If Adobe had not acquired Macromedia, Flex would not be what it is
today, becuase if you haven't noticed, a whole bunch of money got thrown
at it to evolve the framework, not to mention the Flash Player itself.
I think there's more than enough opportunity to create solutions that
may compete with any Adobe ISV-style offerings, be it on price or
what-have-you. It is completely up to you whether you choose to compete
with their solutions. As far as competition, contracts, bidding and all
the rest - so what else is new? It's an assumed risk of doing business!
I think its time to leave this alone because frankly I don't see the ROI
in this discussion.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Thompson
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:14 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [flexcoders] Whitepaper and Webinar -- Please read
the Scene7.com posts Objectively
Looks like my thoughts have been confirmed, by someone.
Selling development tools and having a developer community is
one of the best kept secrets in the "Evangelist" style of Marketing.
The first time a FLEX developer bids on a project and the client
tells them they are using Adobe Scene7, that's when the issues begin,
and once they begin, they will get worse.
Prior to the acquisition of Macromedia, Adobe was a fairly even
player with Photoshop, Illustrator and PDF, primarily and imaging and
document firm.
Now, if Scene7.com does what I think it will be doing, and as
you seem to have confirmed below, it is going to take the momentum of
the Flash Player, begun by FutureWave Technologies (an honorable group),
Macromedia (an honorable group), and take that into the Developer Arena
Capitalizing on the all the wide-spread knowledge that Flash and more
recently FLEX developers have provided for them.
"Shortage of work" is a relative term. Ask any developer who
has bid on eLance.com and you'll understand the dynamics of bidding
against others for contracts.
If it turns out that Adobe begins to take the momentum achieved
by it's predecessors, namely it's acquisitions (which is has a right
to), and it's developers (which, if Scene7.com turns out to be as you
describe and I believe it will), then it is an ETHICAL ISSUE that will
not go away, and I'm giving fair-warning to any developer out there (and
yes, I do have the experience I've said I do to the gentleman out there
that questioned that).
I've been through thousands of pages of an unamed companies
documents to find out how they really work, and how they really look at
Developers. Adobe appears to be on that same road, and the more signs I
see of it, the more I will support other efforts.
For those inclined to be offended easily, I'd ask not to shout
against me or anyone else giving an opinion, but For your own sakes,
keep an eye on ACTIONS not WORDS. You'd be surprised what larger
corporations, especially ones that we all know the name of [not Adobe]
that gained their momentum on the backs of the developer community, only
to turn against them with hidden DLL API's, hacks against licensed
technology to make it perform poorly under their platform, etc. (again
this is not Adobe as I just said).
However, when a Consumer Software company, which Adobe was,
starts changing Acrobat to have an SDK (that's their right) and but then
goes beyond that to provide a far better Plug-in, only made possible by
the light weight plug-in efforts of FutureWave, and for the past few
years gaining momentum on the development efforts and expensive
purchases of development tools ; when that line is blurred it will
ultimately turn out bad for the developer.
For the gentleman who said "shortage of jobs" again, that's not
the issue as I just explained in eLance.com / The issue is that people
will Buy and will Trust Adobe more than a developer or even a small
development firm when it comes to bidding online. Local efforts are
different.
If the below turns out to be true of FLEX vs. Scene7.com (a
potential guise of a Consumer mid-level Product Manager), then the FLEX,
and more especially the ActionScript component and development community
as a while since Macromedia's aquisition will have at that point been
betrayed and yes, at that point, or any sign of it (in the form of
Actions, not Promises, do not trust the promises of a large Corp. unless
you've tried them true), if there is that sign or signs, then yes it's
time to get on with it and get out and support more honorable people
like Apple and Steve Jobs.
At this point I wish Macromedia never sold to Adobe.com / This
isn't looking pretty for the FLEX community. I'll certainly keep my
Lexis-Nexis handy and press contacts (and in several years, if it turns
bad, the FTC and DOJ).
-r
On Aug 27, 2008, at 11:17 AM, Battershall, Jeff wrote:
At this point, Adobe is not likely to abandon Scene7 due
to developer concerns. The way I see it, Adobe has been taking on
consulting engagements for some time, just like IBM does, and I think
having an offering of best of breed off-the-shelf solutions fits in well
with that strategy. I don't think it interferes with the prosperity of
Adobe solution providers or individual developers, in fact having such
solutions available may make more possible to deliver on projects by not
having to reinvent functionality. It is what it is and there's no
shortage of work, so let's get on with it.
Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Thompson
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:05 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [flexcoders] Whitepaper and Webinar -- Please
read the Scene7.com posts Objectively
There is no harm meant in my postings.
I'm posting so we are all aware of what may be
going on with Scene7.com and it's implications to the FLEX and Flash CS3
development community.
I'm a freelance developer, not with a large
corporation.
The Whitepaper is available on www.Scene7.com
and I highly recommend posting any concerns and questions to the e-mail
address of the CEO in there.
I also recommend attending the Webinar on the
subject tomorrow (I believe it's Thursday).
-r
