As the product manager for Macromedia Director and Shockwave Player, I hear this question often. It's like asking the weather forecaster, "Will it snow on Christmas?" It's an inevitable query:

What's the difference between Macromedia Flash and Shockwave? And where do Director and shockwave.com fit in? Well folks, I am to here to shed some light.

First, let's talk terminology. Macromedia Flash content is authored with Macromedia Flash and viewed with the Macromedia Flash Player. Simple. Shockwave content is authored with Macromedia Director and viewed with the Macromedia Shockwave Player.

"Huh?" Yes, with Director, you author Shockwave content as well as standalone executables known as "projectors." The terms "Director" and "Shockwave" are often used interchangeably. But remember, you can only author Shockwave content with Director.

So, what's shockwave.com?

Part of an independent company called AtomShockwave, shockwave.com is an entertainment website that features Shockwave and Macromedia Flash content.

Now that we're all speaking the same language, let's talk functionality. Macromedia Flash creates lightweight web content that includes designs, animations and application user interfaces for deployment across all platforms and browsers.

Different from Macromedia Flash, Director creates highly extensible multimedia content that includes advanced 3D games and learning applications deployable across multiple mediums such as the web, kiosks and CD-ROMs.

So what does it all mean? Well, I could go on forever elaborating on the distinctions of Director and Macromedia Flash, but for the sake of time and space, I will give you examples of two areas where each technology's unique strengths clearly make it the leader: Macromedia Flash for website user interfaces and Director for web 3D.

Half of the most trafficked sites on the web rely on Macromedia Flash. Companies like BMW, FoxSports, Disney, GM, Tiffany and Motorola use Macromedia Flash to convey their brands online, engage customers and increase user productivity with easy-to-use web navigation and user interfaces. No other technology has the reach of Macromedia Flash Player, and as a result, almost everyone online can immediately view Flash content.

Because Macromedia Flash is vector-based, its files are more compact and efficient than their bitmap equivalents—making Macromedia Flash ideal for rich graphics, animation and application interfaces that download quickly over any Internet connection.

Now let's talk about web 3D. This technology has been the Holy Grail for many web developers for years. Why? Because 3D lets you express ideas and concepts in ways that are not possible in two-dimensional space. Enhancing the user experience, 3D enables content to be more effective and engaging. Everything from games to e-merchandising and online learning can benefit from 3D. In fact, prior to including 3D capabilities in Director, 3D was the number-one requested feature from Director developers (per our survey data).

Despite the fact that a lot of folks have wanted this technology for years, until now the right pieces weren't in place to make 3D accessible to the masses. Director breaks through these barriers. We've worked with Intel and many leaders in the 3D industry to bring scalable 3D to the masses via Director 8.5 and Shockwave Player. In the short period that the 3D-enhanced Shockwave Player has been available, we have already made 3D playback a reality to more web users than ever before. That's because we're distributing our 3D technology through Shockwave Player and 70 percent of the web-viewing population has Shockwave Player installed on their computer, which means the majority of web users can immediately view Shockwave content. For examples of compelling 3D content, visit the Director Shockwave Studio Inspiration section.

One last thing to note regarding Macromedia Flash and Director is that these products are often used together. The English band Gorillaz's site is a great example of a rich media experience created with both products. Much of the user interface design is done with Macromedia Flash (go into "the lobby"), and the site also features "Geep Sim," a Shockwave 3D driving game that is an interactive online representation of the music video played on MTV.

"Geep Sim" puts users in the driver's seat of the band's jeep as it snakes around a twisting 3D highway while the band's song "19-2000" provides the soundtrack for the road trip. More than 300,000 individuals visit the Gorillaz.com website each month. In fact, Gorillaz.com was nominated for for an award at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards.

Well, the engineers are calling and I must wrap this up. I hope that I've helped clarify some of the confusion surrounding the differences between Macromedia Flash and Director Shockwave Studio. But before I go—being the Director Product Manager—I feel compelled to share with you some of my favorite Shockwave sites. Enjoy!

Gorillaz.com: Geep Sim—The 3D driving game mentioned above.

WorldBuilder—This site lets you learn about the universe by building your own planet from scratch (determine chemistry, biology, etc.). Yes, I am a science nerd.

Milko Music Machine—From the Swedish Milk council… An oldie, but goodie.

As senior product manager for Macromedia Director and Shockwave Player, Miriam Geller is responsible for product line growth, customer and market research and product line directions. She also drives the development of Shockwave Player, the premier multimedia player on the Web. Prior to joining Macromedia, Geller worked for Silicon Graphics, Inc. as the product manager for OpenGL, a cross-platform 2D and 3D graphics technology that enables developers to more easily create graphics applications.