Microsoft and Macromedia Team to Provide Cross-Platform ActiveX-Based Multimedia Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. and Macromedia Inc. today announced at the Microsoft®
Professional Developers Conference (PDC) a relationship for delivering ActiveX
™Technologies for the Internet and multimedia capabilities on multiple platforms, including the Apple® Macintosh®
.

Macromedia, the developer of the Shockwave
™
series of Internet multimedia tools and the Director
™
, FreeHand
™
and Authorware
™
authoring and media-creation tools, is collaborating with Microsoft on the design and validation of component object model-based (COM-based) cross-platform extensibility architectures. At the PDC, Macromedia demonstrated the Shockwave for Director ActiveX control running in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.

“Macromedia, with its desktop and Shockwave Internet technologies, is clearly the leader in cross-platform multimedia authoring and playback,”
said John Ludwig, vice president of Windows at Microsoft Corp.
“The COM-based Macromedia Open Architecture (MOA) is a great example of an extensibility architecture that works cleanly across the Macintosh and Windows® platforms. Microsoft is excited about its collaboration with Macromedia and is looking forward to harnessing Macromedia’s cross-platform multimedia expertise in the design of ActiveX Controls and higher-level COM APIs.”

“We easily converted Shockwave to be an ActiveX control for use in the Microsoft Internet Explorer, and it performs extremely well,”
said Norm Meyrowitz, senior vice president at Macromedia.
“We’re looking forward to an active collaboration with Microsoft to assure the convergence of MOA and ActiveX Technologies in the future. We anticipate the broad deployment of Shockwave for the Director ActiveX control on multiple platforms.”

In addition, Microsoft and Macromedia will work together to define higher-level APIs, to make graphics and user interfaces more portable across platforms, and to incorporate ActiveX Technologies into Macromedia’s tools.

About Macromedia and Microsoft

Macromedia Inc., the leader in digital arts, multimedia and Web publishing software, offers a full range of products for the Windows operating system and the Macintosh platform. The company’s flagship products include FreeHand, the most powerful tool for design and illustration; Authorware, the most powerful multiplatform authoring environment for interactive information; Director, the most powerful authoring tool for multimedia and the Internet, featuring Shockwave for Director; Extreme 3D
™
, the most powerful 3-D solution for design and multimedia; SoundEdit 16
™
, the easy-to-use digital sound recording and editing solution; Fontographer
™
, the industry standard for type design and editing; Deck II
™
, the most powerful editing tool for desktop audio production; and Macromedia xRes
™
, the most powerful creative tool for high-resolution images. For additional information, please visit Macromedia’s World Wide Web site at http://www.macromedia.com/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, ActiveX and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.

Shockwave, Director, FreeHand, Authorware, Extreme 3D, SoundEdit 16, Fontographer, Deck II and Macromedia xRes are trademarks of Macromedia Inc.

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