Adobe Updates To Trump Flash

SAN FRANCISCO – Its not that Adobe Systems doesn’t like Macromedia‘s Flash – they love it. It’s just that they think they can do it better.

The San Jose, Calif.-based Web and graphics software company Monday released updated versions of its popular GoLive and LiveMotion in part to compete with the wildly popular animation software – but also to show how developers can better manage their content no matter what platform they are working with.

Both GoLive 6.0 and LiveMotion 2.0 interface well with Adobe’s other creation tools like Photoshop or Illustrator, but they also work with other industry standards. LiveMotion covers extensions like .PSD, .AI and .SWF (Macromedia’s Flash extension). GoLive supports common dynamic scripting languages, including PHP, ASP, and JSP.

The Web Workgroup Server in GoLive 6.0 is a site management and collaboration tool that allows between five and 20 users to track changes, and share and manage files. This is the first major overhaul of GoLive since the division was acquired in 1999. It also offers version control and side-by-side comparison capabilities, including the ability to rollback to previous versions. The Web Workgroup Server supports the standard WebDAV-enabled applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Macromedia Dreamweaver.

The scripting tool set in LiveMotion gives developers unmatched code control by including a comprehensive Script Editor with syntax coloring, code management, and search and replace. It also includes an preview mode and source-level script debugger that supports breakpoints, allowing developers to step through code line-by-line to isolate and resolve errors.

The upgrades also include scripting support for Nokia and NTT DoCoMo phones, which is fast becoming a battleground for companies looking to put graphics on mobile phones.

The sneaky thing about Adobe’s updates is that your end-users don’t need to download yet another plug-in to view your work. Not bad considering Macromedia Flash Player reaches more than 96 percent of Web desktops. Individually, the software retails for $399 or $449 for the two bundled together, which for smaller companies trumps Macromedia’s CPU-based pricing.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe is also announcing the Adobe Web Collection 4.0, which includes new versions of Adobe GoLive and Adobe LiveMotion, as well as Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and Adobe Illustrator 10. The Web Collection 4.0 is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2002.

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