Flash Media Show (Standard)

While nothing revolutionary, the standard edition of Flash Media Show is still a useful tool for people who want to bring their images to life with animated Flash presentations, yet lack Flash or the knowledge to use it.

My first reaction to Flash Media Show was one of extreme annoyance - mainly because upon opening the installation file, I was promptly informed that I had to download and install something else to make it work. We're going to blame that on a recent reformat and reinstall of Windows, though, or I'd have had the .NET framework already and wouldn't have even noticed.

A quick download from Microsoft and a few minutes of setup later, and Flash Media Show was running cleanly - at which point "oh, jeez" became "ooh, pretty." The interface is fairly basic, with no need for an instruction manual to get started organizing your images into Flash-based presentations or slide shows. The in-line ads are a bit distracting, but it's no different than what you'll find on most free versions of commercial software. At least the ads are only for the publisher.

As far as the functionality, it's fairly simple. You add images, set their order, create transitions between them, and publish in SWF format. There's a simple Configuration panel that lets you adjust details of how your file will publish, so you aren't stuck with the default. You might think it's a jumped-up version of a PowerPoint slideshow, but I found the output neater and far less prone to the gradient-based faux paus PowerPoint tends to foist on slideshow designers. I didn't run across any glitches; nor did I run across anything that makes this particularly spectacular.

If I had to pick one defining feature for FMS, it'd say it's pretty tightly focused. Unlike other presentation software that can get bogged down by the sheer number of options and output formats, this is a basic point A to point B process with no roadbumps on the way...which will be a relief for novices looking to create basic animations or slideshows, or for anyone looking to cut right to the chase.