Dreamweaver, we hardly knew ye.
Yes, you can still purchase a copy of Dreamweaver, currently the appropriately named version CS4, from its new owners, Adobe.
But for all practical purposes, the web development package is dead.
Macromedia's web editors and I go back a long way. I reviewed Macromedia Studio for WorldVillage way back about 1995. I was impressed with its wysiwyg editor. The suite itself was designed to run as a backend on a Windows server, providing many built-in extras for websites. I have always hosted my sites on UNIX/Linux, so I never tried any of them.
When Dreamweaver 2 came out in 1998, I jumped at the chance to review it. It was everything that the Studio Designer was and more. I next got my hands on version 4, MX, MX 2004, and finally Version 8, which was released in 2005.
That year, Adobe bought Macromedia. At the time, I thought that it could have been worse. There had been rumblings for years that Microsoft had its eyes on the Dreamweaver product. We call know what a raging success Front Page has been since Redmond acquired it.
But remember, Adobe consists of the developers who have taken a basic pdf-reading program and turned it into a monstrosity that is now a 20 meg download in its most basic form, which expands to at least twice that size on your hard drive.
For a pdf reader!
Thus, I had low expectations for the "new" Dreamweaver. And I must say that I was not a bit disappointed.
I owe the original Dreamweaver a debt of gratitude. Beginning with the MX version, it took me by the hand and led me into the world of dynamic, database-driven web development. True, the code that it produced was big, funky, and clunky, but I was able to build some amazing applications, both out in the wild, and also on my employer's intranet.
As I got more experienced, I began constructing my own queries and output strings. It's a good thing I did.
Last week, I decided to build a new Windows virtual machine for my use at my 9-to-5. My current Vmachine had been imported from a real desktop installation, and it was a big, clunky, resource-hungry mess.
It was also running DW8, and I figured that I would spring for the new version (CS4) for my new machine.
BIG mistake.
The horrible java-based downloader required to get the eval version should have scared me off. It refused to play ball with our proxy server, so I had to use an external internet connection to get it to work.
The program itself took nearly ten minutes to install on a tiny virtual machine residing on an underutilized ESX server with some serious horsepower.
Once it installed, I was greeted with a strange interface which had been totally rebuilt from the good old reliable DW desktop that I had grown to love over the years. Of course. Who would have expected any different?
My next bad experience was when I tried to find the latest Phakt ADODB connection package. Phakt is an add-on which allows me to connect invisibly and seamlessly to Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and numerous other databases.
Adobe also acquired Interakt, Phakt's creator. And they have pulled the plug on Phakt.
?????? What could be the motive for this? Phakt's add-on functionality took DW, a good product, and turned it into an indispensable one. WHY on earth would Adobe buy out its parent company and drop it?
It's not like the CS versions of DW have any built-in capability to connect to the databases that Phakt opened the gates to. Developers are basically stuck.
Well, they were. TG that Phakt has been moved to the open-source world. While there are no "official" downloads yet available at sourceforge, I was able to secure a copy of a modified Phakt 2.8.3 mxp file at https://openphakt.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openphakt/branches/developer/jvanlier/. I'm back in business on my new machine with DW 8 and this version of Phakt.
In the meantime, I'll be slowly weaning myself away from DW altogether.
Nice job, Adobe, in taking an excellent product, and an excellent add-on, and royally screwing things up. Your credibility has sunk even lower among developer geeks.
Comments (2)
I've come to the conclusion that any software actually working and running well is soon bought out by one of the big companies so they can kill it. I have Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 and am glad to have gotten it before it was bought and seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Seems it is the same for DreamWeaver. I agree with you about Adobe Reader. I avoid any pdf files cause they either load eventually or crash my system. I've come to loathe them.
Posted by Laura | July 1, 2009 9:40 AM
Posted on July 1, 2009 09:40
Agreed. I too have PSP 7, and it will be my final purchase from the people marketing it nowadays...
Posted by Ron | December 8, 2009 2:42 PM
Posted on December 8, 2009 14:42