Comments on: Flex2 Opinions

By: Flex Remoting in Ruby? Easy Choice. « Rob’s Blog - Technology, Atlanta, Startups and Stuff

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:31:46 +0000

[...] with Adobe Flex. An awkward attempt to migrate an existing app to Flex caused several strong reactions and cost a good bit of developer goodwill. The details of that decision are messy and [...]

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By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:58:38 +0000

Hi Joe, hi guys…

I liked a lot this discussion. I’m looking for a new tool / technology to develop RIA applications too.

Recently I watched an apresentation of Delphi for PHP, by Code Gear (Borland), and I think it can be a good tool.

Does anyone had heared about it ? If yes, what do you think ?

Thanks in advance.

By: gtuhl

gtuhl — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:09:44 +0000

There are a lot of tools out there and no one approach is completely superior to the others so it can be pretty difficult to select a technology and feel 100% comfortable with the decision.

For now we just have to try and match tools per project based on the differences between them and it doesn’t ever feel easy to objectively do this.

At least the current situation prevents us from running out of things to learn

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:03:03 +0000

What this says to me is that it is about time for a technology change. This whole “mashed up” mess we so lovingly call internet techonologes is out of control. Looking at it objectively the whole “java, html, javascript, taglibs, ejb, spring, jsf, ….. Blah, blah, blah” mess is just wrong. On the other side you go the “RIA, flex, openLazlo,…. whatever” and you end up with a half constructed, immature technology that requires a propriatory download. Surely, there has to be a cleaner technology out there that will satisfy the needs of the opensource community that is both single, unifying and extensible.

Please excuse my rantings …. I haven’t had a coffee yet.

By: Luxspes

Luxspes — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:21:34 +0000

If only swing could make it easier to build stuff like https://aerith.dev.java.net/ …

By: Luxspes

Luxspes — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:20:20 +0000

And, well, I dont want to goo the CSS/HTML/JScript way…
I guess, that as you found Flex unconfortable when compared with the CSS/HTML/JScript way… I find the CSS/HTML/JScript way unconfortable when compared with “SmartClient” way (WindowsForms.NET/Swing)… but the sad part is that building Heavy/Smart Client is not… “in fashion” right now… but I do feel that it would be sooo much easier…

By: Luxspes

Luxspes — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:16:50 +0000

Hi!
I have been evaluating a all platforms for RIA development that I can find… for almost one month… each time I fee like “i am going to use X” (where X is Flex, OLaszlo, Echo2, GWT, Ajax4JSF, etc) I find a “but”:
-But there is no IDE
-But the IDE is very expensive
-But there is no documentation
-But it only works with .NET
-But it only works with Java
-But it goes agaisnt standard “XXXX”
-But there is no debugger

In Flex case, in my experience:
-But is not as easy as it seems (as I have learned from this article)
-But DataServices are expensive
-But it uses too much RAM

So, lets go the Laszlo way:
-But, documentation is very superficial (only simple examples, no architectural guidelines, i havent been able to find something like Cairngorm)
-But if I use SOAP it SOLO Mode wont work and development/production will consume lots of RAM
-But there isn’t a standard widely used REST framework in java (JSR-331 too young)
-But there isn’t and IDE (no debugging, no visual designer, no refactoring)
-But it is not easy to change form SOAP to REST mode (very different code)
-But there isn’t a good finished book (http://www.manning.com/klein/ look promising, but it isn’t finished) with an end to end example.

So… basically, I still don’t know what to do… I guess I’ll find out… and blog about it when I do…

By: gtuhl

gtuhl — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:29:56 +0000

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the input. It sounds like we are on the same page - the pricing is one of the biggest issues with the platform. Maybe I can spend some time in the near future test driving OpenLazlo. I have not written a single line of code in that environment so am not qualified to guess at how it stacks up to Flex2.

Good luck with your project and team,

Joe

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:57:22 +0000

Hi,

I have just read your comments on Flex 2 and I have to say that I agree with you completely especially the comments regarding the pricing. Both Flex Builder and Flex Data services are “off the planet” demonstrating the complete lack of reality the Adobe management team have regarding the value of their products. I agree Flex Builder is at best a $10 product in its current beta phase. What can you say about $20K for FDS, I can understand the desire to recoup dev costs and generate profit but $20K is rediculous.

My experience with Flex is that it works, it is not exceptional and if you don’t want to do anything out of the ordinary it will continue to work. It is definitely not a mature product and there is no doubt that OpenLazlo should be considered if you want to stick with a RIA.

My team have decided to stay with Flex but when we have time will probably port the app across to OpenLazlo in the near future.