Old education copies of Dreamweaver

[Maljonic]

Someone told me yesterday that older versions of Dreamweaver and Flash etc, 2004 now that 8 is out, that are the eduction copies are automatically upgraded to fully licenced copies that can be used commercially. Does anyone know if this is true, I've seen lots of them appear on ebay recently?

 

[Shovel]

Highly unlikely. Email Macromedia tech support to confirm, they're actually quite helpful.

On related note, if you bought any copy of Studio MX 2004 any time after July 2005 (iirc) you qualify for a free upgrade to the equivilent Studio 8 license and can claim via the Macromedia website.

 

[Maljonic]

That would be nice if I had; 8 looks very interesting, though I'm only using the ordinary MX so even 2004 is an upgrade for me. I can buy studio 8 for £85 from my college but it's not for commercial use, which isn't much good to me, so I'm thinking of buying 2004 instead.

 

[Shovel]

I'm not sure what legitimate licenses you can get for MX2004 these days, and you're out of time for the 'free upgrade to version 8' offers.

From a Dreamweaver point of view, I would seriously recommend getting version 8 over MX2004. The preview/design view rendering engine has been *vastly* improved and can now handle CSS layout much better. From what I hear, MX2004 was rendered useless in that mode. Version 8 is at least competant (though you should still *create* CSS layouts in code, because there's not a WYSIWYG editor on earth that can do it perfectly).

To be honest, I think the value of Macromedia Studio is actually in Flash and Fireworks. The functionality of Dreamweaver is very nice (integrated FTP and site management, code completion, etc.) but you if need be you can get that functionality in other applications for free.

 

[Maljonic]

I really would like Studio 8, just that it costs a fortune; I'm particularly interested in the new Flash though, I may even buy that on its own for now. I read a bit about it in a magazine, the improved video handling with reduced file size etc and new transparancy bits to play with. I just got some more website work today so perhaps I'll use some of the money from that?

Flash 2004 also looks a lot better than plain Flash MX though, but it's obviously not in the same league as 8.

 

[Dommers]

Bloody hell thats a lot of money
I certainlly wouldn't pay that much
Tbh you could get it off ebay a lot cheaper

Try looking on Amazon as well. They have lots of cheap stuff.
Or you could check magainzes for cheaper offers.
Remember to make sure the key is supplied if you buy it off ebay.
Registering the key can be a problem.
Ebay seems like your best bet.
Niggle the sellers down to a lower price.
Try to get a new copy.

Yes. I'm bored.

 

[Maljonic]

There's a guy on a Flash course I'm doing that might sell me his MX 2004 in the box with the licence so he can buy Studio 8 educational for £85, the selling and the buying. If I did that I could upgrade to Studio 8 for £300 instead of paying the full 700 +?

I can't really trust getting it of eBay, I need a proper copy because it's for commercial use.

 

[Shovel]

Bloody hell thats a lot of money...

Web Design is a professional industry Dommers. If you want professional tools you pay professional prices. If you don't want to pay you have to make to with lesser software, it's very simple.

Illegal software for any purpose is a thorny issue but for commercial use it's absolutely unacceptable.

Maj, which parts of Studio do you use? Dreamweaver remains something of a luxory, the functionality can be 'done without' and replaced with free tools. If all you need is Flash, an individual Flash license is more affordable than getting DW and Fireworks as well.

Personally I think Fireworks is excellent, but again, if you can make use of The Gimp or Inkscape for graphics work then you'll save again.

 

[Maljonic]

I use Dreamweaver a lot, and Fireworks pretty much every day; I've only recently got into Flash because of a course at college. I mean I've made the odd simple banner and image slide viewer in Flash before, but nothing too complex; I'm learning a bit more about it now though and doing quite well, still way behind with ActionScript, though I don't need that too much for the web design part of my work , more for my own fun at the moment. The best I've done so far is a quiz in flash that saves your high score onto a database in a phpnuke site.

I have heard that the CSS support is a lot better in the new Dreamweaver, but I've always done that by hand anyway so far.

 

[Shovel]

I picked up Studio on edu. license pretty much just for Fireworks. Dreamweaver's a bonus and Flash is handy for vector graphics.

Thing is with Flash, so, so, so, so many things are done with Flash that should really be done with HTML, CSS and enhanced with JavaScript. Flash is the wrong tool for pretty much everything on the web.

 

[Maljonic]

I know, Flash aint much use if you want your website to be indexed properly in search engines and found easily either; not for doing major site stuff anyway, it's only really any good if the sites for someone/thing really famous like Harry Potter, whose visitors will go straight to the site from reading the link off other famous sites, merchandise and books.

 

[Shovel]

Even then, it's not the right tool for the job. Recent versions are slightly better for use with a screen-reader than those of old, but using Flash to create an entire site defies the cross-device, cross-platform nature of the web. Using Flash for content locks you out of using new web-enabled devices to access your site.

Sure, you can sometimes create an effective visual effect with Flash, but I despair every time I see a modern website that's used Flash for its navigation or body content, even more so when they've not provided graceful fallback.

It's not just about people finding your site Mal, it's about people not wanting to gouge out their own testicles trying to use it when they do. That may become my new Flash motto.

 

[Shovel]

That's not to say that Flash is completely without purpose, of course. Nor are standards-based technologies completely capable of replacing it in all situations.

1000 Science Fiction covers is a nice demonstration of things you can do with Flash that you can't currently do without.

 

[Chilly]

you COULD do that using jscript and html and css and such, but it would be horrendously slow and take fucking aeons to write. I get your point, though. Flash is a much more elegant way of doing that than the million line script youd need in javascript

 

[Shovel]

You could indeed Chilly, my point is exactly as you say: Right now Flash is a better tool for the job but in a few years advancements in native browser image handling, JavaScript and SVG support in browsers might make it just as feasible to create a similar interface with standards-based Ajax techniques.

 

[Maljonic]

Have you seen http://www.bobscube.com/ by the way?

 

[Shovel]

That's awesome. That's what Flash is good for.

 

[Maljonic]

Okay I got a reply after, a few days, from Macromedia - pretty much as expected really, but useful in case anyone's confused in the future:

Thank you for contacting Macromedia Customer Service.

We understand the confusion this may have presented you.

Please note that if you will purchase Studio MX 2004 education version, you will be eligible for the free upgrade to Studio 8 full education version also because we do not have education upgrade version software; however, education versions of Macromedia products cannot be used for any commercial purpose. It should be used for administrative or educational instruction purposes. A commercial purpose is any revenue-generating activity beyond the usual and customary activities educational institutions engage in.

Macromedia Customers who purchased Studio MX 2004 or Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional between July 8 and November 14, 2005, may be eligible for a free upgrade to Studio 8.

This upgrade offer is available for a limited time. Requests for free upgrades to Studio 8 must be received by December 14, 2005. Please visit the link below to request your free upgrade to Studio 8.

http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_15313

I suggest that you purchase Studio MX 2004 from an authorized reseller. For the list of authorized resellers, please go to:

http://www.macromedia.com/buy/

Should you have other concerns, please contact us again.

Regards,

Elma Canasa
Macromedia Customer Service