Utrecht, December 8, 2003 - Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR), today announced an agreement to integrate and ship MacromediaÒ FlashÔ Player 7 with the JavaÔ Desktop System. As part of the agreement, Macromedia Flash Player will be pre-installed into Mozilla - a popular open source browser, a key component of the Java Desktop System - allowing users to conveniently view Flash content "out of the box," without having to download and install the player separately. Flash Player offers Java Desktop System users the same experience of viewing rich, interactive multimedia content and applications currently enjoyed on an estimated 453 million personal computers worldwide.
The Flash Player makes it possible to deliver consistent and highly effective digital experiences, ranging from brand-building web sites to enterprise-class rich Internet applications. Innovative designers rely on the integrated motion graphics, audio, and video capabilities of Flash Player to engage users in ways not possible with conventional web technology. Application developers use the Macromedia Flex presentation server in conjunction with Flash MX Professional 2004 to deliver rich, intuitive user interfaces for enterprise applications based on the Sun Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EEÔ) platform. This agreement provides further evidence that Sun and its partners are committed to providing the best-in-class media playback and rich Internet application technology to enrich the customer experience within a lower cost and more secure desktop environment.
"Macromedia and Sun have had a long alliance as shown by the availability of Flash Player on the SolarisÔ platform. It's natural for Macromedia to work closely with Sun to enable the millions of sites that are enriched with Flash content to work on Sun's new desktop system," said David Mendels, senior vice president, Macromedia. "Flash technology has become essential to today's web designers and developers, allowing them to quickly create compelling interactive content and applications that attracts users to sites and keeps them coming back. Key to its success is broad distribution of Flash Player on all key platforms, including Sun's new Java Desktop System."
"Sun is redefining the desktop market with the introduction of Java Desktop System, an integrated, familiar, secure desktop solution for the enterprise market," said Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president, Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "When we looked at the key media that needed to be supported with our new desktop, it was very clear that the popularity of Flash on the web required integration. Rich multimedia content is a key component of desktop experiences today; we are excited to see Macromedia's endorsement of Sun's desktop offering and commitment of providing one of the most popular media and interactive application runtimes on our platform."
ABOUT SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision-"The Network Is The Computer[tm]"-has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com
ABOUT MACROMEDIA
Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great experiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions of business users, developers, and designers to create and deliver effective, compelling, and memorable experiences - on the Internet, on fixed media, on wireless, and on digital devices.
Copyright 2003 Macromedia Inc. All rights reserved. Macromedia, The Macromedia logo, Macromedia Flash, and Macromedia Flex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia Inc, which may be registered in the United States and internationally. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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