There has been a lot of speculation about price changes for Flex. Let's set
the record straight. As of April 1, we are adjusting the price of Flex.
There are now three different packages for Flex going forward. For most
people, the starter kit will provide everything you need for your Flex
applications: 4 CPUs and Gold Support for $29,000. That's actually cheaper
than Flex was in the past for 4 CPUs + Gold Support. For the larger Flex
applications out there, we will sell per CPU at $15,000 per CPU. Finally,
for software vendors who want to embed Flex in their applications, we have
special pricing built around your requirements and your market. However, and
this is important, where you see value in Flex, we are interested in working
with you to design the right packaging for your needs. If you are interested
in using Flex on a real project, let us know so we can work with you and
find the right packaging/pricing to fit your needs.

In response to some of your comments, over time, we are very interested in
offering additional licensing options to broaden the range of projects and
developers who can leverage Flex technology. We follow the market very
closely, and pay great attention to your constructive feedback. We all have
a stake in the success of this marketplace.

Why are we changing the price of Flex?

We have been building, selling, and supporting Flex for a year now. The
marketplace for rich Internet applications is really taking off. Hundreds of
applications are being delivered all over the world, and the general
interest level is really growing out there.

Within this overall marketplace, there are a variety of customer segments
and project types with varying requirements. Large enterprise customers and
systems integration partners require substantial pre-sales engagement and
ongoing assistance from Macromedia commensurate with the value that they
intend to derive from the software. Small and medium size customers and
individual developers require low up front costs to get started fast and
operate within very limited IT budgets.

It is important to have great offerings for each type of user. There is no
"one size fits all" approach that both makes everyone successful and is
sustainable over the long term. A stratified approach makes the most sense,
and that's what we're gradually implementing. We've adjusted our core
product pricing to better reflect both the value derived and the costs
involved in driving successful projects within large enterprise customers.
We've also created a starter package that combines deeply discounted Flex
licenses with high quality support designed to address the needs of large
customers doing pilot projects or medium size customers doing full
deployments.

Please talk to us if you have special needs. We will continue to work
directly with enterprise customers doing larger deployments or who desire
Enterprise Licensing Agreements. We also have specialized offerings for ISVs
delivering packaged software solutions based on Flex. If you have a project
specifically suited to Flex but need different packaging, please contact
your Macromedia sales rep to discuss your project and the pricing options
that meet your needs. If you see real value in Flex, there is probably a
way to make it work.

Lucian Beebe
Flex product manager
Macromedia