macromedia flash™

History

Flash originated with the application SmartSketch, developed by Jonathan Gay. After developing other graphics software for Silicon Beach Software, Gay created his own company, FutureWave, in 1993. SmartSketch was a drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS, created by Silicon Beach Software.When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Once the Internet became more popular, SmartSketch was re-named first as CelAnimator, and then as FutureSplash, a vector-based web animation application competing with Macromedia Shockwave. In 1995, SmartSketch was further modified with frame-by-frame animation features and released as FutureSplash Animator on multiple platforms. FutureWave approached Adobe Systems with an offer to sell them FutureSplash in 1995, but Adobe turned them down at that time. FutureSplash was used by Microsoft in its early work with the Internet (MSN), and also by Disney Online for their subscription-based service, Disney's Daily Blast. In 1996, FutureSplash was acquired by Macromedia and released as Flash, contracting "Future" and "Splash". Flash is currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems, as the result of their 2005 purchase of Macromedia.