It was two separate products with separate origins. Macromedia had Shockwave and then they purchased Flash (which was called Splash then) and branded it Shockwa

It was two separate products with separate origins. Macromedia had Shockwave and then they purchased Flash (which was called Splash then) and branded it Shockwave Flash. Shockwave was somewhat similar to Flash, but it was developed for the "multimedia" CD-ROM's, which meant the files was generally too big for online. Flash was much more compact which is why it won out.