It's been a while since I wrote any kind of "what's on my desktop" article, and while the whole exercise may seem like an ego-driven one, it's actually offered as a means to shine the spotlight on some of the smaller developers out there who are really doing some top-notch work in the hopes that they can keep doing it. So, without further ado, here is the 2004 version (in no particular order, despite the numbering) of ten programs I can't live without.

If it weren't for (the outstanding) Flash MX 2004, Macromedia would have been all but dead to me right around the first of this year. Between the messes that were Director MX and Dreamweaver MX 2004, I had become quite down on what was formerly one of my favorite software companies. But times change quickly, and with the recent tandem of Macromedia's Dreamweaver update patch and the release of Director MX 2004, the former MacroMind is very, very quickly getting back into my good graces. But enough with everything else—we're here to talk Director MX 2004, and talk DMX04 we shall.

It's not often I find myself uttering the sage words of one George Costanza, but it didn't take long for Anark Studio to take its rightful place amongst the very short list of programs that have made me both unaware and not caring that it had produced a long strand of drool between my lower lip and the desk. Therefore, these five syllables best describe Anark Studio: Sweet. Fancy. Moses.