Downloads Discontinued

In the last hour I downloaded Dreamweaver, Cold Fusion, Flash Pro, Captivate
and FireWorks and started installing them as 31 day trials. No problems with
Flash, Captivate or Cold Fusion. The DW installation, however, told me that my
trial had expired, so, as suggested, I phoned the activation helpline. The rep
gave me a code that the installation accepted. Later, I attempted Fireworks,
same problem, so, again, I phoned the activation helpline. The support rep
consulted with her manager and returned to tell me that Macromedia are in the
process of discontinuing all trial downloads because the bandwidth costs too
much. This sounded pretty unbelievable, so, I got her to confirm it again.
The rep pointed out that I could still purchase downloads. I explained that
I've been asked to assess the product for local government use, she suggested
that I buy the product and take advantage of the 30-day refund policy. This
strikes me as a pretty bizarre policy change, especially with the plummeting
cost of bandwidth. Surely Macromedia products can't be so solidly established
that they don't need to allow trials anymore? Anyone have any idea what's
really going on here?

I phoned Activation Support and had the following confirmed: Downloads of
FireWorks and Freehand have been discontinued until further notice, probably
permanently, due to the relative size of those applications. Macromedia are,
however, willing to honor trials that have already been downloaded, phone them
for a code you can use. You can confirm the discontinuation for yourselves by
visiting the main downloads page, http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/, where
the 'Try' option has been removed for those applications alone. There is,
however, a LOOPHOLE that you can still use to get the latest Fireworks and
Freehand, they're still available on the Studio MX downloads page. They'll
come up as expired, phone Macromedia to get a working code.

Considering that the DW download is larger than the FW download, this sounds
mighty fishy to me. However, do note that the FW trial link is missing from
that page. I'll check....

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"doesoft" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

I phoned Activation Support and had the following confirmed: Downloads
of
FireWorks and Freehand have been discontinued until further notice,
probably
permanently, due to the relative size of those applications. Macromedia
are,
however, willing to honor trials that have already been downloaded, phone
them
for a code you can use. You can confirm the discontinuation for
yourselves by
visiting the main downloads page, http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/,
where
the 'Try' option has been removed for those applications alone. There is,
however, a LOOPHOLE that you can still use to get the latest Fireworks and
Freehand, they're still available on the Studio MX downloads page.
They'll
come up as expired, phone Macromedia to get a working code.

this probably has nothing to do with bandwidth costs but everything to do with piracy.
download trial version------> download crack or key generator and you have yourself a good copy.
seems to me this is what they're trying to do.

This is correct, the Freehand and Fireworks trial versions were discontinued
recently, although both products are still actively supported. However, it had
less to do with the relative size of the applications and more to do with the
demand and cost of maintaining 30-day trials for those products. If you have
comments or opinions on this to pass along, please let customer service know
directly:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/cscontact/

HTH!

-Scott
Macromedia, Inc.

Seems very odd to me. Why Freehand and Fireworks? These make up more
than a quarter of MM Studio, (questionably?) Macromedia's "flagship"
product and lay in the middle of the spectrum of all the applications
provided. Its not the most popular, like Flash, and I'm pretty sure
something like Authorware isn't used as much as either FH or FW (at
least by what I've seen in my experience). And why still have the
trials available from the studio tryout but not the main download page?
That makes it seem more like a glitch in the site than anything else.

If there is a demand for support for these products maybe its a sign
that you need to pay more attention to them. I personally use FW more
than any other MM product and something like this makes me think I
should start counting the days when I'll have to go back to using
Photoshop again.



sfegette wrote:

This is correct, the Freehand and Fireworks trial versions were discontinued
recently, although both products are still actively supported. However, it had
less to do with the relative size of the applications and more to do with the
demand and cost of maintaining 30-day trials for those products. If you have
comments or opinions on this to pass along, please let customer service know
directly:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/cscontact/

HTH!

-Scott
Macromedia, Inc.

Originally posted by: Newsgroup User .... something like this makes me think I
<BR>should start counting the days when I'll have to go back to using
<BR>Photoshop again.<BR><BR><BR> <BR> Funny you should say that, I was actually
assessing Macromedia's products on behalf of local government. Although I'm
very impressed with DW and the other apps compare well to Adobe's, Macromedia's
sloppy handling of activation issues meant it took several hours to install the
suite, ridiculous. Overall, not a good indicator and, for now at least, I
can't recommend a change to Macromedia.<BR><BR>

Note: you can still download trial versions of either Freehand and/or Fireworks
from withinthe Studio MX 2004 trial download area, just not separately. My
understanding is that it became costly to maintain separate trial versions -
those two products are overwhelmingly purchased as part of Studio MX as opposed
to separately. As noted before, if you feel strongly otherwise- please send
Customer Service your thoughts directly so they can keep an ear on the pulse,
but you can still download trials of those two products from within the Studio
trial download area (and standalone trials that were downloaded beforehand will
of course still be supported as expected).

HTH- Scott

Thanks Scott. I have expressed myself using that link in terms I am
confident will not be misunderstood.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"sfegette" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

Note: you can still download trial versions of either Freehand and/or
Fireworks
from withinthe Studio MX 2004 trial download area, just not separately.
My
understanding is that it became costly to maintain separate trial
versions -
those two products are overwhelmingly purchased as part of Studio MX as
opposed
to separately. As noted before, if you feel strongly otherwise- please
send
Customer Service your thoughts directly so they can keep an ear on the
pulse,
but you can still download trials of those two products from within the
Studio
trial download area (and standalone trials that were downloaded beforehand
will
of course still be supported as expected).

HTH- Scott