Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Strictly speaking, Macromedia Flash is the integrated development environment (IDE) and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: 'Flash' can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files. It features support for vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of audio and video. The Flash Player, developed and distributed by Adobe Systems (who bought Macromedia), is a client application available in most dominant web browsers.