Macromedia Flash Player 7 now available

Macromedia have announced the release Macromedia Flash Player 7, the latest version of this leading rich Internet client.
This new version offers twice the performance of previous versions, user-controllable update notification and powerful new development capabilities. The world's most ubiquitous rich Internet client, Macromedia Flash Player is installed across more than 97 percent of Internet-connected desktops and a growing number of mobile devices, including Sony Clie handhelds, the HP iPaq Pocket PC and all NTT DoCoMo i-mode 505i series handsets.
Venu Venugopal, senior vice president of product development, Macromedia, said: "The pervasive reach of Macromedia Flash Player has enabled our customers to consistently deliver great experiences across a myriad of browsers, operating systems and devices.
"Flash Player 7 opens up new possibilities with breakthrough performance gains, high-quality video and web services connectivity. We can't wait to see what our customers will deliver when they combine the player's power with their passion."
Optimisations in Flash Player 7 double the performance for many operations, with selected areas performing up to eight times faster. While the original focus of Flash Player was graphics rendering, this version of the player focuses on the performance of business application functions such as filling and sorting arrays and optimised connections with back-end servers. The new player offers particularly significant performance gains for Mac OS X users, ensuring a consistent cross-platform experience.
The new user-controllable update notification capability allows users to effortlessly keep up to date with the latest version. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support enables developers to blend HTML and Flash with consistent formatting, creating a seamless, hybrid end user experience.
Flash Player 7 also supports ActionScript 2.0, the new scripting language introduced with Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. New support for Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) web services connectivity allows developers to create rich Internet application user interfaces that handle enterprise data in a service-oriented architecture.
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