The debug version of the Flash Player 10.1 beta is available now, which is a relief.

As for the upcoming CS5 release, Lee Brimelow’s put up another preview video. In addition to the iPhone compiler previously uncovered, this is our first peek at some of the other features we’re looking forward to, such as the new text engine, improved font embedding, the XLF format, improved code panel with custom class completion and various other improvements and tweaks. Looks pretty good, although I get the feeling that CS5 is a far smaller update than CS3 and 4; this feels more like CS4.5 than a fullbred new version. As for CS4, it was just upgraded to 10.0.2, and it seems far more stable and responsive now.

That’s the good news, the bad is that Adobe decided to pull the plug on the public beta version of CS5 that was announced at MAX 2009. A real disappointment, especially when the cited reason for the termination is to “get the release version completed and in your hands as quickly as possible“. Does this mean that Adobe feels that they can’t afford the time to fix any eventual bugs uncovered during a public beta period? Considering how many bugs were shipped with CS4, I personally think Adobe would really benefit from putting out a rock solid CS5 – the community is already frowning. Either way, looks like I have to find another pasttime for the holidays now…

What do you think about the new features of CS5? Which ones are you looking the most forward to? What do you think of Adobes cancellation of the public beta?

Edit: Lee Brimelow updated The Flash Blog with a new post, which goes a bit more into detail as to the reasons behind the beta cancellation. Read it here!