Announcing what its chief technology officer called 'the most significant and broad set of product releases Macromedia has ever undertaken as a company,' Macromedia Inc. Monday upgrades to a passel of its Web design and development tools, including Dreamweaver, ColdFusion and Fireworks.The new versions bring the products into Macromedia's MX family, which already includes its flagship Web animation and interactivity runtime application Flash MX, said Jeremy Allaire, CTO at the San Francisco-based company. The releases, which Macromedia has been working on for almost 18 months, are another step in Macromedia's vision to unify the tasks of Web design and Web development, he said.The unity will lead to a different kind of Internet, Allaire said. The current Internet is built around the browsing metaphor, but the Internet of the future will enable more interaction on the part of users, he said.

1. Coldfusion Websites

A more interactive Internet will require a rich client, good server technology and top-notch design tools, Allaire said. Macromedia's rich client offering, the Flash MX player, is already available and plays 'a central role in this strategy,' he said. The Flash MX player will be able to work as an application environment for desktop and handheld programs and will be Web services-aware.The second component for Macromedia's vision is addressed with the release of its new ColdFusion MX product, Allaire said. The upgrade redefines ColdFusion, moving the product from a proprietary application server to one that works with Java 2 Enterprise Edition application servers, and makes it easier to develop Web applications and services, according to Allaire.

The new version of the software will allow script writers, rather than developers, to create Web services and applications, he said.ColdFusion MX also supports Microsoft Corp.' S.Net Web services initiative and will allow users to develop code to work with.Net, Allaire said.

The product also includes Flash Remoting, which is server software designed to allow developers to create Flash applications that can interoperate with business logic and Web services, he said. The product runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris and HP-UX and works with application servers from IBM, BEA Systems Inc. And Sun Microsystems Inc.' S iPlanet division, he said.The third component of Macromedia's vision involves new design tools, which arrive in the form of MX-series versions of the visual Web page creation package Dreamweaver and the Web graphics and animation tool Fireworks, he said.

Dreamweaver MX now includes four previously separate products: Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver UltraDev, ColdFusion Studio and HomeSite, Allaire said. The four applications have been tightly integrated and share a common code base, he said. Related: The new Dreamweaver improves the visual tools for creating Web pages and integrates other applications, such as Flash MX, to enable the creation of Web applications and services, Allaire said. Dreamweaver MX also allows for the creation of.Net services and Java applications, he said.Fireworks MX adds support for XML, eases repetitive tasks and the export of graphics and HTML to other applications, Allaire said. Fireworks is used by designers to build and optimize Web graphics and small animations.Dreamweaver and Fireworks run on a number of Windows and Macintosh platforms; the new versions add support for Windows XP as well as native support for Mac OS X, he said.Macromedia also announced the release of Studio MX, a suite of products that includes Dreamweaver MX, ColdFusion MX Server Developer Edition, Fireworks MX, Flash MX and the Freehand 10 illustration package.The new MX products were designed to be tightly integrated.

The tools also ship with MX Workspace, a common workspace for those MX-series applications, Allaire said.All the products announced April 29 will be available in early June, Allaire said. ColdFusion MX will be priced at $799 per server for the Server Professional Edition, and the Enterprise Edition will run at $4,999 per server. Dreamweaver MS will be priced at $399, and Fireworks MX will sell for $299. Studio MX will be priced at $799.The MX series of products further underscores Macromedia's move away from head-to-head competition with Adobe Systems Inc.

Coldfusion Websites

Into a more Web-focused area, Allaire said.