FlashForward Keynote : Macromedia Central

Probably the biggest announcement from this morning’s keynote, was Macromedia Central. Macromedia Central is a desktop environment for running rich, occasionally-connected applications.

Kevin showed how simple it was to install Central through the Flash Player (completely seamless to the user), and then install and run applications within it. It took a total of about 5 seconds to install Central, install an application and then have that application running within Central.

Kevin then showed a bunch of data aware apps running within Central. One of the cool things was that the apps would download and cache data on-line, so when they were running without a network connection, they could still be used. A representative from Intel came up and showed their wireless access HotSpot finder application running with Central. The cool thing about it was that it worked when you didn’t have an internet connection (which is when you need a wireless hotspot finder the most!).

Alex Wright came up and showed an application running within Central that pulled data from PriceGrabber and allowed the user to easily browser, compare and buy stuff. It was pretty nice, and really showed some of the advantages that of building these types of interfaces within Flash while running them outside of the browser (and in Central).

Kevin then announced that we would be release an SDK for the Central shortly. If you are at the conference, you can go to our booth and get a free Central T-Shirt when you sign up for the beta.

We have release a lot of information on Macromedia Central on the Macromedia DevNet Center.

• Macromedia Central Development Center (Beta)
• What is Macromedia Central
• Macromedia Central Product Center
• Macromedia Central user Interface (Screen Shot)
• Macromedia Central Whitepaper
• Sign up for Developer Beta
• JD’S Forum : Macromedia Central

Judging by the response from the crowd, and talking to people, everyone seems to e really excited about it.