I think its pretty clear what Adobe is aiming for with Apollo... they're wanting to strike at Microsoft's .NET suite (in the same way that MS is striking at Adobe's suite with WPF/E and Expression). But instead of taking C++ and Java coders and moving them closer to the web (MS with .NET), Adobe is taking web coders and moving them to the desktop.
Adobe for the win since it seems the web coders are driving the serious innovation these days. I personally like ActionScript3 as a language, I personally like the Flex Framework, I *really* like the Flash graphics engine. I think developing UIs in declarative languages like HTML and MXML is great, particularly since I can leverage all of those web designers out there. I love .NET as well; it was certainly my favorite *before* I met AS3/Flex. It would still *may* be my favorite if I was developing a native Win32 app. But that would probably only be if I needed the raw performance or some Win-specific services. Of course, if Apollo allowed hooks into external DLLs (just like its obvious precedent, MDM's Zinc), then .NET would really offer me little advantage and some significant downsides. If Apollo doesn't allow for native hooks, then screw it... I'll stick with what I got and use Zinc. In fact, I would fully expect that Zinc would attempt to wrap Apollo apps and provide exactly this functionality if Adobe doesn't. Look at it this way: I can use an *HTML* webpage to connect to native code (ActiveX controls, for example). If Apollo doesn't allow for that, then *what's the freakin point* of moving it to the desktop!? Troy. On 2/5/07, Jeffry Houser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I meant to say "I doubt Adobe is shelling out a lot of effort just for the sake of providing people the ability to work in an airplane" At 12:26 PM 2/5/2007, you wrote: I'll just throw this out there. One of my clams (somewhere in this thread) was "The only time you aren't connected is in an airplane." Every airport I've been in recently has had wi-fi. I assume this is becoming standard. I think Adobe is shelling out a lot of effort just for the sake of providing people the ability to work in an airplane. There must be something else to it that I do not yet see. At 11:46 AM 2/5/2007, you wrote: At one point about 2 years ago, i was asked to develop a simple CF app that helped managers write some 'weekly status reports' that were rolled up to upper management and then some of those items were rolled up even further up the tree etc. it died a miserable death after a while because many of the managers complained that they wrote their status while traveling - sitting on planes, in airports etc when they had no connectivity... so yes, in my mind there are plenty of applications for offline storage of data and uploading when connected. Mitch --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com>, Jeffry Houser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > At 11:10 AM 2/4/2007, you wrote: > > >Many users are still disconnected. Nomad users are still common > >place. Most sales people are getting out o the road in order to > >create opportunities as opposed to staying in the office. Few rural > >areas are 100% covered by high speed (wifi,gprs,gsm,3G) access. The > >concept of disconnected apps is becoming more and more intriguing > >for business and the demands for such apps more and more numerous. > > I can't fathom needing an Internet connection while driving. Nor > can I imagine going to a client / potential client who doesn't have > Internet Access. Is it really that common? > > > >The prospect of using an embedded db like sqlite(open source, cross > >platform dll) to store data, Apollo being able to natively exploit > >that data directly on the client when disconnected, and update the > >central data store when connected; is one simple but enormous opportunity. > > Apollo offers an embedded DB? I haven't heard that yet. > > > >I'm seriously hoping that Apollo is not just for partially > >disconnected applications. > > I still don't get it, though. I'm open to hearing the ideas. Of > course, I still think such a conversation would be better off on the > Apollo Coders list. > > > > -- > Jeffry Houser, Software Developer, Writer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer > AIM: Reboog711 | Phone: 1-203-379-0773 > -- > My Company: <http://www.dot-com-it.com > > My Podcast: <http://www.theflexshow.com > > My Blog: <http://www.jeffryhouser.com > > Connecticut Macromedia User Group: <http://www.ctmug.com> > -- Jeffry Houser, Software Developer, Writer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer AIM: Reboog711 | Phone: 1-203-379-0773 -- My Company: < http://www.dot-com-it.com> My Podcast: < http://www.theflexshow.com> My Blog: < http://www.jeffryhouser.com> Connecticut Macromedia User Group: < http://www.ctmug.com > -- Jeffry Houser, Software Developer, Writer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer AIM: Reboog711 | Phone: 1-203-379-0773 -- My Company: < http://www.dot-com-it.com> My Podcast: < http://www.theflexshow.com> My Blog: < http://www.jeffryhouser.com> Connecticut Macromedia User Group: < http://www.ctmug.com>
