*** Warning, long OD (original dennish) post. *** On 8/8/06, Dave Watts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Well, you don't have to buy anything from Adobe to produce > > and deploy Flex based apps, since the SDK is free of > > charge... but i think Adobe plans to make some money off that > > product ;) > > I think the value proposition there is quite different. There is no > required > server-side component for Flex 2. FlexBuilder is essentially just another > Flash IDE, like Flash 8. The value proposition here is that Adobe's editor > is good enough that you should buy it to save yourself the effort of > building Flash files without it.
I think you hit the nail on the head, but stopped pounding. I liked the Need more? Pay more! idea. Wouldn't it be cool if the competition was about quality of tools, vs. "this is all you can use, someday we'll X"? CF, on the other hand, is nothing but server-side functionality. While it's > most often used to generate HTML, it can be used to generate all sorts of > text for all sorts of consumption. It's much harder to build a useful IDE > for that, since the big draw of IDEs is generally the integration of > visual > and code editing functionality. For what it's worth, Dreamweaver is a > kick-ass HTML authoring tool, but it's not universally popular with CF > developers, while CF Studio and Eclipse are inferior HTML authoring > environments, but apparently more popular with CF developers. I think you may be conflating "inferior" with "different". Not everyone values form over substance, and there's always debate about the two anyways. And IDE, to me, doesn't shout WYSIWYG. WYSIWYG can be nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not the end-all, be-all. If you ask me, (which, no one did), I'd say DW is the top WYSIWYG tool, but not the top tool, if that makes sense. I guess I don't see a IDE as having to have a "visual" component, actually (More of a "best" (or "inferior", for that matter) depends on context, when comparing things idea). ** For instance, does Adobe "own" HTML? Surely they can't make money on DW without owning HTML, right? And, hey!, is HTML client side or server side? It's not just plain text, it needs a app, even just to render locally. But so does a PDF. Hrm. Guess that is a stretch of the client/server analogy, but still... I guess it boils down to it is counter intuitive: the idea that by giving, you get. Maybe. Bah. Now I'm waxing weird and philosophical. I'll tell you one thing though, what impressed me about the Flex Builder 2 wasn't that it could compile the code and show me an SWF representation; it was the fact that you could hover your mouse on a function, and ctrl+click to go right to that function's code. But we all place different values on things, right? Another reason, (if you ask me), for as many options as possible. Good options will make money, as will well marketed, crappy ones; same as always. People were writing off open source, back in the day, as an idea that was too Utopian to work. No obvious way to make money (to the unimaginative), thus doomed to failure. I'm not saying OS is the end-all, be-all, but I'd say it's here to stay. (And the "drug^H^H^H^Hmousetrap" idea has been proven effective.) We all have to think about how "free" impacts us, as professionals, and members of the global community. I don't think it's something to fear. Done right, I see awesome possibilities ahead. Let's see.. Woke up. Talked with Marge. Ate Guatemalan insanity peppers... I think my drain is bramaged! - Homer (an american sage) Sorry to rant on this Dave, if it comes across that way. I bet you don't choose sides on the "GUI vs. command line" debate, or "OS vs. closed source" discussions, knowing there are good and bad about both. Maybe you do; either way, it's just ideas, and about ideas, even when it seems emotion is involved. I'm an emotional fellow, folks, but like to think logic plays a part, so while "inferior" might have touched a nerve, making this response sorta antagonistic, it's the ideas I care about. And this isn't about IDEs, it's about ideas, and [?] how people can make money off of stuff without "owning" or "controlling". And how I'm an awesome debater. AWESOME, I tell you. E'Specially with myself. My lawyer said to put that last run-on paragraph in there. ;-) Sheesh. I'm silly. :Denny ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:249252 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
