Today Macromedia released the long-awaited updater for Dreamweaver MX 2004. Why was the updater needed? Well, if you've used Dreamweaver MX 2004 you have no doubt run into at least one of the various bugs and problems that plagued the program:

• Slow slow slow
• Toolbars not remembering their position
• Slow
• FTP/synchronize not working in many cases
• Slow
• Timelines missing
• Did I say slow?

So now we have an updater which supposedly proves that Macromedia listens to their customers. I don't buy it. If they REALLY listened, the problems would have been fixed incrementally. This updater has been promised for many many months, and still many people have been unable to use the product for more than 6 months, after spending hundreds of dollars on it.

A better solution might have been to fix some of the problems immediately. It can be done. Most other software companies do this. Even online gambling sites post updates to their software weekly -- updates that download automatically without any fuss or muss. If a cheesy online gambling site can offer software upgrades, why can't a software company the size of Macromedia do the same thing?

Is the updater any good? Well, I don't know yet. I have been unable to install it. I have also been unable to uninstall and reinstall DW. The uninstall did not go like clockwork (ever seen a "catestrophic error"? Must be unique to Macromedia's products.) After installing DW from the CDROM, it installed the configuration folder, but no dreamweaver.exe! Another bug, I guess.