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Page 1 of 1 Flash MX 2004. It's...quirky...unique...er, charming. But we don't want software to be quirky, unique, or charming, when those are simply other words for "buggy". Buggy software is not typically the best kind. Slow startups, crashes, memory leaks, and malfunctions of any sorts do not usually add up to favorable reviews. And Flash MX 2004 has gotten it's fair share of negative reviews.
That's simply an objective observation of the software, and the market's evaluation thus far. Flash MX 2004 may be buggy, but I'm not discounting any of the great new features. It's got lots of cool new stuff: better printing support, better SWF and JPEG loading API, faster player, progressive download FLV (video) support, ActionScript 2.0 (a personal favorite), and many more. So it's too bad that so much of that has been overshadowed by unfortunate shortcomings in the product.
The good news is that Macromedia will shortly release an updater. With a brief download and a few clicks of the mouse Flash MX 2004 can do a quick-change into (drum roll, please) Flash MX 2004 7.1 (or is it Flash MX 7.1 2004?) In this article we'll take a look at what this point release promises, what it delivers, and a real look at what this updater can mean for you.
Unless you're among the few lucky ones, you've likely noticed that Flash MX 2004 sure did seem to crash a lot. And the longer you had the application open, the more strange things started to happen. It just wasn't a particularly stable release. One of the main things you should notice (fingers-crossed) with the new 7.1 updater is that the product is much more stable. You should see fewer crashes. Thus far, that has been the report among users, so it seems likely that you can expect to see the same kind of results.
One of the most frequent complaints with Flash MX 2004 has been performance issues. Although the issues don't seem to affect all users, some of the most common have been slow start-up times, and poor response in the Actions panel. Some have reported Flash taking over a minute to start up, and others have reported that the Actions panel can become unresponsive when trying to scroll large amounts of text. By all accounts thus far, these issues have been corrected. While I cannot assert authoritatively that the updater will correct any such performance issues that you might have experienced, every indication is that it should.
Another area in which Flash MX 2004 users have seen the most bugs is with databinding. Databinding is a feature only available in Flash MX Professional 2004, and it enables you to associate properties of one component with the properties of another component. The primary purpose of databinding is to enable users to create data-rich applications without having to write any ActionScript. While the very premise of that whole feature is rather questionable, it was made much worse by the fact that the feature just didn't work in many cases.
The list of bugs with regard to databinding is just too numerous to present in this article. In very simple cases databinding would (usually) work as advertised. But if you were to create an application that ventured into territory that was outside of the exact code in the Macromedia tutorials, then chances are something wasn't going to work quite correctly. To be fair, of course, we should note that databinding is a completely new feature in Flash MX 2004, and as such, it is likely to be much buggier than other features that have been in the application for several versions. And to their credit, Macromedia seems to have addressed many of the bugs related to databinding.
Timeline effects. If you've found them useful then good on you. There's some potential in there. They are built on the new JavaScript extensibility layer -- this means that you may well be able to expect to see more such effects (and behaviors too) both from Macromedia and from third-parties. However, the timeline effects that shipped with Flash MX 2004 - even if they were remotely useful in concept - didn't necessarily work very well. Some of the main bugs with regard to timeline effects consisted of effects reporting errors and not working, undo not working with applied effects, and the interesting fact that it seems you could not apply effects after frame 30. These issues and several others seem to have been corrected.
A few of the things addressed in the point release have to do with usability. A lot of people complained about the removal of the scale and rotate menu option, and so they've added it back in. Another big usability issue was the library not remembering its previous state. That is another issue that Macromedia did address.
However, for the most part Flash MX 2004 usability issues are what they are. Normal mode is gone. They have not added it back with this point release.
One of the most apparent missing pieces of Flash MX 2004 has been the documentation. If you open the Help panel to view the documentation on a particular subject, you may or may not find the information you're looking for. And, what's more, even if the documentation is there, it may be incomplete or incorrect. Though it is still unconfirmed, we have word that Macromedia is promising a large documentation update to correct many of these issues.
What's the verdict? Is the 7.1 updater going to make Flash MX 2004 everything you want it to be? Probably not. This is how I'd evaluate the post release updater:
Flash MX 2004 presented a rather radical jump from the previous version. They changed a lot of things around and didn't really bother to listen to the age-old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But they didn't mess it up too badly. Flash is still one of the coolest products out there, and the new version includes a handful of great new features that make the product well worth it. There were a couple of showstoppers, however: The product crashed far too frequently, and it was a productivity drain due to poor performance. The 7.1 updater seems to have addressed these showstopper issues, so it is worth at least giving it a try with an open mind. You may just find you really do like Flash MX 2004 after all.
That is not to say that there are not still some things that make Flash MX 2004 a compromise. There are still some issues that it seems have not really been addressed. The v2 component set is one of the main things that has been left virtually update-less. Chances are that if you are reading this article then you are someone who uses Flash. Remember that the more you make your voice heard, the greater the chance of Macromedia responding. If you find that this updater fixes all the things that needed to be fixed, let Macromedia know. If you find that it is a good step in the right direction - that it addresses many (but not all) the things that needed correction in Flash MX 2004 - let Macromedia know. Even if...especially if...you feel the updater still did not make the product worth using, then let Macromedia know. Remember that ultimately they need to cater to their customers. Whether you are quite happy with the product, or even if you are quite unhappy with the product, letting them know that in courteous and constructive ways can help them to shape the product in ways that best work for you. The best way to send your feedback to Macromedia is to use their online feedback form at: www.macromedia.com/support/email/techsupport/
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Keywords
Flash MX 2004 updater 7.1 patch point release
