FutureWave Software

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FutureWave Software was a software development company based in San Diego, California. The company was founded by Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Welsh in early 1993.[1] VP of Marketing was Michelle Welsh who also came from Silicon Beach Software, then Aldus.[2][3][4][5]

The company's first product was SmartSketch, a drawing program for the PenPoint OS and EO tablet computer. When pen computing did not take off, SmartSketch was ported to the Windows and Macintosh platforms.[6]

As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge Macromedia Shockwave technology.[2] In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC.[7][2] By that time, the company had added a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph Mittman.[2]

In December 1996, FutureWave was acquired by Macromedia, who renamed the animation editor Macromedia Flash.[7]

References

  1. The History of Flash: Back to Graphics
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Grandmasters of Flash: An Interview with the Creators of Flash, Cold Hard Flash
  3. MACROMEDIA FLASH BACK, Digital Archaeology
  4. PC Graphics & Video, Volume 6, Issues 1-6, Advanstar Communications, 1997
  5. Personal Computer Magazine, PC Communications Corporation, 1995
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. 7.0 7.1 The History of Flash: The Dawn of Web Animation