Probably the most fundamental improvement in Flash MX 2004 is that your Flash files (SWFs) will run about a third faster. For some functions, such as XML parsing, it can be five times faster!
Much of this improvement is due to the Flash Player. Macromedia says, "Player runtime performance has been improved by a factor of two to five times for video, scripting, and general display rendering."
Performance improvement is more marked when you publish your files specifically for the latest version of the Flash Player, version 7. But it's also true to some extent if you publish for the previous version, Flash Player 6, but run the SWF in Flash Player 7.
Flash developers go to great lengths in pursuit of faster executables. With Flash MX 2004, the extra speed is automatic and effortless.
