Macromedia Acquires FutureWave -- Last week, Macromedia made a play for dominating the online multimedia market by announcing it had acquired FutureWave Software, makers of the FutureSplash software family which (among other things) creates compact vector-based animations that are viewable through Web browser plug-ins. Macromedia is re-christening FutureSplash products as Macromedia Flash and plans to integrate them into the Shockwave lineup. FutureSplash is currently being used by a number of high-end Web sites (like Microsoft's "new" MSN) because it's small and fast compared to other Web animation technologies, including Macromedia's own Director. One can only hope Macromedia Flash doesn't acquire Director's less-attractive features, including stratospheric pricing. [GD]