In
the beginning, Macromedia's products were
evidently made for people-friendly, artistic,
creative purposes, even if they were as well
applied to commercial situations as anywhere
else:
- FreeHand
for vector graphics
- Fireworks
for pixel graphics
- Dreamweaver
to design nice web-sites
- Flash
for animations
My
first really serious software package was
indeed FreeHand Graphic Studio 7, and that
was an enormously significant step for me,
the first time I felt I was taking my work
on the Mac seriously ...
At
the same time Macromedia have always shown
tendencies which I've found unpleasant, e.g.
- using
sensational names like 'Shockwave', 'Extreme
3D', 'Fireworks'
- compare with
the objective descriptiveness of 'Photoshop',
'Illustrator', 'Premiere')
- their
absurd claims - "FreeHand 10 - the only
true print and web graphic design solution"
- compare with
the objectivity of "We at Adobe think
that Illustrator is the best vector
drawing tool available"
- the
way Dreamweaver feels like a Windows programme
poorly adapted to the Mac, ignoring standard
functions and commands for handling text
which are part of everyday life and don't
need thinking about: Macromedia has seen
fit to do something which is different but
not better, so you have the stupid and unnecessary
bother of learning a whole different set
of non-intuitive keyboard commands just
for one programme, demanding attention for
something which is normally automatic, and
managing without some functions all together
- and
this appalling business of Director only
doing half of what they say it does
- you
have to buy it twice to publish for
Mac and Windows
Nowadays
it really seems as if they just emphasise
money and quick change: they introduce new
concepts without saying what they are
- "MX",
"Rich Internet Applications" and a great
list of formats like XHTML, ASP, NET, JSP,
PHP -
or
how they're different from what everyone has
been using before, just insisting with great
'hype' that this is what everyone must have,
so it's not at all clear what they're doing,
or what they're products are for any more:
but -
when
you look at it, you get the impression they've
decided that all that matters is the internet
as a vehicle for e-commerce via database,
as if that was all there were in the world
...
- no
other use of the internet
- for
sharing information
- for
education experiences
- for
artistic expression
- for
liberating personal empowerment
- nothing
on paper
- nothing
on CD ...
And
then the site they give as the only example
of the Studio in use
a)
is about a luxury hotel: and
b)
only works for Windows users
- they
offer video and live camera shots, but when
you click on that link, they're only viewable
on Windows Media Player, and there's no
mention of any other platform or format;
I did happen to see somewhere else that
you could download a Windows Media player
for the Mac, but I can't imagine anyone
doing so ...
It's
also completely different from the screen
shot they show in their advertising, leaving
you confused as to what you're supposed to
be looking at - the address Macromedia gave
takes you to the front page, and there's nothing
there to indicate anything special which Studio
MX might have achieved ...
I
just received an e-mail message from them:
in only 10 words they manage to use three
which are sensationally negative, in normal
psychological terms, all with capital letters
- Shock, Addiction, Collapse - not to mention
the appalling basic tenor of the message:
"Shockwave.com - Addiction
is bigger and better with Super Collapse
II! "
I
notice that the one really nice thing about
them - the dedication of technical competence
to furthering the good of humanity which lay
behind Fontographer - is now inaccessible
on their web-site ... (unless you have an
old URL which might happen to work, I don't
have one) ... the Fontographer page has one
paragraph of empty blurb, the only links are
to downloading an upgrade (several years old)
and buying the thing at £300 ...
Of
course Adobe have their moments, too, like sending me an
e-mail which refers me to a web-site to find
a password, with an address which is only
valid for 24 hours, and when you go there
you get a message saying "We're sorry! Service
is unavailable because of technical difficulties,
we are working to correct the problem and
appreciate your patience" ...