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Technology Stocks : Macromedia...making a comeback? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VentureCap who wrote (2368)	11/5/1998 9:14:00 AM
From: alex	Respond to of 2675

From Adobe Illustrator to FreeHand! News November 5, 03:17 Eastern Time KRT Graphics Desk: 202-383-6064, graphics(AT)krtinfo.com --- EDITOR'S NOTES --- KRT WILL ADOPT FREEHAND DRAWING SOFTWARE KRT is changing its principal drawing software from Adobe Illustrator to FreeHand 8.0.1. On Dec. 20, KRT will begin posting graphics in FreeHand format. Macromedia, the publisher of FreeHand, worked with Knight Ridder Tribune in developing version 8.0.1 of Freehand. Here are some of its features that are important to the publishing industry: --Users can customize the FreeHand interface to adapt it to their work habits and technical needs --The drawing tools are easy to use and make intuitive sense --FreeHand3/4s creative features, such as lenses for magnification and transparency, give illustrators new creative opportunities --FreeHand can create graphics in the popular Flash format for publishing on the Internet. (Netscape Communications will include the Flash player with its browser software, and it will be incorporated into the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system, making the Flash format the standard for Web graphics) The new version of FreeHand also resolves a persistent technical difficulty that Adobe, the publisher of Illustrator 7.0, has not addressed: --Users can import JPEG images into FreeHand files, and the images will retain their size and resolution set with PhotoShop or other graphics software, rather than defaulting to 72-dot-per-inch resolution. --If a FreeHand graphic contains a placed EPS image, the graphic can be opened if the placed image exists in JPEG format. Macromedia says FreeHand 8.0.1 will be released commercially worldwide by Nov. 30. The Macintosh and Windows versions of FreeHand 8.0.1 both will have the capabilities described above. Macromedia has agreed to sell FreeHand 8.0.1 to KRT clients at discounted prices through Dec. 20. Details of the discount are included below; Knight Ridder and Tribune papers will be receiving additional information by e-mail and fax. If you have any questions or need help in the transition from Illustrator to FreeHand, please e-mail KRT Managing Editor Wes Albers

To: VentureCap who wrote (2368)	11/5/1998 11:21:00 AM
From: John Dowdell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2675

Goodness, that was a long message.... I'm not sure what you're actually seeking an answer for. Yes, this is my real name, and I do work at Macromedia helping content developers with technical issues. I do not know financials or sales, do not dictate marketing strategy, etc... standard disclaimer. I'm a geek. "How does QuickTime 3 and LiveStage or this interactive QuickTime stuff match up with Flash or Shockwave?" QT's used for video content now. Try it out... go to HotBot and search on MOV assets. This will give an idea of how QT2x has been used. (LiveStage is predicted to ship next year... only info right now is the PR material and a rework of the old Neka demo.) For "QT everywhere on the web", LiveStage requires the QT3 plugin, which has a bit of a different distribution profile than the QT2.5/QTW plugin set. I know of a few applications that host Netscape plugins, but it's more common that applications host ActiveX Controls. MSWord definitely does host ActiveX for Flash and Shockwave... I do not believe Adobe Acrobat hosts either plugins or controls. (Shockwave and Flash are available as both plugins and controls; QT is available as plugins.) "I hear it supports bitmap and vectors and has better compression than Flash?" Yes, QuickTime 3 does support a vector graphics description. It remains to be seen whether this will compete with Flash's native SWF format, however. Graphic compression should be about the same, although QT3 does use the nice QSound codec for its audio, which compares favorably with the MP3-style compression in Shockwave. "Or are you telling me that Flash will satisfy everyone to create rich media which is coming into big demand?" No, actually I was drawing attention to how your message here implied that you only learned of Totally Hip's new tool on Friday, when you had already been posting insider tips on it three weeks ago. Wasn't venturing to predict the market, myself. For more information on the Real Time Streaming Protocol you mention, check into the developer's section at RealNetworks or at the World Wide Web Consortium. For more information on QT3-savvy tools, see larisoftware.com . (Or see Director 6.5, for that matter.) jd

To: VentureCap who wrote (2368)	11/7/1998 1:04:00 PM
From: Charlie J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2675

<<Macromedia acquired Flash back in 1996 from FutureWave Sofware for $14,000 USD>> Where the heck did you get that number from? The fact is, Macromedia acquired FutureWave Software for 600,000 shares of stock. If you dig deep, this number appears in some public documents. <<So what is the installed base of Flash tools>> Again, if you dig deep, you can find in public documents that Macromedia once stated that Flash sales were about 10% of revenues. That information is a bit stale at this point, but from this you can get some idea of how it is selling. <<Why was FutureWave bought by Macromedia?>> The answer to this is fairly simple. There actually wasn't much of a 'groundswell' yet for what is now Flash back at that time (the sales volume was miniscule) - but there were a few key content creators who were very keen on using it. Foremost among them was Disney. They had decided to use the Flash technology for some key projects, but were a little nervous with the fact that FutureWave Software was such a small, unproven company. They said to Macromedia something like, 'what we really want from you guys is a product like the one from FutureWave'. Macromedia got the message and approached FutureWave at exactly a time when FutureWave also wanted to consider being acquired. The deal happened fairly quickly after that. Charlie Jackson Co-founder, FutureWave Software