Will Microsoft Kill Macromedia & Flash

Days due before the launch of the much hyped "longhorn", the next gen. OS, as proclaimed by Microsoft, few news have gossiped about how Microsoft looks at companies & verticals.

This is an exerpts from the article:

Top developers at Microsoft are working on a new graphics and animation toolset for Longhorn (the next generation of Windows) that could spell trouble for Macromedia.

Code-named "Sparkle," the tools under development would be integrated with Microsoft's .NET (define) runtime environment. That would ultimately mean developers could have Flash- and Director-like animation and graphics tools ready-built for them soon after Longhorn hits the marketplace.

One source familiar with the project, who saw examples of the "Sparkle" toolset integrated with Microsoft's C# (define), said early prototypes have given rise to talk of its potential as a "Flashkiller" or even a "Director-killer," referring to Macromedia's popular Flash animation software and Director tool, which is best known for building small animations for CDs.

I my eariler post, i referred about the New IE which shld be out by next year, will have an Active Content details, which though MM claims to found a roundabout, will started to spell trouble for Flash & shockwave. Going thru this entire article, this time, unlike before, MS is serious about taking Flash head on. If you can understand why MS is serious, just look at the installed base of Flash Players and MM has a long lasting tie-up with Apple, QuickTime-where Flash is fully integrated with their latest builds both from Apple & MM.

But going by the History, MS has never been great in Multimedia & Graphics. Great Example is Softimage, which was originally a MS company, later sold to Avid and now became a standard in 3D dynamics.

Btw, Where do MS get all these funky project code names OS [longhorn], SQL Server [Yukon], Visual Studio.NET (Whidbey), Aero (user interface for longhorn for 3D capabilities). Well. the verdict will be out by March 2004 till such time, there is Flash MX 2004 and the all new, powerful, ActionScript 2.0. Read the entire article here.