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Betrayed by Adobe

Nov 11, 2011 9:29 PM

#flex #dead

Would you mind helping me explain to my boss on Monday morning that the millions of dollars we have spent on Flex development is now being abandoned by Adobe?

Donating Flex to an open source foundation is a joke. We know how well that turned out for Java...

I've invested years developing significant proficiency in Flex. It now feels like a waste of time. I'm sure there are a lot of enterprise customers with large investments in Flex wondering the same thing. Why is there no clear migration plan? Why is Adobe abandoning Flex so suddenly? HTML5/JS/CSS still has significant issues with compatibility. We have built large, sophisticated rich internet applications that were only possible due to the ability of AS3 and Flex to support large scale object-oriented development. We don't build simple web apps, we build complex data visualization tools that our customers love. What are we going to tell are customers now? Sorry, Flex is dead and HTML5 isn't quite there yet, let's try again in a couple years?

Thanks for nothing Adobe.

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supersonicecho,

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Nov 11, 2011 9:38 PM

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I wish I could help you with your boss... It's gonna be a rough day for many of us.

Good luck

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John Hall,

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Nov 12, 2011 12:33 AM

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Isn't it a bit of a stretch to say Flex is dead when what I think they've stopped developing is the mobile Flash player. Is that where your development time went? Into playing back Flash files on mobile devices?

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pauland,

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Nov 12, 2011 4:36 AM

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This is what is what the thread is about: http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/2011/11/your-questions-about-flex.html

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Fdecampredon,

Nov 12, 2011 6:18 AM

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"In the long-term, we believe HTML5 will be the best technology for enterprise application development."

Tell me which enterprise will now invest in large-scale Flex project when Adobe make that kind of statement on their official blog, i seriously can't understand at all why this happen all of sudden, it's like a true nightmare.

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RandomReado,

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Nov 14, 2011 1:19 AM

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Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't HTML5 browser based? What makes Flex/AIR special for us is we can create a browser-less experience, which gives us 100% control over the application. I don't understand who would want to invest in HTML5 unless they're building mobile applications that require a browser.

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UbuntuPenguin,

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Nov 14, 2011 6:48 AM

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@RandomReado

You can develop HTML5 apps that run offline.
http://pinchzoom.com/posts/anatomy-of-a-html5-mobile-app/anatomy-of-a- html5-mobile-app

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NateWeb,

Nov 14, 2011 9:38 AM

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"In the long-term, we believe HTML5 will be the best technology for enterprise application development."

You mean when javascript is upgraded or replaced 10+ years down the road? I'm sure most flex devs cringe at the thought of porting a complex front-end to html5/js -- It's hack-and-slash to get the same level of OO.

It feels like the beginning of the end for Flash. The anti-flash apple fanboys got their way:(

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RandomReado,

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Nov 14, 2011 9:43 AM

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@NateWeb

Hopefully not. We've based all our company front-end software on Flex. I know HTML, but not HTML5 and I'm not very good with JS either. Flex was really easy for me to understand and pick-up on and we plan to continue using it. Does anyone know who will continue to develop and maintain Flex? Will it be Adobe or another company?

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Yozef0,

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Nov 14, 2011 9:47 AM

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It wasn't a war between the two.

The Problem is There is No Alternative today to creating "Flex Apps" with HTML5.

There simply isn't the right JS Stack or framework. In the meantime, I was learning Javascript... and guess what? It's exactly like Actionscript without the types. Instead of : var i:int = 0; it's: var i = 0;
Syntactically it's the same.

Though... I will miss the 'out of the box' components... extending them... Skinning them... rich interactions...

The thing is... I don't think Flash/Flex Devs are pissed at learning a new Language, We're pissed we're migrating to an inferior one.

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Yozef0,

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Nov 14, 2011 9:47 AM

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Check the spoon project: http://spoon.as

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NateWeb,

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Nov 14, 2011 10:18 AM

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I would much rather program in a strongly-typed language, and I don't want use a hacky method of js to replicate what I'm doing with interfaces, events/signals, singletons in Actionscript.

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Ansury,

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Nov 14, 2011 9:57 PM

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UbuntuPenguin wrote:

@RandomReado

You can develop HTML5 apps that run offline.
http://pinchzoom.com/posts/anatomy-of-a-html5-mobile-app/anatomy-of-a- html5-mobile-app
“I know HTML5 can get the job but can HTML5 DO the job? I’mNOT arguing that with you. I’m not arguing that with YOU. I’m notARGUING that with you. I’m not ARGUING that with you Harry! Harry… Harry… Yeah Harry… but can HTML5 DO the job. I know HTML5 can GET the job but can HTML5 do the job?”

Hahaha!

and
"I don't think Flash/Flex Devs are pissed at learning a new Language, We're pissed we're migrating to an inferior one." x2 (but modify to say: language & SDK & platform)

"Spoon" sounds good, but they need to find a new name.

"We know how well that turned out for Java..."
Yeah, it's arguably the world's leading language (career wise).

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