[software] Macromedia Central public beta

2003-09-25

Macromedia today unveiled a public beta release of Macromedia Central, providing a new way for people to interact with Internet information without relying on a continuous connection. Macromedia made the public beta available today on One Unwired Day, sponsored by Intel, to showcase the possibilities of life without wires.

Central delivers a new kind of Internet experience, which brings information you're most interested in directly to you. Central offers a clean, unified place for Internet applications including a customizable console for your most important information and a host of other features that help you save time and work faster.

"Macromedia Central represents an important step forward in the way people can interact with information on the Internet, scaling to fit their interest," said Kevin Lynch, chief software architect, Macromedia. "Central provides an environment for developers to make applications that provide this great experience both online and offline."

"Intel is committed to delivering solutions such as Intel Centrino mobile technology that help consumers be productive in an unwired world," said Ann Lewnes, vice president sales and marketing group and director, Intel Inside Program and co-marketing. "Intel and Macromedia share a vision of how the future of Internet applications will work in a world without wires on development platforms without boundaries."

Today's Central public beta includes two initial beta applications: Movie Finder and AccuWeather. These applications will be part of a larger application library being created by third parties for Central. Since the start of the initial beta program this summer, close to 1,000 developers have joined the application development community for Central.

Movie Finder provides access to film ratings, showtimes, ticket purchasing, and DVD rental services. It integrates information from Tribune Media Services, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix. AccuWeather provides five-day forecasts, notification about specific weather conditions, and conveniently displays it in Central pods.

"I'm excited to create applications for Central because they'll have distinct advantages over conventional web applications," says Phillip Kerman, application developer and author of "Flash for Rich Internet Applications." "As a platform, Central removes boundaries to let you create applications that go beyond what we traditionally consider possible for web applications. Best of all, Central applications will easily reach my customers."

The developer program for Central will transition to a public SDK beta next month, enabling anyone to create applications. The next update of Central will ship later this year along with additional applications.

For more information on Macromedia Central, and to download the public beta, go to www.macromedia.com/go/central/

::: Are you ready for a creative power? ::: : : .

smonkey · 2003-09-25 #2

I have downloaded the demo of central which actually seems less of an actual piece of software and more of a standalone piece of flash. Now lookking throuh the central demo apps I begin to feel like my ideas about the future of the web are beginning to come true. Basically these ideas were that as flash now estimates a total audience of over 90% of the internet ready populus then it is the number one cross browser medium, so why does it have to only be a cross browser medium?

Surely it could break away from browser all together (we know flash can run outside of a browser easily enough). And then playing with central I start thinking this is what Macromedia are attempting, they seem to be trying to recreate the web as they think it should be, possibly this is a good thing, I think many would agree that whilst the internet is an extremely good thing it has also become flooded with dross and is raging rather out of control. I'm not sure I like the idea of splitting the web into two areas completely inaccessible from each other - it all seems like muddying the waters when we are trying to clear them.

We have standards on the web that browser manufacturers are starting to adhere to, this standards are set by independent organisations and have usability and accessibilty at their core. Central is run by macromedia, it sets the standards, it controls flash, and it could well soon be controlling the internet as we know it. Don't get me wrong, I love flash and think that with the latest version it has become a proper tool worthy of proper internet services beyond just funny cartoons and flashy menus.

But this all seems a little scary for me, just by looking at the demo apps it is becoming apparent that central will easily contain all the information I will ever need once it gets going - I may never need to fire up an internet browser again! maybe I'm just scared of the future, or sad to be facing the loss of the web as we know it but one companies start to control the flow of information things start to get awkward. I think MM is onto a winner here, and that may not be such a good thing.

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	smonkey	2003-09-25 #2
	MM Central I have downloaded the demo of central which actually seems less of an actual piece of software and more of a standalone piece of flash. Now lookking throuh the central demo apps I begin to feel like my ideas about the future of the web are beginning to come true. Basically these ideas were that as flash now estimates a total audience of over 90% of the internet ready populus then it is the number one cross browser medium, so why does it have to only be a cross browser medium? Surely it could break away from browser all together (we know flash can run outside of a browser easily enough). And then playing with central I start thinking this is what Macromedia are attempting, they seem to be trying to recreate the web as they think it should be, possibly this is a good thing, I think many would agree that whilst the internet is an extremely good thing it has also become flooded with dross and is raging rather out of control. I'm not sure I like the idea of splitting the web into two areas completely inaccessible from each other - it all seems like muddying the waters when we are trying to clear them. We have standards on the web that browser manufacturers are starting to adhere to, this standards are set by independent organisations and have usability and accessibilty at their core. Central is run by macromedia, it sets the standards, it controls flash, and it could well soon be controlling the internet as we know it. Don't get me wrong, I love flash and think that with the latest version it has become a proper tool worthy of proper internet services beyond just funny cartoons and flashy menus. But this all seems a little scary for me, just by looking at the demo apps it is becoming apparent that central will easily contain all the information I will ever need once it gets going - I may never need to fire up an internet browser again! maybe I'm just scared of the future, or sad to be facing the loss of the web as we know it but one companies start to control the flow of information things start to get awkward. I think MM is onto a winner here, and that may not be such a good thing.