Many blogs covered the release of Ariaware Optimizer, a Windows tool for extracting classes as shared library SWF files for your Flash RIAs that use AS2, and hence decreasing the total application size.
I was on the development team, and I can confirm that it works 
, though the optimization percentage will vary greatly depending on input files. There’s a time limited trial available for download so if you are using AS2 classes and building RIAs with Flash that consist of many SWF files that share classes, there’s no risk in checking it out.
We had the chance to work with Aral (Balkan) and Peter (Hall) on this project, and it was a joy. The beta was also great – though I wasn’t very active on the list – with many known names participated.
At first the pricing seemed a bit high to me (note that this is an Ariaware product – we, Manitu Group, were only involved in some part of the development), but the product really targets a very small niche market. Also there’s the Freelancer Edition available, which is affordable – conditions apply- at $195 until November 10th.(Regular price is $295).
Here are some quotes from posts about the release:
‘Ive been running some tests with it on some of of the applications ive created in the past that utilise more than one Flash Movie and use the Version 2 Components and have seen dramatic filesizse reduction (36%). You can download a 30 day trial version here and give it a go for yourself. Youll be impressed!’ Guy Watson (aka FlashGuru)
‘This is such a cool tool, and the website has gone live just an hour ago. It’s a great Windows-only application…’ Owen van Dijk (MX Traveler)
‘With Ariaware Optimizer officially released today, this is a very exciting day for those of us involved with serious Flash RIA development!’ Peter Elst
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The pricing is crazy. with an introductory price of nearly 700 quid (UK pounds) it’s difficult to justify the outlay. Full price if nealry a grand. Coem on guys. That’s overs 2/3′s of the way to a devNet subscription.
The pricing for the product is set higher than some might expect, but when you think about it the software does easily pay for itself after just one or two projects for the freelancer edition.
When you’re talking about 700 GBP you’re looking at the enterprise edition which many people would not require.
Does Ariaware Optimizer achieve different results than you get from using ‘XXX_exclude.xml’?
Hi Burak,
If you have a moderately busy web site, then Ariaware Optimizer will most likely pay for itself with the first project you optimize! We did release the Freelancer edition for smaller companies (5 or less employees) and, of course, freelancers 
It’s great working with you guys too!
“price”,
Regarding the pricing, the Enterprise edition is just that
Again, Ariaware Optimizer is not for everyone — it won’t work unless your SWFs use AS2 (any SWF that has V2 components does) and it won’t work if your project or site only has a single SWF. For the type of projects that it is for — in other words, projects with multiple SWFs that use AS2 and/or V2 components — the bandwidth savings alone make Optimizer worth the price. In fact, the feedback we’ve been getting from companies like Blitz Interactive is amazing and we look forward to seeing the sites and applications that they and others will be creating with Optimizer.
felix,
Regarding the exclude.xml question: Yes, using Ariaware Optimizer is a very different experience! To start with, it is next-to-impossible to create exclude.xmls by hand for projects that use V2 components (the sheer number of classes in the V2 framework make this an infeasibility.) This was one of the reasons why we created Ariaware Optimizer — to use in our own projects for just this purpose. Another big advantage of Ariaware Optimizer is that it is a *deployment-time* tool. You can develop and test your applications without any limitations and use Optimizer at deployment time.
The best way to find out what it does, of course, is to download the trial and give it a go yourself!
We look forward to your feedback!
Doesn’t seem fair I get the above prices (intro offer) but IN EUROS when accessing the site from France, makes it more expensive here!!
And you have to add another €34 VAT to the Freelancer edition! Well, I do not need it
Will update my post now.
joe
I can’t speak for Aral, but probably the currency issue is a simple bug. Not the best experience, still, the site has just launched, a few glitches are expected.
As for VAT, I think it’s irrelevant. It’s a tax imposed by your government. Even when people from EU are purchasing from non-EU countries like USA or Turkey, they have to pay that (which sucks BTW). Vote for better politicians that will lower or abolish the VAT
In some countries average wage is around $200, in some you get $1500 even if you are unemployed. Life is not fair.
Regards,
Burak
Hi,
I’ve tested trial on all of my projects. And so called “optimized” swf work only with Internet Explorer, but not Firefox (Mozilla).
Guys, it nice stuff – but at present time it’s inadmissible ask for a money for a product which event don’t work with main browsers. One of the best thing when you developing flash content – you don’t care where it will be viewed, what’s the system user has and so on – but with this you just through it out… Now We have to care about it…
And maybe We won’t be happy customers…
Other way – good stuff, but by no means not finished…
Hi Versus,
We will promptly look into any issues.
Thanks for letting us know. Probably it will be best if you submit this issue to Ariaware too.
Regards,
Burak
Hi Versus,
Is it possible for you to send me the application you are using Optimizer on (and the optimizer configuration file). We use FireFox almost exclusively over here and have tested Optimizer with applications using FireFox without problem. I would like to look into what it is that is causing the problem with your application on FireFox.
Please feel free to contact us at support@ariaware.com.
All the best,
Aral
Hi Joe,
Unfortunately, the laws regarding Internet sales in the EU make it compulsory for us to charge VAT for sales in the EU and UK and our pricing reflects the market conditions in our various target markets.
Hi Versus,
Just an update: I ran our test suite again on FireFox and could not duplicate the problems you are having. I’ve emailed you directly in hopes that we can use one of your projects to resolve the issue you are having.
Hi Versus,
I just emailed you directly with this but thought I’d post it here as well in case anyone else is following this issue:
Were you using the “Locally, for testing” option in the General Settings screen and testing locally?
If so, we have just been able to duplicate the issue. It *does not* affect applications that are actually optimized to be deployed (where you’ve entered the URL you will be deploying your shared classes to.) Regardless, the development team is looking into this as we speak and we will post an update ASAP once the issue has been resolved and tested.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
An update regarding this issue has been posted on the Support section of the Ariaware Optimizer web site:
“13 October, 2004 – 0300: We’ve become aware of an issue that affects applications optimized with the “Locally, for testing” option in the General Settings screen. There is currently a bug that prevents the local testing of these applications in the FireFox browser. The issue does not affect deployed applications and there are no known incompatibilities with deployed applications/sites and FireFox or any other browsers. We are currently very close to having a comprehensive fix for this and will be releasing an update soon. In the meanwhile, please use either the standalone Flash Player or Internet Explorer for your local testing of optimized applications/sites.”
http://www.ariawareoptimizer.com/support.php