Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today at the 1997 Macromedia International User Conference and Exhibition announced as part of its new Universal Media™ initiative, two of its flagship products, Director(R) 6 and Flash™ 2, will deliver Java-based multimedia. Macromedia is also announcing its new Aftershock™ utility to help Web page designers automatically deliver the highest quality Web multimedia, regardless of playback type. The Flash Player Java™ edition and new Flash Aftershock utility are available immediately for download at www.macromedia.com/software/flash while the Director Java export capabilities will be available by year-end.

Director & Flash Playback in Java

Both the Director Java applets and Flash Player Java edition will conform to Sun's 100% Pure Java requirements. Director's Java export feature is being implemented via a Director Xtra™, which will automatically work with Director 6.0 and 6.0.1. Using a single source file, Director developers will have the option of exporting projectors (standalone executables), Shockwave™ movies, or Java applets. Flash developers can playback the same Flash movie with the new Flash Player Java edition, ActiveX control, Flash plug-in, or as an animated or static GIF file. With all of the available output alternatives, Director and Flash movies will now be able to be viewed by an unlimited audience.

"Java has generated a lot of excitement, and we're enthusiastic to be contributing to the growth of multimedia Java on the Internet," stated Rob Burgess, president and CEO at Macromedia. "By embracing new output standards like Java in our award-winning products, we instantly enable several hundred thousand authors to create output that will immediately be playable with or without plug-ins in any Java-enabled browser."

The Universal Media Initiative

Macromedia's Universal Media Initiative focuses the company on adapting its authoring tools to support emerging Web standards, such as Java and DHTML. The company wants the customer to be able to choose the output mechanism most appropriate for their application. Instead of focusing exclusively on proprietary playback, Macromedia's tools will deliver multimedia in formats necessary to provide multimedia output for all end-users, regardless of platforms or availability of plug-ins.

According to Joan-Carol Brigham, Senior Analyst with IDC, "The impact of Universal Media will be felt throughout the Internet. Though Shockwave is the number one plug-in with over 20 million downloads, the high usage among Java-enabled browsers will dramatically increase the already high penetration of multimedia made with Macromedia tools. Universal Media is good news for both Macromedia developers and end users."

The Aftershock Utility

As part of the Universal Media initiative, Macromedia is also introducing the Aftershock utility. One problem every HTML author experiences is determining how to author for multiple browsers on multiple platforms, all with potential differences in capabilities and availability of plug-ins.

The Aftershock utility is a tool that works with Director and Flash to automatically generate HTML and JavaScript that can intelligently detect the capabilities of a client browser. Based on the preferences provided by the designer, the Aftershock utility delivers content in a pre-set multimedia hierarchy (e.g. with all the media and HTML code to assure that playback will occur on all systems). For instance, a Flash developer can pre-set the Aftershock utility to deliver a Flash movie for users with a Flash player; Java for users with a Java-enabled browser; an animated GIF for older browsers without Java or Shockwave; or a GIF image for extremely low bandwidth end- users. AfterShock lets output from Macromedia tools play back the best they possibly can on any target machine and browser.

"Universal Media simplifies the lives of Web developers who are grappling with the increasing complexity of the Web," stated Steve Guttman, vice president of product management for Macromedia's Internet Multimedia Authoring Tools Division. "The combination of Java and Aftershock will really help assure the delivery of high quality multimedia on the Web."

Pricing and Availability

The Developer Release versions of the Flash Player Java edition and Flash Aftershock utility are available free for download immediately at www.macromedia.com/software/flash. Delivery of Developer Release 1 of the Director Java export Xtra and Director Aftershock utility is targeted for the end of the year to be followed by a commercial release in 1998. Registered customers who purchase or upgrade to Director 6 before year-end will be entitled to receive the Java Export Xtra free of charge.

About Flash

Flash 2.0 is the leading tool for creating and animating vector-based resolution-independent graphics without programming. Several top sites including the Microsoft Network have already discovered why Flash is an essential technology for displaying fast, Web multimedia. Professional Web designers use Flash to create animated, interactive Web interfaces, advertising banners, navigation buttons, panels, logos and cartoons.

About Director

Director is an industry standard for multimedia authoring and production. Director allows developers to create a variety of multimedia productions, including business presentations, Web content, interactive advertising pieces, kiosk productions, and CD-ROM titles.

About Macromedia

Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) is a leading provider of software products, each designed to help make creativity and interactivity more possible in the new technology ecosystem. Macromedia's award-winning products for Windows, Macintosh and the Internet are available to business, education, and government customers worldwide.

Source: Macromedia, Inc.