It hasn't even been two years since Macromedia-that-was unleashed Flash 8 (a huge step forward for the juggernaut [insert favorite use here] application), and now along comes Flash CS3 Professional. Sporting a new surname and a slew of new features, how does the now-Adobe product stack up, even as Microsoft's Silverlight (the technology formerly known as "Sparkle") begins its attempt to crash the party? Read on to find out.

Adobe today used the occasion of the annual NAB conference to announce the Adobe Media Player, a desktop-based application built on the Apollo framework which will contain features targeting media producers and consumers alike. It's not due until later this year, so there's a lot that can change, but having recently had the chance to be briefed on an early version of the product, I thought it would be a good idea to do a completely made-up question-and-answer session to better address some of the information not readily apparent in the official press release.