Flash For The Next Generation

Code-named Maelstrom, the updated player itself is the backbone of the platform, which includes a universal client runtime, an openly published file format (SWF) specification, programming models, development tools and dedicated server technology. It provides everything developers need to build Flash-based user interfaces.

Kevin Lynch, chief software architect for Macromedia, said Maelstrom takes Flash into a new galaxy with the soup-to-nuts tools such as server support, components and libraries.

"It's important to expand the reach beyond the current flash community," he told internetnews.com. "There are about one million Flash developers today. But now, they don't have to use [a specific] authoring tool. They can just create a Flash UT just by using this. Anyone who is familiar with Microsoft's Active Server Pages (define) can use this."

Flash is installed on roughly 98 percent of PCs on the planet, by Macromedia's reckoning. But the San Francisco company is also keenly aware that smaller, more powerful computing devices are the future, and that it needs to get Flash embedded in that computing world. For a company that counts roughly 60 percent of its revenues from Flash sales and licensing, this is a critical strategy. So far, it has plenty to crow about.

"Now, we're getting into lots of mobile devices, and platforms too: Mac, Linux, Solaris, as well as on the server side: J2EE, .NET," Lynch said. "Flash works with any of these things." Macromedia is also making its way into Nokia's world, with a recent deal that gets Flash to work on Nokia's Series 60, Series 80 and now Series 40 phones.

The platform is also offering developers their own declarative language called MXML, which is designed to help developers build rich user interfaces. The language is a similar approach to Microsoft's XAML, an XML-based markup language that helps developers separate the UI code from application logic.

The idea is to change the UI without a lot of re-programming the data that needs to be fed into that UI. "You can download the UI once and go get the data as you need it," Lynch said. "Only with MXML, it works with all browsers," Lynch added, referring to languages such as Java, which can require different code for different platforms.

And just to make sure that it's reaching as many developers as possible, Macromedia also joined the open source tools group Eclipse Foundation, the open source Java tools group.

"The strategy of joining Eclipse is significant," said Peter O'Kelley, analyst with tech research firm Burton Group. "This means the capabilities inside flash will be available to developers without requiring them to move to a different tool to work with it."

At the same time, he added, Macromedia is rounding out its presence in the mobile market with deals that get its Flash player on Nokia phones, as well as on NTT DoCoMo's popular iMode content services for the Japanese carrier's subscribers.

"The challenge with Macromedia has been that developers had to take a different approach with Flash. It's different than [tools] such as Visual Basic, Visual Studio, or Eclipse," O'Kelley added. "Now, this brings Flash to developers without requiring them to move to a different tool. "I think this is a milestone for them."

The release also marks the last independent project and platform for Macromedia, which onetime rival Adobe is acquiring in a $3.4 billion merger deal. Once the Department of Justice signs off on its antitrust review of the merger of the dominant publishing and graphics companies, the companies are committed to combining their platforms in order to focus on the mobile and enterprise sectors.


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