Adobe Animate

A rose by any other name would smell.... Adobe is doing a lot of rebranding these days as they move more and more functionality from the desktop into the cloud. But renaming Flash isn't going to make it any more palitable. Though, apparently, Adobe Animate can now handle HTML 5. I'm sure that will help some people transition their work from Flash.

I wish Adobe would explain why they are keeping Flash alive and trashing great apps like Fireworks.

Adobe's greed with their Creative Cloud subscription model is sickening. They are yet another corporation that doesn't want Americans to own anything. At least with a perpetual license you could re-sell it and keep the application on your computer. Now it's a rental like Rent-a-Center except with Rent-a-Center you actually own the overpriced crap at the end of the day. Petition against it is over 30,000 so far... https://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-subscription-model

I have the Web Creative Suite 5.5, which includes Flash and its accompanying programs. The mere installation of this software can slow a Mac down... using it is fraught with obstacles. I am not a pro designer but I know how to RTFM, which is next to useless. I stand with Steve Jobs in his distaste for this anomalous software. I am also disturbed that Flash is now a preference pane in SysPrefs. Everyday I go there and change the settings back to where I put them the day before. I resent this intrusion. I do not like to be controlled by my software. To the developers of "Edge" and like-minded programs: please succeed. And most Mac users will thank you.

Finally, a Flash alternative? From Adobe? Edge: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/ About time! ;-)

Only loved by profit seeking inept developers. Loathed by consumers who only wish it would go away.

Typography/Type setting is finally workable for a graphic designer.. kudos to Adobe to have answered designers' prayers ;-) Seems overall CS5 is a great leap.. 64 bits and good functionalities. So far I'm smiling a big smile.. seems my life will be a little easier..

I don't understand why Flash is so poor at handling type setting.. this is beyond me.. has Adobe forgotten that content often n includes text ? I love Flash for many things but its handling of type is the most retarded thing I have ever witnessed in any software ever... seriously... Static text which should retain type settings goes all over the place when exported as swf's depending on used fonts. the handling of fonts was always awkward for lack of a worse word.. I think before adding new features.. Adobe should really really concentrate on this aspect.. TYPE is extremely important.. I never understood why Flash makes it so complicated. Can't they sort of make it act more like a page layout program in that respect ?! TYPOGRAPHY is one of the reasons certain web designers moved from html/CSS to Flash so make it really work well... Hope CS5 has news in that respect... DOn't think of just the nerdy coding side of your customers but also of the visual designers in us...

I also updated to 9.0.2 and the update hung halfway through the process, so I restarted and ran it again. It appears to have installed properly, but now when I quit Flash, it hangs on quit, and requires a force quit.

Flash CS3 on a Mac runs horribly slow. You may not notice it on first run, but especially after a 'Test Movie' you'll notice extremely lagged performance, only resolved by quitting and reopening the application. Adobe has not addressed this issue, which has been reported across the web, ranging from Quad PPC G5 users, to Intel Mac Pro users. Although some Mac users have reported not experiencing any lagged performance.

to me this seems like a job half-done. i dunno what the hell adobe have been doing since they took over macromedia a couple of years ago - but i was expecting way better than this from the first 'adobe interfaced' version of flash. sure, there are a number of nice tweaks to the GUI and the auto-collapsing panels make it a lot nicer to use on a small monitor - but there are still way way too many of the absolutely teethgrindingly annoying 'macromedia-isms' still lurking under the surface. i realise ironing out all the quirks must be a huge job for adobe - after all 'logic' and 'consistency' were not words you'd ever associate with macromedia's product design! but, for me, flash still has a long way to go before it gets to the stage were i feel like the app is working for me and not fighting against me at every turn. [which is what makes using most other adobe apps such a painless experience.]

This is a vast improvement to Flash 8, interface-wise, at least. I've only been using it for a week or so, but have already noticed things that I definitely have wished for in past versions. Just a couple of things that make this upgrade worth it: "Native" Illustrator Importing - Ohmigosh, now I can pull an AI file in and Flash allows me to do all kinds of crazy stuff with it that I had never dreamed possible. "Consistent" Adobe Interface - This is kinda minor, but it makes working with Flash so much easier for both one-screeners and two-screeners. Personally, I work on a PC and a Mac, and the PC version of Flash 8 had some seriously cool docking windows that I was always Jealous of. But now the Mac version rocks the way Bob Dylan did at the Royal Albert Hall in 1966. Alright. Have fun and Flash safely.

Those people who are unhappy with the latest version of Flash must not be using the final version, either that or the demo is extremely different than the final version because I'm floored. The features in this version of Flash are every bit as good as the previous versions, but they have plenty of added bonuses when it comes to supporting other CS3 applications. Flash 8 was a great step up from MX 2004 but damn they've outdone themselves this time! Ease of use is a great step up as well. Granted, there is still quite a learning curve seeing as it's Flash but for those who are avid Flash users should welcome the change. The new interface makes it possibly to use it on a single display without feeling cramped. Stability has not been an issue at all for me. I never take it easy on programs and get annoyed at the littlest interruption to my work-flow but Flash CS3 has behaved flawless with me so far, and I use it on a daily basis. Value isn't so good considering it's still very expensive for us poor student/freelancers but when you consider all the changes this version around it's completely worth it. When Adobe bought Macromedia I was a bit worried but they proved me oh so very wrong. Great job boys keep up the fantastic work!

I have a Mac Pro (intel) and having moved from using the previous version, and now this one (which is a UB), the speed difference is amazing. Fast. New features are like little nuggets hidden away (they're aren't that many), but you do get AS 3.0 and other doodads. It's biggest 'feature' is support for intel macs, which truly makes a difference. Other than that, I would call this an interim release, other people may view it differently. One thing to do is run fontbook and check your fonts. This is the NUMBER one cause of Flash crashing on startup. If you use special fonts, check those as well before turning them. Duplicate and bad fonts will cause Flash to crash.

after unpacking my new 1.9mhz g5 imac, I used the setup thingy to transfer my files over from the old G4 flat screen....everything went perfectly except for Flash MX. When I attempt to open/run the app it crashes immeadiatly. After poking around macromedias site and browsing the forums, I'm still in the dark about the fix....is this updater what I need or is the problem with permissions because the app is still on the old machine? I use Flash a lot for web dev and I'm dead in the water without it....help plz. Jcb

after unpacking my new 1.9mhz g5 imac, I used the setup thingy to transfer my files over from the old G4 flat screen....everything went perfectly except for Flash MX. When I attempt to open/run the app it crashes immeadiatly. After poking around macromedias site and browsing the forums, I'm still in the dark about the fix....is this updater what I need or is the problem with permissions because the app is still on the old machine? I use Flash a lot for web dev and I'm dead in the water without it....help plz. Jcb

Has anyone tried this one? http://www.synfig.com/

Wow what happened Macromedia? Who dropped the ball on this one? Every MX release has been slower and buggier and uglier. Was this thing written in Java or something, because it sure looks it like it. This app is horribly written and looks like a Windows app. It's non responsive and on most occasions, just hangs there and I get a spinning beach ball. Running Tiger 10.4.1

Flash MX 2004 is very buggy on the Mac. It is the only application that I every really have crash on me. When I initially got my Powerbook I could not get either Flash MX nor Flash MX 2004 to even launch successfully. After wrangling with Macromedia's support staff for a month I reinstalled my entire system and was able to get Flash to run okay. That was September, this January they finally posted a solution to my problem that would have saved me from reinstalling my OS - gee thanks. Now that I have upgraded to Tiger, Flash is again experiencing some major issues. Shapes and fills randomly change for no apparent reason, and the application unexpectedly quits so often, it's not even worth running the program any more. I'm not reinstalling my OS again, just for one shoddily programmed application. I'm glad Adobe is buying out Macromedia, maybe now there will be some competent work done on the Mac version of Flash. I would rate Macromedia Flash MX 2004 as an application to avoid unless you absolutely must use it.

Insanely buggy. Macromedia continues to produce version after version of terrible software. Some examples under Tiger (and possible before)... 1) The help system doesn't work at all... you can search... but not view ANY entries. Which is horrible because it no longer even comes with a manual. 2) Swapping instances is impossible if you organize your library into multiple folders... you can only swap within the folder the previous item was in. 3) Sounds are no longer packaged with the app as they were in previous version. 4) Random quits are not uncommon... save often 5) Menu items continue to migrate around making moving from previous versions difficult. 6) ActionScript has been updated AGAIN... making ever actually learning the thing near impossible... constant changes to syntax and a library of commands larger than most other languages make ActionScript a behemoth of dead weight and poor planning. Add in the fact that the editor is absolutely terrible... and you've got one fantastic disaster for scripting. These are just some of the things that annoyed me in the last hour of use... the list goes on. If you can avoid using Flash... please do. It is a terrible application that is frequently misused on the web anyway. I would suggest to the "curious" to just save yourself the headache and learn other web technologies... and suggest to professionals that they wait to see what Adobe decides to do with Macromedia since the acquisition. With any luck, Adobe will replace Flash with an open standard like SVG and rid the world of this travesty.