The version without plugins (pure AIR application with UI editor, but you can use Flex or vi to edit reports in source ) is coming this summer. I will be showing the final release on 8/19 in NYC ( http://www.eventbrite.com/event/126384018) among other reporting goodies like generating complete reporting PDF on the client side ( fully dynamic ).
There were editions of clearBI that were under $1,000 or even free - producing minuscule report SWFs (<20K) with powerful runtime short of just end-user editing. Even 1000$ versions were selling slow - with people actually saying they would consider only free, open source ones with 24/7 support. The "restrictive setup" (identical to what Flex 3 now ships for J2EE integration / DataServices) are "J2EE best practices" one and was targeting Enterprise market/reducing support calls from unsupported PHP community, However, after 3 years working in Flex BI area and seeing all kind of requirements/setups I am sceptical about "out of the box" simplicity or dozen of unpaid product related calls a day. If you estimate realistic number of people buying $1000 version at 100-200 people per year there is no way you can recover even support cost. If on contrary you consider integration effort in 15K+ it makes more sense as there is money for setup, some training and integration - while in fact you still get product for free. You can easily handle quite a few projects with guaranteed results. We are making all the tooling and runtimes, just do not expect it to be $299 or even $999 unless enterprises will start paying for software and not the services and it becomes economically viable. Sincerely, Anatole Tartakovsky Farata Systems On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 2:29 PM, ansury2001 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well, I know we'd be willing to purchase a reporting tool for a cost > on par with the cost of Flex Builder. And it wouldn't need to be > a "catch all, generate all" sophisticated solution like ClearBI. > > I'd be happy with just an SWC reporting library. Just add some > component(s) from the SWC, setup some configuration and customization > options somewhere, and point it to a RemoteObject--done! Eclipse > plugins and integration with other tools become an issue when you > don't need to use those tools, or (for example) you're using > FlexBuilder standalone instead of the Eclipse plugin version. > > That's one good thing about FlexReport - it's just an SWC library--so > it's easily plugged into any application, both new or old. > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com>, "Anatole > Tartakovsky" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Report Wirter is a delicate topic. We wrote reporting solution in > 2006 - > > complete stack from database to end-user UI designer to the > optimized client > > to the PDF. However, the current mind set in the enterprises - if > it is > > third party product it has to be open source and free. So instead > of pushing > > it as a product, we are packaging it as a service. > > After all, building low cost solution for mass market requires mass > market > > and enterprises with flex reporting are not mass market yet. > > I believe most of reporting solutions I have seen are just tip of > the > > iceberg, with services beneath to recover develpoment costs. > > > > Sincerely, > > Anatole Tartakovsky > > Farata Systems > > > > > > On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Derrick Anderson < > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > amen brother, to be honest I like FlexReport- but it's not > ready for an > > > enterprise app. it's a good starting point, but I really need > something > > > much more robust. > > > > > > i'm in the same boat, would love to provide all the great > reportability and > > > UI that has been touted but more and more i see people 'hacking' > out flex > > > reports in anything other than 'flex'. > > > > > > Adobe, where is the flex report builder??? > > > > > > d. > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 11:10 AM, ansury2001 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > >> I need some advice on whether FlexReport is ready for "real" > use. > > >> > > >> I've already taken a look at it some, and other than it being a > pain > > >> to setup and rather slow, I think it may work well enough. But I > want > > >> to get some 3rd party opinions on others who have used it-- or, > what > > >> other solutions have you come up with? Are most people just > using 3rd > > >> party tools like Oracle BI Publisher or Crystal Reports, > resorting to > > >> that primitive "HTML round-trip" stuff? ^_^ > > >> > > >> I also would like to provide users with report building > capabilities. > > >> I know reporting is complex, but has anyone done anything > similiar or > > >> had any experience creating a report builder in Flex? Something > like > > >> ClearBI would be great. (Unfortunately ClearBI has no user base, > no > > >> support, no community, extremely restrictive setup requirements, > is > > >> almost impossible to setup and get working, isn't cheap > (considering > > >> what you're getting), and seems like a VERY risky choice for > > >> reporting.) > > >> > > >> As a side rant... > > >> Flex is not going to take off in an "enterprise environment" as > Adobe > > >> seems to be claiming it is ready for until we can do reporting > > >> natively in the swf app, without a ton of issues and work to do. > I > > >> don't care whether it's built into Flex, created separately by > Adobe, > > >> or built by a third party, but a real solution is going to be > needed > > >> very soon, before something like Silverlight exploits this > weakness. > > >> FlexReport won't be this solution no matter how good it gets, > because > > >> it's scope isn't large enough. Users need to be able to create > their > > >> own reports using the reporting interface! > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > >
