computer program question
 

anyone know anything about macromedia's programs?

I wanted to get a copy of MX Studio for my office... however all they are selling is MX 2004, which I heard isn't as good as the regular MX. Did they completely stop selling MX??? I can't find it anywhere! (Studio comes with Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Freehand, and I believe Coldfusion.)

I've used both Dreamweaver MX and Dreamweaver UltraDev (which it superseded).
Also used Freehand, but it was seriously 'back in the day' when I used that, it was still owned by Adobe; at least I think so.

Are you sure about it not being as good?? I checked their site and as far as I can see the 2004 incarnation is just more stuff added in without stuff being taken out? I'm wondering if the 'not as good' comments you heard came from users who were used to the old interface which perhaps changed a little & so became unfamiliar to them and so they said they didn't like it due to that?

Anyway in case it's any use here's what their website says:

MX is the family of products. http://www.macromedia.com/software/mx2004/story.html According to the link, DW (etc) MX 2004 etc are simply newer versions. From what I gather standard DW MX ceased in late '03 once DW MX 2004 started shipping.
Freehand for example is still just Freehand MX.

New features in DW MX 2004: http://www.macromedia.com/software/d...o/newfeatures/
They do note one feature isn't included in DW MX 2004: http://www.macromedia.com/software/d...fo/faq/#item-8 Maybe that annoyed the people you heard from?

Obviously I've mainly discussed DreamWeaver, purely because that's the program I'm most familiar with. They have an online store on their website and have completely delisted the 'just MX' products. So I'd imagine the only source will be resllers who happen to have old copies in stock, but it looks as if you won't get it from Macromedia themselves. Reseller details: http://www.macromedia.com/buy/

I actually heard it from my Flash animation professor. He said that there were certain features knocked out of Flash MX 04 that made things a lot more organized in just MX. But I am not a Flash guru and don't use it often. I am mainly getting it for Dreamweaver and an updated version of Freehand because sometimes clients give me Freehand files. (I prefer Illustrator myself.)

I just remember him saying stick to MX.

WORD to Illustrator! Livesaver salivates over Illustrator CS 'cause he only has 10.0

My only problem with the latest Macromedia programs are that they take too long to respond.

I use illustrator for vector files too.

-Rudey

It's tight! However you can't save down... at least with the educational version I have. :rolleyes: (Example, if your printer has AI9 and you have a CS file, your printer can't open the file. However, with CS, you can't save down to an AI9 file... it's frustrating. That's my only qualm.)

I may just invest in Dreamweaver cuz that's all I would need at work.