
Adobe Director (formerly Macromedia Director) is now back in full, CS3 glory.
But WHY? Why? Why revive something that has been dead for nearly half a decade? Director enjoyed it’s utility back when interactive CD’s were all the rage (circa 2000). In our current decade, however: it’s just a tired, decrepit piece of archaic technology that’s better off forgotten.
The new CS3 version includes DX9 3D support (well, Director’s always been able to handle 3D anyway), a physics engine (promising) and better support for Flash (so that, er.. you could do what you could’ve done in Flash, anyway). I’m not too excited about this feature set.
As for web, Shockwave has long been deprecated by Flash. As for desktop applications, Flash and AIR are miles ahead. So where’s Director’s niche?
Verdict: I don’t think Adobe is aiming for getting new people excited about Director here. The update is, in my opinion, just a simple move to keep old users afloat and to delay it’s complete demise.
(Source: Adobe; Ars technica)