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What's New in Contribute 2?
For those of you lucky enough to own Contribute 1 (in other words, Windows users), you may have already become familiar with the incredibly easy-to-use interface, taken comfort in the time you saved on numerous occasions, and patted yourself on the back good and hard for being smart enough to buy it. And that's great. But this section explains the things you don't know.
For those who have yet to experience the joy of Contribute (Mac users), make this article your home for the next 30 minutes. You'll thank me later. Now, on to the list of features!
First, and perhaps most notable, is the fact that Contribute now runs on Macintosh OS 10.1 or later—and, in fact, your copy of Contribute 2 can be deployed to either Windows or Mac systems right out of the box. That's good news for your office, I'm sure, because I know there are a few Mac geeks hanging around the design department.
Second, the system administrators will be glad to learn that Contribute 2 now supports Secure FTP (see Figure 2), which means they can stop talking about firewalls and permissions and this and that, and just get to work doing what they do best: complaining about their workload.
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Figure
2 The Advanced Connection Settings dialog box gives you the option to use
Secure FTP.
After you get comfortable using Contribute 2 at work, you may get the sudden urge to start your own little home business to fill up your spare time, selling bonsai trees, perhaps, or your ex-wife's clothes. At that moment, you'll realize that Contribute 2 can help you with this too. Once you've signed up for a PayPal account, you can add shopping cart functionality to your brand new site in just a few clicks. You'll probably never make any money—I mean, this is the dot-crash era where hardly anyone makes money on the Web—but at least you'll have the fleeting hope of making that elusive first sale of the little garbage-sculptures you make in your backyard.
Your first look at Contribute 2 will also reveal a wonderful little menu option that says Transfer My Software License" (see Figure 3). That's right—your user license is now portable! You can transfer your license from your home computer, and Macromedia will "hold it" for you while you install Contribute 2 onto your laptop and reactivate it using the same serial number. Major benefit? Well, you can continue editing the online photo gallery of your cat while on vacation with the in-laws.
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Figure
3 The ability to transfer your license makes Contribute 2 portable, so you
can take it with you wherever you go—kinda like your dog.
The next few sections cover the details of using Contribute 2 and get you on your way back to the mental stability you commonly lose while at work.