Macromedia this week released the Flash 4 Print Authoring Software Development Kit, a new way for developers to use Macromedia Flash to deliver print capabilities for e-business Web applications.

The Flash 4 Print Authoring Software Development Kit is designed to bring high-quality printing and control to an area now marred with low-quality printing and confusion, a statement issued by Macromedia (MACR) said.

This new technology is designed to enable consumers to print high-quality content seamlessly as they browse sites using Macromedia Flash.

Examples of how this technology can be used include Web-based coupons intended to drive online users to stores with trackable incentives, online greeting cards, ad banner printing that prints the unseen information behind the banner and vector-based city and street maps.

The Flash 4 Print Authoring Software Development Kit is now available free to registered Flash 4 users. A free download of the Flash Player can be obtained from Macromedia as well. Flash 4 is available for Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and MacOS, and is priced at around $299. An upgrade to Flash 4 can be purchased for $129.

Flash ships with most leading operating systems, media players, and Web browsers, including Windows 98, Mac OS 9, America Online 4.0, WebTV, Apple QuickTime, RealNetworks' RealPlayer, and current versions of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The Flash Player is available for the Macintosh, Windows, Solaris, Java, Linux, and IRIX platforms.

Macromedia has published the Flash file format as an open Web standard since 1998. Macromedia also makes the Flash Player source code available at no cost to platform and device developers, in an attempt to further extend Flash's reach.