I very much enjoyed my time as a Flex developer, and wish the Apache project well. Some of the criticism of Adobe seems misplaced. The writing was on the wall when the most popular mobile platform (iOS) didn't allow browser plug-ins. I'm not painting Apple as a villain either. It's just business.
Though Phonegap looks nice, AIR still seems pretty compelling for cross-platform mobile *app* development. It will be interesting to watch the level of investment in AIR (it is, after all, used by Adobe apps). Now that browser plug-ins are unpopular/impossible, and captive runtime is the way to go, it seems to me Adobe could open-source the AIR runtime, while still retaining control of the Flash Player browser plug-in. Wouldn't that further energize the Apache Flex project? The prospect of a cross-platform mobile app framework with the side-benefit of running on still-ubiquitous-on-desktop Flash Player? Aside: Remember OpenLaszlo? On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 6:28 AM, <michael_reg...@dell.com> wrote: > ** > > > You bring up some good points. I have been on a few calls between our > company and with Adobe on this exact subject right after the announcements > were made. We grilled them with questions, and though I won’t fully > disclose many of their answers here, our development teams were confident > enough to stick with Adobe Flex. We realize that long-term, technologies > shift. I started out as a C++ developer doing low-level SCSI. Now doing > UIs in Flex. In 5 years will I be doing HTML 5, ZK, Silverlight, some > other new technology? Who knows. But for now, I’m actually excited to > have a greater role in the direction Flex takes for now, and welcome any > challenges making it Open Source may bring. **** > > ** ** > > The product we developed using Adobe Flex was ranked as one of the top 15 > products for 2011 by CRN. Didn’t see any HTML 5 apps there. I think this > says something about where Flex is, and it still holds some ground. The > technology decision should be based on your projects, your long-term > direction, and your talent pool. I’d recommend not jumping ship, just to > jump ship. You never know where that ship may sail!**** > > ** ** > > *Michael J. Regert*** > > ** ** > > *From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com] *On > Behalf Of *Ron G > *Sent:* Thursday, January 12, 2012 11:39 AM > > *To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > *Subject:* [flexcoders] Re: Flex alternatives**** > > ** ** > > **** > > Hi James, > > > I certainly respect the decision of those who are sticking with Flex, but > I would suggest that developers do so with the recognition that they may be > developing with a technology that isn't going to be around that long. > > I could write at length about this, but, in a nutshell, here's why. On the > one hand, you have an open-source project that is geared toward enterprise > application development, but it is completely dependent on a proprietary > runtime. That runtime is manufactured by a company who has stated its > future is "digital media and digital marketing", and that it believes the > future of enterprise web application development is HTML5. It then begs the > question, "How long will they bloat their Flashplayer to support an > open-source Flex community's enterprise web application development goals > and wishes?" > > To accommodate the Flex community, Adobe gets nothing in return for its > expenditure of time and money in designing, developing, testing the > features the Flex community requires now and in the future. It also means > that, by supporting Flex in their runtime, the Flashplayer has an > unnecessarily larger footprint than would otherwise be required. > > So, ask yourself if you truly believe Flex will be a supported product by > Adobe in 5-10 years from now. I highly doubt it. > > On the other hand, I think if a developer uses Flash Pro to develop > digital media for their applications, they can probably count on that being > around indefinitely. But, not Flex. > > Ron > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, James Ong <yanlilei64@...> wrote: > > > > Using ZK and Java is great. I'm still sticking to Flex for developing > > desktop applications and gaming. > > Of course, many will still using it for animations, there is no such > thing > > as "abandon", some developers > > are just over use Flash and end up hurting user experience than > necessary. > > > > When it comes to web application, I stick to PHP but will definitely use > > Flex for mobile, desktop and > > components within the web browser. > > > > > > On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM, <michael_regert@...> wrote: > > > > > ** > > > > > > > > > Staying with Flex. Not looking elsewhere.**** > > > > > > ** ** > > > > > > *Michael***** > > > > > > ** ** > > > > > > *From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com] > *On > > > Behalf Of *Ron G > > > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 11, 2012 8:15 PM > > > *To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > > > *Subject:* [flexcoders] Re: Flex alternatives**** > > > > > > ** ** > > > > > > **** > > > > > > Yes, we have also abandoned Flex in favor of ZKoss. Since we are > already a > > > Java shop, on the server side, it seemed logical to use a Java based > > > framework on the client-side. > > > > > > The thing I really like about ZK or ZKoss is that it has equivalent > > > components to Flex. In fact, it actually has more components than Flex. > > > > > > It implements an approach that I really like of separating the UI into > > > appearance and behavior - much like the Spark components of Flex. > Well, not > > > exactly, but sort of. :) Here's what I mean. For each UI object, it > has a > > > client side (widget) and server side (component). I won't go into > further > > > detail, but it gives you a nice separation of concerns that you can > avail > > > yourself of. This feature also greatly insulates the rendered pages > from > > > x-browser compatibility issues. > > > > > > Check it out for yourself at their site (zkoss.org). > > > > > > Ron > > > > > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, "Sal" <sal.celli@> wrote: > > > > > > > > hi, > > > > as i can sadly see from the message history bottom grid, many > > > programmers are leaving flex. > > > > So this thread is to ask you all, if you have already found a valid > > > alternative to flex for RIA development. > > > >**** > > > > > > **** > > > > > > > > > > >**** > > **** > > >
