Along with the announcement of Studio 8, Macromedia also rolled out their new Flash Detection Kit. Geoff Stearns' FlashObject is still the best Flash detection out there, but the best feature of the kit is the Flash Player Express Install sample files included with it. Express install allows you to enable detection of the end user's Flash Player version, initate a player-based secure installation, and return the user to your site to view your content. Express Install requires that the user has Flash Player 6.0r65 or later installed on Mac OS or Windows.

Additionally, the code contains a useful way to prevent the caching of SWF files. It creates a variable named "cacheBuster" and assigns a random number to it. Then, when it loads the .swf movie, it appends a "?" and the cacheBuster number to the end of the URL. So everytime the loadMovie is called, the browser is tricked into thinking it is a different .swf file.

The Macromedia Store is now accepting pre-orders for Flash Professional 8 and Macromedia Studio 8. For only $100 more, Studio 8 contains not only Flash Professional 8, but also Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3, FlashPaper 2, HomeSite + and ColdFusion MX 7 Developer Edition.

Links you'll want to check out related to the Studio 8 release:

• - Flash Professional 8 Feature List
• - Reasons to Buy Flash Professional 8
• - Reasons to Buy Macromedia Studio 8
• - Studio 8: Meet Your Match
• - Macromedia Studio 8 Online Live Seminar Series
• - Macromedia Studio 8 Designer and Developer Seminars

The Designer and Developer Seminars are being held in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, McLean, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington DC... but the Washington DC one is tagged as "Government Only"... what's up with that?