Hi Dave, > Flex applications can work pretty well without any more bandwidth than a > typical web application. The big limitation is the requirement of Flash > Player 9, and related to that the inability to run Flex applications without > a standard desktop computer.
I'll try that out with ScrapBlog and see how it performs. I'm really interested in seeing how it does as that would help me form a better opinion. > I've worked extensively with those same technologies before anyone came up > with names like "AJAX" and "Web 2.0", and they are exactly that - band-aids. I guess we'll disagree on this. The evolution of libraries such as jQuery, Dojo & YUI! have made development using these technologies far too easy and with the adoption rates continuing to climb, I can't call them band-aids. Perhaps thats what they were when people initially did remote scripting before it was called Ajax but there's just too much good technology out there now to call it a band-aid. > Of course, HTML still rules supreme for web application development, but > that's not because it's a great fit for applications, it's because everyone > has a browser. After about thirteen years, HTML applications are almost - > but not quite - reaching the level of functionality of client-server > applications built in Visual Basic 3! But, believe it or not, they still > have a long way to go before they get there. Maybe in another few years, > we'll be able to do the same stuff in HTML that we could in a typical > desktop application in 1993. I absolutely agree on this point. Having developed enterprise-level client/server applications using PowerBuilder for almost 8 years, I'm keenly aware of how much more power a true client/server development tool can provide. I also don't believe that the browser should be the platform for a complete RIA solution nor do I believe that Ajax and related technologies are the technologies to build those types of applications. If you need to build a desktop application, then use desktop development tools such as MS' suite of .Net tools. I'm still not convinced that even Flex can compare to a true desktop development tool but I'll reserve my opinion until I've had some time to develop in it. From what I've seen to date though, I'm not sold. > HTML and HTTP were not designed for applications. Making applications work > in the HTML/HTTP model means throwing away lots of functionality that is > taken for granted in other environments. Attempts to redress that, like > XmlHTTPRequest (and hidden frames, gif pipes, etc) are, for all intents and > purposes, band-aids. Again, we'll disagree. Read my first paragraph. > I'm not saying you shouldn't use them - HTML and HTTP > are the current standards for application delivery, and anything you can do > to improve that medium is a good idea. But it still sucks, comparatively > speaking, and we should all hope to see something fundamentally better in > the future. There's no reason why Flex can't be that fundamentally better > thing. Until broadband becomes more pervasive, I don't see how Flex, OpenLazlo and related heavy RIA technologies, can fill the need. The US lags tremendously in overall broadband penetration and thats a serious consideration. Here's an article I picked up earlier this year: http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=197006038 Its not to say that these tools don't offer a tremendous rich suite of functionality. I'm just not convinced that at this stage that these tools are the right tools for building sites to cater to a consumer-driven Internet. Stats show that 80% of active US users use broadband and thats a very good thing. But I have customers that cannot afford to bypass that other 20% and as a developer, I'm not inclined to prevent my customers from reaching that 20%. Again, this is case-by-case and there may be times when a client doesn't care about those 20% but I've yet to run into that. Rey... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 and Flex 2 Build sales & marketing dashboard RIAâs for your business. Upgrade now http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2?sdid=RVJT Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:274797 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
