and Windows on a regular basis, and I like to be able to run the same ColdFusion code on all three platforms. To have this level of flexibility, however, you have to plan ahead a little. ColdFusion is a platform independent language, however if you are not careful, you can very easily write code in a platform specific manner.

The two most common programming practices that I see which keep code from being platform independent is the indiscriminate use of case, and the hardcoding of path separators. This post addresses the importance of being consistent with your case. (My next post will address path separators.)

Platform independent applications must be consistent and accurate in their use of case when referencing files since most Unix operating systems (with the exception of OS X) are case sensitive. In other words, if your files are named with mixed case (like inventoryReport.cfm) you must use the proper case in referencing them on a Unix server. On Windows, you can get away with "inventoryreport.cfm" or even "INVENTORYREPORT.CFM", however on a Unix platform, you will get a 404 if you do not reference files accurately. Additionally, make sure you use all lowercase when naming your components. ColdFusion MX will automatically lower-case your component names, which you would never notice on Windows, however on Unix, it will become apparent very quickly when you start getting errors that your components do not exist.

For Unix users, case consistency is second nature, however many Windows users mix case on a regular basis. If you want to write platform independent ColdFusion code (which means if you ever envision distributing your code in any way), start paying attention to case.

In my next post, I will write about the pitfalls of path separators, as well as post some code that will do some of the work of making your apps platform independent for you.

Posted by cantrell at 1:41 PM. Link | References

March 20, 2003

Macromedia Releases ColdFusion Updater 3

Macromedia has just released ColdFusion MX Updater 3. The updater applies to ColdFusion MX Server Professional Edition, ColdFusion MX Server Enterprise Edition and ColdFusion MX for J2EE. Macromedia strongly encourages its customers to download and install updater 3 as it contains the latest security and stability functionality. The updater can be downloaded here:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/special/updater/faq/

Read the updater release notes here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/coldfusion/releasenotes/mx/releasenotes_mx_updater.html

Note that updater 3 contains all the updates and fixes of the previous two updaters, so if you install updater 3, you do not need to install the first two.

Posted by cantrell at 11:22 PM. Link | References

March 19, 2003

Show Off Your CFMX for J2EE Projects on Macromedia.com

Macromedia obviously knows how many CFMX for J2EE licenses they've sold, and approximately how many of those licenses are in production, but what they can't tell is how many of those are really nice, top-quality sites and applications. It is also impossible to know how many really nice sites or applications are deployed on shared hosting environments. If you have worked on a CFMX for J2EE project that you believe is worthy of notice (or if you otherwise know of one), and you are interested in having your work featured on Macromedia's website, we want to hear from you!
http://www.macromedia.com/showcase/submit/

Posted by cantrell at 11:22 AM. Link | References

March 14, 2003

Macromedia Launches Beta 2 of macromedia.com

Macromedia launched a second beta of their website last night with some changes based on community feedback. Additionally, they launched a very interesting report disclosing and discussing all the statistics they gathered during the first launch. What Macromedia has done over the last couple of weeks has been extremely bold, and has resulted in some extraordinary import data that all web developers should see. If you're a web developer or designer, take some time today to go through this article:
http://www.macromedia.com/special/progress_report/

Posted by cantrell at 11:59 AM. Link | References

March 10, 2003

Macromedia Ships DevNet Professional

Macromedia started shipping DevNet Professional subscriptions today, which means you can start downloading your software immediately. If you haven't heard about DevNet Professional subscriptions yet, for $1499, you get all of the following products:

Since this is a subscription service, all upgrades are included at no additional cost. You can get all the information you need on DevNet Professional subscriptions by going to the DevNet Subscriptions Main Page.

Posted by cantrell at 1:31 PM. Link | References

March 7, 2003

Tony Lopez Makes a Guest Post

Tony Lopez, Executive Producer of Macromedia.com, made a guest post on Mike Chamber's weblog. He talks about the new Macromedia.com web site and addresses some of the feedback we've been getting. You can read his post here:

http://www.markme.com/mesh/archives/001871.cfm

Posted by cantrell at 8:37 AM. Link | Comments (2) | References

March 5, 2003

Macromedia Launches Entirely New Site

I know it's old news at this point, but I've been so busy today that I haven't had a chance to write about it here. Macromedia launched their new web site last night, and at the same time launched an amazing reaction from the community. Enough has been said on the forums and lists today that the last thing I want to do is rehash what has already been covered, however I would like to mention two things that I think were largely missed in the community.

One of the biggest complaints about the new site was speed. It's important to remember, though, that loading a page with an RIA is very different from loading a simple HTML page. The advantage of using an RIA is that although you are loading more data upfront, ultimately you end up loading less, clicking less, and waiting less, because once the shell of the RIA is loaded, you only need to load data from then on as opposed to several kilobytes of HTML tags, JavaScript, styles, images, etc. I'm not saying that parts of the site can't be optimized; what I'm saying is that a lot of the traditional metrics we use to gauge web site usability need to evolve along with Internet technology.

Another point that I don't think was adequately covered today is that almost the entire back-end was completely rewritten in ColdFusion. We believe macromedia.com is one of (if not the) largest collections of RIAs in production today, and one of the most visited sites on the Internet. According to Penny Wilson's article on DevNet, we reach one million customers a day. Additionally, 250,000 people download software from macromedia.com each day, and 4 million people download the Flash player. All that is done with ColdFusion on the back-end. If there was any question whether CFMX was ready for the enterprise market, I think we now have an answer.

Posted by cantrell at 10:45 PM. Link | References

February 27, 2003

Macromedia Public Bugbase?

Macromedia has been contemplating the idea of a public bugbase for its products. I have two questions:


  1. Is this something the ColdFusion development community would consider useful? If so, why?

  2. Does anyone know of any other companies who have public bugbases for their products (not open source projects)? If you have used them, how useful did you find them to be?

Posted by cantrell at 1:05 PM. Link | References

February 25, 2003

Tons of New DevNet Content

Macromedia released about 20 new DevNet articles yesterday. They don't cover ColdFusion, but they are relevant to web development in general.

Setting Up Your PHP Server Environment Using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
David Sklar
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/lamp.html

Setting Up PHP for Microsoft IIS Web Server
Andrew Stopford
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/php_iis.html

Setting Up PHP, MySQL, and Apache on Mac OS X for Dreamweaver MX
Minh Huynh
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/php_macintosh.html

PHP Server-Side Graphics with Dreamweaver MX
Gareth Downes-Powell, Tim Green, Allan Kent, Bruno Mairlot, George McLachlan, Dan Radigan, Glasshaus
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/php_hand_coding.html

Many to Many Insert Form with ImpAKT2
Interakt
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/interakt/impakt2.pdf

Building a Dynamic Website with Dreamweaver MX and PHAkt
Interakt
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/interakt/phakt.pdf

Introduction to ASP.NET Web Form Controls
Ryan Parnell, Joel Martinez, Macromedia Press
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/dotnet_webform.html

Effectively Using Web Form Controls
Ryan Parnell, Joel Martinez, Macromedia Press
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/dotnet_webform2.html

Creating an ASP.NET User Control
Jonathan Quint, Macromedia Instructor-Led Training
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/dotnet_usercontrol.html

Graphing with .NET and the Dreamweaver MX Data Layer
Joel Martinez
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/graphing_aspnet.html

Implementing Forms-Based Authentication
Heidi Bautista
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/forms_authentication.html

Clydes Online-Macromedia Flash and E-Commerce
Ryan Thomas, Shea Gonyo
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/flash/articles/clydes_online.html

LOGGED IN: Dreamweaver MX: Supporting the PHP and ASP.NET platforms
George Fox
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/logged_in/gfox_php_dotnet.html

JD's Forum: "My Way, or the Highway!!" Technological Tolerance and Rigid Belief Systems
John Dowdell
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/jd_forum/jd025.html

Controlling Button States: Template Parameters and Expressions
Murray Summers, Brad Halstead
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/button_states.html

Using Parameters and Expressions to Make a Breadcrumb Trail
Murray Summers, Brad Halstead
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/crumb_trail.html

Embedding Macromedia Flash While Supporting Standards
Drew McLellan
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/dreamweaver/articles/flash_satay.html

Winter Olympics: Multimedia Created in Director
Dean Utian
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/director/articles/olympics.html

Take Control of Connections
Kristopher Schultz
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mx/flashcom/articles/connections.html

Posted by cantrell at 6:11 PM. Link | References

February 24, 2003

DevNet Professional EULA Summary

I saw some questions on a mailing list about the DevNet Professional End User License Agreement (EULA). I finally got a chance to discuss it in detail with the right people at Macromedia, and basically what it comes down to is that the servers included with DevNet Professional are only meant for you to experiment and develop with. The term "testing" in the EULA is meant to describe the kind of testing that naturally occurs during development. You can let your QA team test software against your development environment and you can demo your software to clients on your development environment, but you can't install the server software on additional machines specifically for QA testing, load testing, or software demos. If you want to have a separate set of servers for QA testing, load testing or software demos, you have to purchase additional licenses. Anyone who uses the servers in a development capacity (in other words, anyone who directly accesses source code) must be a DevNet Professional subscriber.

You can find more information about DevNet licensing here:
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/subscriptions/licensing.html

You can find the entire DevNet EULA here:
http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/subscriptions/resources/eula.html

Posted by cantrell at 2:47 PM. Link | References

February 13, 2003

The Business Impact of Rich Internet Applications

So this might be a little off-topic, but I thought this was such a good presentation that I wanted to blog it. And that means a lot coming from me, because I am typically a pretty harsh critic when it comes to presentations. But this one is first-class both in terms of design and content. If you have 15 minutes to spare (and a high-bandwidth connection), you should check it out:
http://www.macromedia.com/resources/business/rich_internet_apps/overview/

Posted by cantrell at 12:04 PM. Link | References

February 11, 2003

Macromedia's Valentine's Day Offer

Macromedia's Valentine's Day offer ends Feb 15th. You can get free online training when you upgrade to Flash, Dreamweaver or Fireworks MX. Follow the URL below for details:

http://www.macromedia.com/go/valentines

Posted by cantrell at 2:12 PM. Link | References

February 10, 2003

Macromedia Launches DevNet Subscriptions

Today Macromedia announced DevNet subscriptions. There is all kinds of information on Macromedia's site, so I won't get into details here, but I will say that there are two different levels of subscriptions (DevNet Professional and DevNet Essentials), and that both offer tons of software and tools at significant savings.

Macromedia also launched the new DevNet Center (previously know as DesDev), so you might want to check it out, too. Oh, and Mike Chambers has a good article on the new DevNet service, as well.

Posted by cantrell at 7:48 PM. Link | References

February 5, 2003

Jeremy Allaire, Macromedia Founder Emeritus

I would like to wish Jeremy Allaire all the best as he moves on to new challenges and new adventures. Jeremy will continue to have a role at Macromedia as Founder Emeritus, which means he will remain active within the community, keep in touch with Macromedia management, and occasionally write and speak on Macromedia's behalf. I would just like to thank Jeremy for everything he has done for Macromedia, and especially for ColdFusion.

Visit Jeremy's weblog to see what he was to say about it:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0113297/2003/02/05.html#a113

Posted by cantrell at 6:04 PM. Link | References

February 3, 2003

Macromedia's Chief Software Architect Launchs a Weblog

Kevin Lynch, Macromedia's Chief Software Architect, launches his weblog today. Kevin says about himself:

"I like making software to help people deliver the best possible experiences."

He has an awesome post on the direction we are moving in in terms of retrieving and viewing information over the web. Check it out here:
http://www.klynch.com/

Posted by cantrell at 11:52 PM. Link | References

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