<s>
Macromedia	O
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
was	O
an	O
American	O
graphics	O
,	O
multimedia	O
,	O
and	O
web	O
development	O
software	O
company	O
(	O
1992	O
–	O
2005	O
)	O
headquartered	O
in	O
San	O
Francisco	O
,	O
California	O
,	O
that	O
made	O
products	O
such	O
as	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
and	O
Dreamweaver	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
originated	O
in	O
the	O
1992	O
merger	O
of	O
Authorware	B-Application
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
makers	O
of	O
Authorware	B-Application
)	O
and	O
MacroMind	B-Application
–	I-Application
Paracomp	I-Application
(	O
makers	O
of	O
Macromind	B-Operating_System
Director	I-Operating_System
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Director	B-Operating_System
,	O
an	O
interactive	O
multimedia-authoring	O
tool	O
used	O
to	O
make	O
presentations	O
,	O
animations	O
,	O
CD-ROMs	B-Device
and	O
information	O
kiosks	O
,	O
served	O
as	O
Macromedia	O
's	O
flagship	O
product	O
until	O
the	O
mid-1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Authorware	B-Application
was	O
Macromedia	O
's	O
principal	O
product	O
in	O
the	O
interactive	O
learning	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
Internet	O
moved	O
from	O
a	O
university	O
research	O
medium	O
to	O
a	O
commercial	O
network	O
,	O
Macromedia	O
began	O
working	O
to	O
web-enable	O
its	O
existing	O
tools	O
and	O
develop	O
new	O
products	O
like	O
Dreamweaver	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
created	O
Shockwave	B-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
Director-viewer	O
plugin	B-Application
for	O
web	O
browsers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
multimedia	O
playback	O
in	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
's	O
browser	O
was	O
a	O
Director	B-Operating_System
plug-in	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
licensed	O
Sun	O
's	O
Java	B-Language
Programming	I-Language
Language	I-Language
in	O
October	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Altsys	O
was	O
the	O
developer	O
of	O
the	O
vector-drawing	O
program	O
FreeHand	B-Application
,	O
which	O
had	O
been	O
licensed	O
by	O
Aldus	O
for	O
marketing	O
and	O
sales	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
similarities	O
with	O
Adobe	B-Language
Illustrator	I-Language
,	O
the	O
Federal	O
Trade	O
Commission	O
issued	O
a	O
complaint	O
in	O
October	O
1994	O
ordering	O
a	O
divestiture	O
of	O
FreeHand	B-Application
back	O
to	O
Altsys	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
Macromedia	O
's	O
acquisition	O
of	O
Altsys	O
,	O
it	O
received	O
FreeHand	B-Application
thus	O
expanding	O
its	O
product	O
line	O
of	O
multimedia	O
graphics	O
software	O
to	O
include	O
illustration	O
and	O
design	O
graphics	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FreeHand	B-Application
's	O
vector	O
graphics	O
rendering	O
engine	O
and	O
other	O
software	O
components	O
within	O
the	O
program	O
would	O
prove	O
useful	O
to	O
Macromedia	O
in	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
Fireworks	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
1996	O
,	O
Macromedia	O
acquired	O
iBand	O
Software	O
,	O
makers	O
of	O
the	O
Backstage	O
HTML	B-Language
authoring	O
tool	O
and	O
application	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
developed	O
a	O
new	O
HTML-authoring	O
tool	O
,	O
Dreamweaver	B-Language
,	O
around	O
portions	O
of	O
the	O
Backstage	O
codebase	O
and	O
released	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
most	O
professional	O
web	O
authors	O
preferred	O
to	O
code	O
HTML	B-Language
by	O
hand	O
using	O
text	O
editors	O
because	O
they	O
wanted	O
full	O
control	O
over	O
the	O
source	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dreamweaver	B-Language
addressed	O
this	O
with	O
its	O
"	O
Roundtrip	O
HTML	B-Language
"	O
feature	O
,	O
which	O
attempted	O
to	O
preserve	O
the	O
fidelity	O
of	O
hand-edited	O
source	O
code	O
during	O
visual	O
edits	O
,	O
allowing	O
users	O
to	O
work	O
back	O
and	O
forth	O
between	O
visual	O
and	O
code	O
editing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
the	O
next	O
few	O
years	O
Dreamweaver	B-Language
became	O
widely	O
adopted	O
among	O
professional	O
web	O
authors	O
,	O
though	O
many	O
still	O
preferred	O
to	O
hand-code	O
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Operating_System
FrontPage	I-Operating_System
remained	O
a	O
strong	O
competitor	O
among	O
amateur	O
and	O
business	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
acquired	O
FutureWave	O
Software	O
,	O
makers	O
of	O
FutureSplash	B-Operating_System
Animator	I-Operating_System
,	O
in	O
November	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FutureSplash	B-Operating_System
Animator	I-Operating_System
was	O
an	O
animation	O
tool	O
originally	O
developed	O
for	O
pen-based	O
computing	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
small	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
FutureSplash	B-Operating_System
Viewer	O
application	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
particularly	O
suited	O
for	O
download	O
over	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
where	O
most	O
users	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
had	O
low-bandwidth	O
connections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
renamed	O
Splash	O
to	O
Macromedia	B-Operating_System
Flash	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
following	O
the	O
lead	O
of	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
,	O
distributed	O
the	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Player	I-Operating_System
as	O
a	O
free	O
browser	O
plugin	B-Application
in	O
order	O
to	O
quickly	O
gain	O
market	O
share	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
2005	O
,	O
more	O
computers	O
worldwide	O
had	O
the	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Player	I-Operating_System
installed	O
than	O
any	O
other	O
Web	O
media	O
format	O
,	O
including	O
Java	B-Device
,	O
QuickTime	B-Application
,	O
RealNetworks	O
,	O
and	O
Windows	B-Device
Media	I-Device
Player	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
matured	O
,	O
Macromedia	O
's	O
focus	O
shifted	O
from	O
marketing	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
graphics	O
and	O
media	O
tool	O
to	O
promoting	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
Web	O
application	O
platform	O
,	O
adding	O
scripting	O
and	O
data	O
access	O
capabilities	O
to	O
the	O
player	O
while	O
attempting	O
to	O
retain	O
its	O
small	O
footprint	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Web	O
development	O
company	O
Allaire	O
was	O
acquired	O
in	O
2001	O
and	O
Macromedia	O
added	O
several	O
popular	O
servers	O
and	O
Web	O
developments	O
tools	O
to	O
its	O
portfolio	O
,	O
including	O
ColdFusion	B-Language
,	O
a	O
web	O
application	O
server	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
CFML	O
language	O
,	O
JRun	B-Protocol
,	O
a	O
Java	B-Language
EE	I-Language
application	O
server	O
,	O
and	O
HomeSite	B-Application
,	O
an	O
HTML	B-Language
code	I-Language
editor	O
that	O
was	O
also	O
bundled	O
with	O
Dreamweaver	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
,	O
Macromedia	O
acquired	O
the	O
web	O
conferencing	O
company	O
Presedia	O
and	O
continued	O
to	O
develop	O
and	O
enhance	O
their	O
Flash-based	O
online	O
collaboration	O
and	O
presentation	O
product	O
offering	O
under	O
the	O
brand	O
Breeze	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
that	O
year	O
,	O
Macromedia	O
also	O
acquired	O
help	O
authoring	O
software	O
company	O
eHelp	O
Corporation	O
,	O
whose	O
products	O
included	O
RoboHelp	B-Protocol
and	O
RoboDemo	O
(	O
now	O
Adobe	O
Captivate	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
