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<p>San Francisco, CA -- April 14, 1998 -- Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR)<br />
today announced it is making its popular Flash file format (.swf) available<br />
as an open Internet standard for vector graphics and animation. The move<br />
enables platform vendors to provide a more attractive environment to<br />
content publishers, allows web designers to make animation a standard<br />
element in their web site designs, and enables developers to deliver<br />
Flash-compatible authoring and editing tools. The announcement to<br />
standardize Flash receives widespread support from Microsoft, RealNetworks,<br />
@Home, Associated Press, WebTV, IBM, Broderbund, and a host of other<br />
industry leaders.</p>
<p>"Web designers and publishers have to compete for consumer attention and<br />
loyalty - making the visual appeal and usability of their web sites more<br />
important than ever," said Rob Burgess, president and CEO of Macromedia,<br />
Inc. "Flash delivers rich interactivity even in today's low-bandwidth<br />
environments. The decision to make Flash available as an open standard is<br />
another major step in Macromedia's mission to add life to the web."</p>
<p>"Flash is one of the true enabling technologies on the web today, and we<br />
are putting it to great use with RealFlash," said Rob Glaser, chairman and<br />
CEO of RealNetworks, Inc. "Like RealNetworks, Macromedia provides the<br />
industry with the tools necessary to enable richer, more dynamic user<br />
experiences on the Internet. Vector graphics technology offers fundamental<br />
advantages, both in terms of bandwidth efficiency and device independence.<br />
With Macromedia's decision to open the Flash file format, the industry now<br />
has a vector standard around which we can unite."</p>
<p>As an important first step in its standardization efforts, Macromedia today<br />
published the open Flash file format (.swf) and sample code at<br />
<a href="http://www.flash.com/open" title="http://www.flash.com/open">http://www.flash.com/open</a>. The company will submit the format specification<br />
to a recognized Internet standards organization. Macromedia will also<br />
license the Flash player source code to Internet platform vendors.</p>
<p>WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FROM LEADING PLATFORM VENDORS<br />
Several leading platform vendors announced support for the opening of the<br />
Flash file format - with many announcing either new or broadened plans to<br />
incorporate the Flash player within their platform. These include: @Home,<br />
IBM, Microsoft, PointCast, PowerTV, Spyglass, Sun Microsystems and WebTV.<br />
Macromedia's plans to license its Flash player source code will allow these<br />
companies to develop, modify or support existing run-time engines to<br />
optimize playback of .swf content on web browsers, set-top boxes, and other<br />
web platforms.</p>
<p>"Macromedia's Flash authoring tool has made a big impact this year for<br />
developers wanting to add interactivity and animation to their web sites,"<br />
remarked David Cole, vice president of the Web Client and Consumer<br />
Experience Division at Microsoft Corp. "As an open systems leader,<br />
Microsoft is supportive of Macromedia's decision to open the binary Flash<br />
file format. Microsoft and Macromedia are now collaborating to develop<br />
Flash output for Microsoft's DirectX Media runtime. This will make it much<br />
easier for developers to reach consumers with the most compelling<br />
multimedia for the web."</p>
<p>"Flash is an important part of the core media technologies that we<br />
incorporate to deliver the on-line @Home Experience," said Tom Jermoluk,<br />
chairman and CEO of @Home Network. "@Home fully supports Macromedia<br />
delivering Flash as open technology to build industry consensus as a<br />
standard delivery mechanism for vector graphics."</p>
<p>CONTENT PUBLISHERS PRAISE FLASH STANDARD<br />
Many web design operations and content publishers also announced today that<br />
they have adopted the Flash open file format as the standard for vector<br />
graphics and animation on their web sites. These companies include:<br />
Associated Press, CBS Sportsline, Columbia/TriStar, Disney Online and<br />
Magellan.</p>
<p>"Flash is the best vector file format we've seen for the web," said Karl<br />
Tate, multimedia design manager at Associated Press. AP is the world's<br />
largest newsgathering organization, responsible for providing news, photos,<br />
graphics, audio and video to more than 15,000 media outlets worldwide.<br />
"We're already planning to use it to display the graphics, charts and maps<br />
that accompany news reports on our web site. We're looking to standardize<br />
on the Flash open file format as our technology of choice for presenting<br />
vector images on the Web."</p>
<p>TOOL DEVELOPERS ANNOUNCE SUPPORT FOR FLASH<br />
A broad cross-section of software and tool developers also announced their<br />
support for the Flash format. Several companies - including providers of<br />
graphics and animation tools for creative, technical, and business<br />
applications - announced plans to extend existing software tools, while<br />
others said they intend to develop a new tool or application that will<br />
output .swf files. Tool developers announcing support for today's<br />
announcement include: Avenza, Broderbund and Equilibrium. With their<br />
support, Flash is expected to be featured in more than 1 million software<br />
tool products shipped annually.</p>
<p>"It's all about speed these days," said Tim Bigoness, director of product<br />
management at Equilibrium. "Equilibrium DeBabelizer's automated graphics<br />
processing tools speed up web development time and Flash delivers<br />
lightning-quick interactive animations, buttons and graphics. We're<br />
committed to supporting the Flash format in future versions of DeBabelizer<br />
to help make web building and viewing even faster."</p>
<p>THE LEADING VECTOR FORMAT FOR THE WEB<br />
Flash is widely recognized as the de facto standard for vector-based<br />
graphics and animation on the web. The Flash file format is binary to<br />
ensure the fastest possible transmission and display. Its object-oriented<br />
architecture allows objects to be used multiple times after downloading.<br />
The Flash format has proven to be highly platform-independent, capable of<br />
quickly being adapted to different operating systems, microprocessors,<br />
hardware devices and tools. Flash is also extensible, allowing for future<br />
enhancements while still enabling full backwards compatibility.</p>
<p>Web designers and tool developers have widely adopted Flash because it<br />
offers several specific advantages, including:</p>
<p>* Speed. The renderer in Flash has been optimized for fast delivery of<br />
anti-aliased static and animated vector graphics to the screen. Users<br />
experience minimal wait - even over slow modem connections.</p>
<p>* Size. The Flash vector format was designed specifically for use over the<br />
web. As a result, Flash format files are extremely small, even when<br />
animations play back full-screen. In addition, Flash includes support for<br />
streaming, which means Flash files can play while they download.</p>
<p>* Quality. Designed for screen display, Flash features support for<br />
anti-aliased text and graphics, so all letter and image edges are smooth,<br />
even while animating.</p>
<p>* Interactivity. Flash provides an outstanding choice for user interface<br />
design due to its built-in support for interactivity. Any graphic or<br />
animation can be a button, providing UI designers tremendous flexibility in<br />
creating graphical user interfaces.</p>
<p>* Universal Playback. Flash content plays back everywhere through support<br />
for ActiveX, plug-ins, Flash Player Java Edition, GIF, animated GIF,<br />
RealPlayer, and WebTV with or without plug-ins and over slow modem<br />
connections.</p>
<p>"Flash is used by millions of people today and has proven to be portable on<br />
a variety of platforms," said Norm Meyrowitz, executive vice president and<br />
chief technical officer, Macromedia Products. "Opening the file format will<br />
broaden and accelerate its use in real world applications."</p>
<p>"WebTV is proud to be a strong supporter of Macromedia Flash," said Phil<br />
Goldman, senior vice president of engineering and co-founder of WebTV, a<br />
subsidiary of Microsoft. "We were the very first licensee of Flash and have<br />
supported every version of it on the WebTV products. We have also made<br />
Flash an intrinsic part of the WebTV experience, including the Explore:<br />
Best of the Web directory. Flash allows us to create the dynamic experience<br />
that our customers expect on their televisions."</p>
<p>NEW FLASH PRODUCTS<br />
In related news, Macromedia today also announced the immediate availability<br />
of the beta version of Flash 3, an enhanced new version of the Internet's<br />
leading design tool for vector-based graphics and animations. The company<br />
also unveiled Macromedia Flash Generator, a powerful new solution for the<br />
design and creation of data-driven, server-based graphics and animations.<br />
(See related announcement.)</p>
<p>ABOUT MACROMEDIA<br />
Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) is a leading<br />
provider of software products, each designed to help make creativity and<br />
interactivity more possible in the new technology ecosystem. Macromedia's<br />
award-winning products for Windows, Macintosh and the Internet are<br />
available to business, education, and government customers worldwide.<br />
Additional information on Macromedia is available on the Internet at<br />
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