TIA,
Patrick Whittingham
United Space Alliance
-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Cantrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 8:27 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: Re: Flex is out
I've been traveling recently, so I wasn't able to address these
Flex-related posts as they came in. In the interest of efficiency,
rather than responding to each post, I've aggregated the main points
here:
> I predict that Macromedia is going to sell off ColdFusion within the
> next 2 years. Their product portfolio is too diversified and their
> customer segments have very little in common - Flash, ColdFusion,
> Director, Fireworks, Breeze, and now Flex - very different developer
> communities.
We absolutely have no plans to "sell off" ColdFusion. I don't know to
say it any more plainly than that. Macromedia is very dedicated to
ColdFusion as I think we will demonstrate with Blackstone. One of the
primary focuses of CFMX was obviously the port to the J2EE platform
which demanded significant resources. These are resources that we have
been able to dedicate to innovation with Blackstone. I think you will
like what we have planned.
> FORGET flex! Go Laszlo!
If you are considering Flex, it only makes sense that you will want to
consider Laszlo, as well. Make sure you thoroughly understand the
capabilities and limitations of each product, and make sure you fully
understand each product's pricing. Contact Laszlo Systems for
information on their enterprise pricing (it's not posted on their
site), and make an educated decision. By no means do we expect Flex
customers to be ignorant of Laszlo.
> Maybe just another go nowhere Spectra product chasing tumble weeds...
I've seen this statement in a few different places, and all I can say
is that Macromedia is extremely dedicated to Flex and to RIAs in
general. Although we know that traditional HTML-based web applications
aren't going anywhere for a very very long time, we also believe that
RIAs present huge opportunities for our customers, and Flex is key
technology for supporting those customers. I'd also like to add that
discontinuing products that are not performing where we need them to is
not a shameful thing. I think it's amazing how Macromedia experiments
with so many different technologies, and is willing to take chances.
Macromedia is constantly investigating, playing with and investing in
new technologies, many of which never see the light of day, but that's
what it takes to be a technology leader. That said, however, we feel
very very good about Flex and the opportunities it presents.
> Flex...
> 1) Is an alternative way to create swf files
Generating SWF files is only one thing Flex does. It is certainly the
functionality that gets most of the attention, but it does a lot more.
See the Flex Features page for more details:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/productinfo/features/
> 2) Offers nothing new to the Flash Client (I.E. with enough time; you
> could build anything created in Flex through other means )
It's true that Flex does not extend the capabilities of the Flash
Player. The fact that Flex applications run inside the existing Flash
7 player is a significant portion of its appeal, in fact. It is also
true that you could build Flex-like applications using just Flash, and
if that's efficient for you, than it makes sense just to stick with the
Flash authoring tool. Take a look at a sophisticated Flex application,
however, and ask yourself how long it would realistically take you to
build and maintain it with Flash versus with Flex.
> I'm willing to bet you could do it in-house for less.
If you can, then you should. But again, get to know the technology and
what it's capable of. Working for Macromedia, I have obviously been
exposed to Flex throughout its development cycle, but I can honestly
say that I was absolutely amazed with the finished product and what it
is capable of doing. I'm not too bad with Flash, but I couldn't
imagine building an extensive Flex-like application from scratch at
this point. Its capabilities clearly set a new standard for RIAs.
That said, if Flex can't save you enough time and/or resources, or
present enough opportunity, than it's simply not right for you.
> ...while Flex is no doubt cool, it would be a tough sell convince a
> client to pony up $12K when UI development in either Flash or HTML
> would be far less than that. Obviously, the pricing is enterprise
> level.
Again, you have to do the math. Figure out:
1. If you think your business can benefit from a Flex application.
2. If so, how long (in man hours) would it take you build it without
using Flex.
3. How much return do you think you can get from rewriting your
application with Flex.
4. Do the math and compare the end result to $12,000.
Just like any other business decision, it require careful analysis.
> what are the advantages of using Flex, when price is obviously not one
> of them.
I would encourage you to visit the Flex product page, view the sample
applications, and install and experiment with the Flex trial. I think
the functionality that Flex applications bring to the web, and the Flex
development paradigm, speak for themselves.
> When I asked our contact at the old company that had developed
> HTMLTransit why Big Company was increasing the price 10x he said it
> was because they believed HTMLTransit had hit a wall at its price of
> $499 and that there was a whole world of potential enterprise
> customers who would not take seriously a product priced at just $499.
Flex pricing was not derived from a desire to be taken seriously. Once
again, Flex technology speaks for itself, without its price tag. Flex
pricing is a reflection of what we believe its value to be. No more,
no less.
Please let me know if you have additional questions about Flex that I
have not addressed here.
Christian
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