Scrolling down to 12/30, you'll see that I purchased a DevNet professional subscription using the "avoid paying franchise tax" money CivilGrrl had. Also interestingly, Macromedia discontinued the DevNet program a day later in favor of a new "volume licensing program" that is so arcane and complicated that it makes your cell-phone's billing plan look simple in comparison.

Fear not that I have flushed $500-odd dollars down the toilet. They're keeping DevNet open until February of 2006, so I'll be getting all the upgrades and toys and DRK kits (which presumably will be available to dwindling audiences given that they're not taking on new subscribers). I'll still be getting the upgrades and such that I paid for.

I'm not sure if the new plan is a better deal or not. Supposedly it's $479 for 24 months of upgrades, which sounds like a better deal. Given that a new Macromedia Studio MX costs about a grand, though, I assume that you've gotta already have a license to buy the subscription. With DevNet, I ended up getting the equivalent of Studio MX (and some developer toys) and a year's worth of upgrades for not much more.

The big question I have, though, is "Since I bought the product on 12/30, and they discontinued the program a day later, how likely is it that I was the very last person to buy a DevNet subscription?"

Just wondering. It's a geek thing. On a similar note, Flash Studio Pro, the quite-nice tool that'll make Flash applets into first-class double-clickable EXE files, is now called Zinc 2.0. I suppose it's a good move because Flash Studio Pro and Macromedia Studio MX are very different products but sound like the same thing.