let me give you some of the reasons why I have decided to embrace FLEX as our featured development tool (notice I did not say RIA tool, but development tool.) I have been building custom data-centric solutions for about a zillion years (ok, over 30 anyway) and always am on the lookout for a new and better tool. My friends call me "database of the month club" since I keep trying, switching, switching back from all of the latest and greatest solutions. (Tried AJAX, but did not find the right toolset yet.). The reasons are:
FLEX FEATURES Flex's main advantage is the agility it adds to building a rich user interface with database connectivity. Performance is very good Can use external style sheets o Allows a graphic artist to work on the UI o Easy customization Any object can move, be resized, skinned, wiped o Better use of screen real-estate o Can eliminate overlapping windows o Users attention can be focused / directed Screen Independent - Run Anywhere o PC o Web o Phone??? Open / extensible o Expect library of components to be released o Can connect to other server objects o Can connect to Web services o Eclipse IDE is open and expandable Adobe / Macromedia o Support / Training o Inexpensive Toolkit o Free Runtime Good luck with whatever you decide to embrace, but DO embrace it. (as someone once asked me, how can a computer programmer drive a Porsche? I said its easy, just be the best at something! Bruce
