JavaDevelopersJournal.com (www.javadevelopersjournal.com) announced on November 3 that at its annual developer conference Macromedia (www.macromedia.com) provided a glimpse of new features that are under consideration in new releases of ColdFusion and Macromedia's Flash Player. As Macromedia's annual developer conference MAX 2004 (www.macromedia.com/macromedia/events/max) got underway in New Orleans on November 1, the company took the opportunity to exhibit some of the capabilities of Blackstone, ColdFusion's new version, by offering the conference itinerary over mobile devices. This is a preview of an SMS application powered by new event gateway powers that may be introduced for ColdFusion's next release.
The next generation Macromedia Flash Player, Maelstrom, is also to be previewed. Macromedia wants to gauge how attendees react to some of the innovations tentatively planned for Maelstrom. Attendees will get a look at major advances in the player's expressiveness and media abilities. Demonstrations will highlight stunning new graphical effects, improved video and text handling, and dramatically improved performance. Attendees will also see demonstrations of rich forms that improve the effectiveness of Web data collection and the ability to create printable reports in PDF and Flash formats.
Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Macromedia, addressed those present, stressing Macromedia's devotion and desire to work alongside developers and customers in creating products. Burgess said that Macromedia is excited to roll up its sleeves alongside its developers and customers as it continues to work together to improve the user experience, and that from showing new products and technologies to delivering new solutions and developer programs, MAX is really about getting early feedback from some of Macromedia's most passionate users.
On November 1 the company also launched a new developer program as part of an initiative designed to get mobile services built with Flash to a global audience. As part of this effort, Macromedia has made a new mobile developer center, which delivers tools, resources and support. It is being provided at www.macromedia.com/go/mobiledev.
