We have just released the initial version of Macromedia Flex and have updated the website with tons of information, including a new Flex Developer Center and an updated Flex product page.

I have also put together a Breeze presentation that talks about what Flex means for Flash developers and designers. Summary? While Flex is definitely targeted at developers who have not been able to use / understand the Flash authoring tool in the past, it does offer some potential opportunities for current Flash developers and designers.

Hi. We are now looking for developers who are interested in beta testing the Central Presence API / SDK for Macromedia Central. The API provides access to AOL AIM and ICQ networks for applications running within Macromedia Central.

If you are interested, please send the following information to:

• Name
• Email Address
• Why you are interested

to:

central_aol_beta@macromedia.com

We will contact you in the next couple of weeks if you have been accepted for the first round.

I have created a FireFox search plugin for FullAsAGoog.

You can download it, as well as all of the other plugins from here.

Thanks to Geoff Bowers who made some changes to the goog to support the plugin.

Since the Central desktop wallpaper contest was such as success (nearly 90 submissions), we have decided to do a similar desktop wallpaper content for Macromedia Flash.

Here are the details:

• Submission Deadline is Friday, April 2, 2004
• The Macromedia Flash team will pick the winner.
• You can enter multiple times
• To enter post links to your wallpaper in the comments of this thread.
• Bonus points for providing your source files for other to modify.
• Bonus points for providing multiple sizes, including:
  • 800 x 600
  • 1024 x 768
  • 1280 x 1024
  • 1280 x 854
  • 1600 x 1200

The prizes will be:

Daniele Ugoletti has put together a very useful Windows shell extension that gives a bunch of additional options when right clicking on an FLA.

You can find more information, as well as download the extension from here.

Chafic Kazoun has released a new Flash related app called Flash Tray Tools. This is a simple app that provides an easy to access menu for doing common tasks when working with Flash.

Features include:

• Delete ASO file
• Open personal configuration folder
• Open personal classes folder
• Open PrimalScript if installed
• Open Flash MX 2004
• Search Flashcoders
• Search Flashcoders Wiki
• Search Google
• Search macromedia

You can find more information, as well as download it from here.

We have just released some updaters to the Studio products, including Dreamweaver.

You can find out more information and download the updates here.

I have created some FireFox search plugins for searching Macromedia and Flash resources.

The plugins included are:

• FullAsAGoog
• Were-Here
• MXNA
• Macromedia
• [Macromedia Support][6]
• [Macromedia Developer Center][7]
• [macromedia.flash.actionscript][8]
• [macromedia.flash][9]
• [Mike Chambers Weblog][10]
• [Flash Technotes][11]
• [Flash Developer Center][12]
• [FlashCoders][13]
• [Central Technotes][14]

Here is a screen shot of the plugins within FireFox:

To install the plugins, simply click the links above (you must be running the FireFox browser).

Thanks to [Jon Udell][15] who posted some info that got me started with this.

We have released a supplement to the Flash MX 2004 components EULA. Basically, this allows you to redistribute components that use the Macromedia components (as long as you provide “material value” with the changes).

You can find more information and details here.

Have you worked with the Flash MX (NOT Flash MX 2004) version on the Linux operating system using CodeWeaver’s CrossOver Office? If so, what worked well?  What didn’t work?  How was the general performance and experience?  Did you experience any major bugs or issues?  Would you recommend it to a friend?  Post your input in the comments.