Flash MX 2004 Released - TRIAL DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE

Quote:

---

Originally posted by mikepol
who's gonna buy the standard version anyway?

anyone here?

it seems like a waste of time

mike

---

I hear ya. But I guess they really would have made waves
by simply annoucing a large price increase by itself.

Two burning questions:
1. Is there 'still' a 16,000 frame limit?
2. Will they ever give us a variable to read the original
framerate that an swf was created with? like n = Stage._fps;
You can get this value all day long through an ActiveX control
and Director's Xtra but not from within native format
itself. Baffles me.

Chris

Will the new easy to use softwares be the starting to the end of expert flash animation designers :o.

DUN DUN DUN!

Monte
www.Surreal-Media.com

I find it instructive that this announcement isn't generating alot more interest. I know a lot of animators aren't planning on upgrading. Kind of sad, we all used to await the next release. Think Macromedia is losing a lot of it's base.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by phacker
I find it instructive that this announcement isn't generating alot more interest. I know a lot of animators aren't planning on upgrading. Kind of sad, we all used to await the next release. Think Macromedia is losing a lot of it's base.

---

I think the interest is still there, take a look at the flash mx2 wishlist thread, but I think a lot of people are just plain confused by what's going on with this release.

macromedia could have involved this and other communities in the release but they didn't, despite the fact that the FK conference was on a day before the announcement, and the amount of information they've released regarding the new flash versions is just adding to the confusion. I think people need reassurance from MM that this is still a good package for animators, all the attention is on the development potentials of the 'pro' version, which leaves animators with the 'amateur' version?

A couple of posts have suggested those not inclined toward programming should continue using as1.

Is it possible that as1 will continue to be developed alongside as2, catering for both groups? If so then perhaps as2 would have been better named asx (as in 'extended') or something.

Is there any indication of any as1 script being deprecated this time around in favour of as2?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by rasher
Is there any indication of any as1 script being deprecated this time around in favour of as2?

---

No.

dear oh dear..
any serious flash developer, who knows anything about the new AS specification (or worked with Java, for example) would welcome AS2 with open arms. its evolved, and flash will become less of a stepping-stone to new programmers (maybe this is where Macromedia wants to position itself)

all that prototype thing was really getting under my skin :rolleyes:

im surprised nobody's mentioned any interest in the "Error, Throw and Try..Catch..Finally" constructs. this could potentially work wonders for my applications (potentially, because we dont know what sort of exceptions the new player can handle, but still, it looks promising)

I think they made a mistake calling it AS2, now everyone is understandably worried that this mysterious AS2 is replacing 'AS1' which isn't true.

I can see why they did call it '2' because there are a lot of other '2's coming out that conform to the new standards, but they're not adding that much beyond the object stuff and some stricter syntax (i'd like to see them adding more as mentioned above) which doesn't seem to be enforced, just recommended.

All in all I think people should understand that the changes to actionscript will be virtually invisible unless you want to progress to make use of them, as mentioned above, the scripting environment in flash itself won't support the new object/class stuff from AS2, it needs to be in separate .as files, so I wouldn't worry about anything being deprecated.

It's kind of insulting to think Macromedia thinks of animators as 'amateurs'. Some of us can do script along with the best of them. But can the programmers animate along with us? I think it boils down to who's important. And Macromedia definitely seems to feel we aren't.

i cant really see external .as files to be much of a problem - i remember seeing a GUI in the new IDE to navigate through the classes in a particular project. you wouldnt even need to know the classes were in separate files.

this would also ease updating/patching of classes, both in the IDE and out of it.

classes can easily be reused or incorporated into other applications without any fuss. updating would occur globally, across all the applications that use the class.

classes are all about being reusable, and external .as files will promote this.

i sound like a salesman :cow:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by the sherrif
i cant really see external .as files to be much of a problem - i remember seeing a GUI in the new IDE to navigate through the classes in a particular project. you wouldnt even need to know the classes were in separate files.

this would also ease updating/patching of classes, both in the IDE and out of it.

classes can easily be reused or incorporated into other applications without any fuss. updating would occur globally, across all the applications that use the class.

i sound like a salesman :cow:

---

I don't think it is a problem either, it's good practice to use external scripts for your classes anyway, something a lot of people have been doing since mx was introduced.

Quote:

---

any serious flash developer, who knows anything about the new AS specification (or worked with Java, for example) would welcome AS2 with open arms. its evolved, and flash will become less of a stepping-stone to new programmers (maybe this is where Macromedia wants to position itself)

---

what about the people who spent countless hours programming in AS1
? they're not serious?
I don't think learning flash is less of a stepping stone, on the contrary, the learning curve of flash has just sky-rocketed because now potential flash newbies have to learn a whole programming language rather than few simple loose scripting commands t help their newbie brains to cope with flash.

MikeP

Quote:

---

Originally posted by mikepol
what about the people who spent countless hours programming in AS1

---

what about 'em. they can choose to upgrade their way of coding or stick with as1.

Quote:

---

what about the people who spent countless hours programming in AS1

---

I think you've missed the point entirely

Those who are serious scripters and have embraced AS will appreciate that the additions found in AS2 will make things easier for them.

And AS2 is not some strange completely different language .. its just some extensions added to Actionscript (I think MM are making too much of the difference and frightening people).

Well written AS1 code is still valid AS2 code. The only things you're better off unlearning is prototypes .. which are better done with classes anyway (it encapsulates everything in one place instead of a series of loosely related scripts).

I remember the days when reps from companies used to visit places like FK and talk to the masses about the future, about change, and how they feel the develpments will improve our lives...


... it is sad that no one has come from MM and joined in this conversation...

Quote:

---

I think you've missed the point entirely

---

i missed the point - granted:rolleyes:

I still stick to my opinion that Flash has blown out of proportions a bit for the newbie though.. the flash learning curve has become much steeper with AS2

m.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by mikepol
i missed the point - granted:rolleyes:

I still stick to my opinion that Flash has blown out of proportions a bit for the newbie though.. the flash learning curve has become much steeper with AS2

m.

---

in many ways the changes to coding in this new version are less than they were when mx came out, just becasue they called it AS2 doesn't mean it's a whole new language, it just conforms to a new standard, and for those who don't want to use the new standard they don't have to.

I agree that flash is now far more intimidating for the newbie but the development of the product into a professional development environment is natural (and necessary imho) and by producing two versions of mx04 MM seem to be acknowledging that.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TianaKaeSha
I remember the days when reps from companies used to visit places like FK and talk to the masses about the future, about change, and how they feel the develpments will improve our lives...


... it is sad that no one has come from MM and joined in this conversation...

---

this is my compaint, macromedia seem to be losing touch with their user base (unless you have a blog). There are so many reasonable requests and recommendations that have been put forward by this forum and would seem to tally with MM's desire to turn flash fully towards a web application development environment, but so many of them seem to have been completely ignored, and any feedback or consultation to this, or any other flash community, non existent.

it's genuinely puzzling why macromedia are behaving like this, their flash-related product line-up is equally confusing to me, showing no coherent strategy, and this new release of flash, though welcome, arrives with no co-operation or consultation or even fan fare in the online flash communities.

that sucks.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by aversion
macromedia seem to be losing touch with their user base (unless you have a blog). There are so many reasonable requests and recommendations that have been put forward by this forum and would seem to tally with MM's desire to turn flash fully towards a web application development environment, but so many of them seem to have been completely ignored, and any feedback or consultation to this, or any other flash community, non existent.

---

MM has Central coming, why would they care about FK?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by aversion
this is my compaint, macromedia seem to be losing touch with their user base (unless you have a blog).

---

Doesn't seem that they're listening to the bloggers either - they just happen to parrot the Macromedia press releases far more often. Unfortunately, most blogs are by nature a link list to other sites, with little to no insight. Like this Ruben Bolling comic.

http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/images/story.jpg

These decisions seem to be coming from on high, by executives driven toward a more profitable market - blinded by their own assumed brilliance and failing to see that few "real" developers will make the switch to this "application development" platform.

I constantly see the Macromedia reps imploring users to post to the wishlist, bug forums, have powwow sessions with the developers, but it all really does feel like pissing in the wind sometimes. Allaire did right to jump ship when he did.

I too wonder if the reps even bother to read posts like this, even if not responding. I frequent some of the MM blogs, and saw JD painting a rosy picture about how everyone loves the new changes, except for trolls who remain annonymous when posting negative comments. For the record, my full name is Chris Norman. And I'm kind of pissed. :D