Rating: 
Summary: I HATE MACROMEDIA FLASH MX PROFESSIONAL 2004
Review: 9:29 AM 12/31/2004
Amazon Review
I HATE MACROMEDIA FLASH MX PROFESSIONAL 2004
That is the best way to describe how I feel about it. I mainly wanted the newer version of Flash, and now I regret the purchase.
My problems with it are a little different than some of the others who left reviews. First of all, I initially became acquainted with Flash through Flash 5 and have primarily been working with Flash MX over the past few years, so I'm accoustomed to how it operates. With Flash MX Pro 2004 it seems as if they've made everything harder to use, even with all their new features.
1. First of all, they got rid of 'normal mode' for the actionscript panel. I've heard a lot of programmers say that they didn't use it, but I found it a lot more convenient than the cumbersome 'behaviors panel' they have now.
2. They make it difficult to save files in the old Flash MX format, requiring you to select 'Save As' from the file menu, even if the original file was made in Flash MX, and then they have a dialog box come up to comfirm your selection. I'm not familiar with Actionscript 2.0 so I don't use it and would like portablity back to Flash MX, especially since you can only activate the software on one system. So if you have a desktop and a laptop, decide which one you want to develop on or be prepared to buy it twice. They should have made it possible to set the default save format in the preferences and allowed individual users to put the software on at least two systems.
3. The reference library seems more convoluted than helpful. I know they added more things, but they should have been able to figure out a better way to organize it.
4. My biggest problem with this software is that they took the 'Actions' out of the Timeline context menu. It boggles my mind as to why they would do that. In Flash MX if you right click on a frame you could bring up the actions panel. Now you either have to keep it docked, hit F9 or select it from the menu bar. All these other options inhibit workflow. I can't understand it and it frustrates me even after almost a year of using the software, that I keep wanting the bring up the actions panel from the context menu.
Maybe it would be alright if you've never used Flash before, you won't miss anything. I would suggest that if you're happy with Flash MX, don't even bother with 2004. However, I actually bought Flash MX Pro with the entire Studio MX 2004 suite. This is the first time I've used Dreamweaver and Fireworks and actually, I have come to enjoy using them (I'm more into programming and haven't found any use for Freehand yet). So it wasn't a totally loss, but still...
I HATE MACROMEDIA FLASH MX PROFESSIONAL 2004
Rating: 
Summary: A terrible, terrible version of Flash.
Review: Flash is a great platform, and Flash MX was a great piece of software. This upgrade is terrible, crashing incessantly on Mac OS X. Everyone realized this, so Macromedia quickly rushed out a .01 updater... and it really didn't fix much, if anything. I'm so completely disappointed by Macromedia, especially with the new Adobe products out that are so very much better. If only Adobe made Flash!!! Definately, definately do NOT buy this software, even though it has some neat new features, it's a terrible waste of money for the upgrade. Macromedia needs to realize they made a mistake and FIX IT!
Rating:
Summary: Crash and Burn
Review: Flash MX 2004 Pro.No doubt about it. So far this morning it has frozen my tablet (what's it doing with serial ports?????), refused to initialise the panel set i just saved, crashed 100% of the time with a single layer on the timeline and very few objects when i try to test the fla (using flash 4 player compat). Not acceptable! Downloading the latest updater has made it worse if anything. I'm just about to reinstall flash 5. Macromedia have tried to make a Visual Studio 2005 type leap here and have failed miserably with the quality control. I'm sure there are heaps of users getting along just fine with it, but i don't care - there are no other apps on my systme that run this way.
Rating: 
Summary: Check Out the Updated Patches
Review: I actually really like this version of Flash. Macromedia recently updated Flash with 7.2 and fixed a lot of the bugs, and upgraded the helps to something you can actually use. I think you will find that the 7.2 update makes this version a lot better product.
Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs down
Review: I agree with the other reviewers who voiced their complaints about Flash MX 2004 crashing. The timeline effects will work flawlessly a couple of times and then when you try it again it'll pop up a script error message. Also, it will crash unexpectedly right in the middle of you doing something and you'll lose all your work. Didn't anybody test this program before they released it? Also, what's up with two different versions of Flash? Flash MX 2004 Professional and Flash MX 2004 for Nitwits which includes half the features as the professional version. Macromedia laid an egg on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs down
Review: I agree with the other reviewers who voiced their complaints about Flash MX 2004 crashing. The timeline effects will work flawlessly a couple of times and then when you try it again it'll pop up a script error message. Also, it will crash unexpectedly right in the middle of you doing something and you'll lose all your work. Didn't anybody test this program before they released it? Also, what's up with two different versions of Flash? Flash MX 2004 Professional and Flash MX 2004 for Nitwits which includes half the features as the professional version. Macromedia laid an egg on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Product
Review: I am EXTREMELY satisfied with this product. Don't be mislead by people who say it is bad, because it is not!!! I use it to customise my site. To see its power and stability, visit philiponline.com
Rating:
Summary: Horrible version
Review: I couldn't be in more agreement with the previous reviewer. This is an incredibly horrible version of Flash. Not only does it crash incessantly, but it makes everything unstable. You can't even use it together with Dreamweaver, becuase one of your programs will disappear. That's right, they just disappear and you lose all your work. No beep, no warning - nothing. I can't believe this was actually released this horribly and so rushed to market. They released updaters, but they don't really fix the problems. Hell, I can't even run some of my other software at the same time (won't even start, let alone the Dreamweaver thing). I don't know what's wrong, but between all of that and activation, the suite in general (including Flash) is just a mess.
Rating:
Summary: I downloaded the trial and....
Review: I downloaded the trial and....It worked fine for 3 or 4 days, then the program crashed and now won't work at all. Any suggestions for something else to work with dreamweaver?
Rating:
Summary: Worst version ever
Review: I've been an avid Flash developer since version 4.0. I had high hopes for this version but I'm extremely disappointed, even angry, with Macromedia for releasing one of the worst programs I've ever had to use.
Like many Macromedia products, they had a great vision but apparently no quality control department. Macromedia software has always been a little buggy when compared to other vendors, but this one really goes over the line. Their concept was to make Flash the defacto standard for creating rich internet applications (RIA's). If they had delivered what they intended, this would truly have been a wonderful program. But unfortunately this version is too riddled with bugs and performance issues to be of much use.
I did like the upgrade to the scripting language, ActionScript 2.0. The language is now very similar to Java. You can use public and private modifiers (no protected). You can create classes and interfaces, and "extend" and "implement" classes and interfaces. It's also an (optionally) typed language, though type checking is only performed at compile time -- still extremely useful.
Aside from the language upgrade, the documentation in this program is horrible. The components are buggy and bloated. The program sucks memory, crashes frequently, and it takes forever to export a movie.
If you are interested in the upgrade to ActionScript 2.0, get the reguler (non-professional) version of Flash MX 2004. The extra "features" of the Pro version are not worth a dime.
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