Macromedia has put together a software suite for
designing, building, managing and editing websites aimed at users
that want a simpler and cheaper web content management and
publishing system.
The suite, called Macromedia Web Publishing System, includes
tools for non-technical business users, for Web developers and
designers and for IT staffers.
Pricing is based on the number of business users that will get
access to the suite. A pack with seats for one developer and 10
business users is priced at $2,499 (£1,344), while a pack for 10
developers and 100 business users costs $24,990. Volume discounts
and special pricing for government and education customers are
available.
For business users, the suite comes with Contribute 3, designed
to make it simple for non-technical users to publish web content.
Meanwhile, for web developers and designers, the suite has
Macromedia Studio MX 2004, which includes the Dreamweaver, Flash,
Fireworks and FreeHand web development products.
Finally, Web Publishing System features Contribute Publishing
Services, a server-based tracking and administration tool for IT
staffers to do things like establish what web documents different
users can modify and what they are allowed to do. The Contribute 3
component includes FlashPaper 2 for converting documents to Flash
or PDF formats that make the documents viewable online.
The Macromedia suite has been priced aggressively and designed
to be easy to use in order to offer an alternative to content
management and publishing systems that tend to be much more
expensive and complicated, said Erik Larson, director of product
management at Macromedia.
The Web Publishing System will appeal to organisations such as
schools and universities, small government agencies, non-profit
groups and small and medium-sized businesses that need this
functionality but lack the money and technical resources to adopt
the more sophisticated options in the market from players such as
Vignette and Interwoven, said Eric Peterson, a Jupiter Research
analyst.
"This offering is significant because Macromedia, which has long
been known for providing very high-quality software to small to
medium-sized businesses with applications like Flash and
Dreamweaver, is really stepping up into the content management [and
publishing] space," he said.
"They're making a fairly robust content management [and
publishing] system available to any small organisation... looking
for a system that won't break the bank."
This Macromedia suite, however, probably will not be appropriate
for companies that are looking for a high-end content
management/publishing system, Peterson said.
"If a company were floating an request for proposal and they
felt that a Vignette or Interwoven were appropriate suppliers,
Macromedia would not be appropriate [for that project]," he
said.
"This is really an entry-level content management and publishing
system that is absolutely needed by parts of the market that are
traditionally ignored."
The Web Publishing System is available in a preview version at
www.macromedia.com/go/wps.
It is expected to ship for Windows and Mac OS X in English
worldwide in August.
Components of the Web Publishing System available as standalone
products include Macromedia Studio MX 2004, which began shipping in
September 2003 and costs $899 for new users and $399 for upgrades,
and Contribute 3 and FlashPaper 2, which are new versions of
existing products being announced today.
Contribute 3 will cost $79 as an upgrade and $149 for new users
and will be available in English-language versions worldwide for
Windows and Mac OS X in August. It includes FlashPaper 2, which can
also be bought on its own for $79 starting in August for Windows in
English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service