[casual_games] future of shockwave

[Thomas Higgins]

All,
I'll chime in with some thoughts and finally pull myself out of lurk
mode on this list. There is definitely some life left to Director and
the Shockwave Player, but as folks have surmised we (Macromedia) have to
do a much better job of supporting and promoting the tool and player.
There has been more than just "life support" for our product but it's
also been a far cry from the type of focus and support we had during the
Director 8.5 and earlier days, and so in comparison to prior levels of
support and the current mass support of all things Flash, that can seem
like near abandonment to some (a sentiment I can understand).

As far as what the future holds, I can say it holds continued
development and support of the technology, the player and authoring tool
(Director) are not going anywhere in the near future*. We're working on
another release (I showed some bits at this year's MAX conference just
last week) and plan on continuing to produce and release product. Anyone
that can attend the Austin Game Conference please feel free to find me
and hit me up with any questions you'd like, I'll be happy to discuss
things as folks desire. Or of course post up here and I'll answer them
online as well...


*The only complicating factor is what might lie behind the wall of
confusion known as the close of the Adobe acquisition, while I
personally approach the first day of business under Adobe with
excitement and confidence there is still a lot that's unknown to the
little people such as myself. :)



Greetings all, I've been an intent listener as you folks have had lots
of good conversations on this list. I'm not here to sell or to push
anything, I really just prefer to listen in on your discussions as it's
critical material for both the Director team and Macromedia as a whole.
Thanks.


Cheers,
Tom Higgins - Technical Product Manager
Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/thiggins/

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