| By Rob Rusher |
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| April 12, 2012 05:30 AM EDT |
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11,514 |
The fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is been slung around by profiteers like folding chairs at a WWE event. The haters are still being haters. Nothing new there. But now I see JavaScript companies’ desperate pleas for Flex developers to start using their HTML5 software.
The context is all wrong here. Very, very few Flex developers have shifted, moved, changed over, or whatever you want to call it… to HTML5 (or anything else JS-based.)
There is not a move to HTML5
I will go as far as to say that there is not a move to HTML5. The simple fact is that, developers are being developers. No matter the background, we are always trying to broadening our skill sets. This includes HTML5 since it started showing up a few years ago. For anyone to imply, or state outright, that there is some mass exodus from Flex is completely false!
The reality is still the same, Flash Player is still the most consistent cross-browser, cross-OS, and cross-device platform for software development.
It doesn’t matter if you are building business software or games, with one technology you are able to build for the desktop, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Android, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and Internet TVs.
What most haters fail to realize is how nice it is to go through your bug list and not find ANY bugs that are browser/platform specific. The only bugs I have, are actual bugs that I can fix. Not browser support related issues that you have no control over. For the first time in years I had to deal with browser specific issue when our On3 client embedded the application in a JSF, JSTL, ADF container. It reminded me of how good I have it. I don’t have to deal with this headache on a daily basis. In fact, it was one of the complete joys that drove me from building DHMTL development to Flex development.
So, the next time someone says, “Flex is dead” or “Everyone is moving to <insert tech here>.” Take it with a grain of salt. In all likelihood, they have a hidden agenda.
Rob Rusher is an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE), Community Expert, and Certified Instructor (ACI). In his role as Principle Consultant for On3, he leads an Adobe software enablement practice to help his clients build rich Internet applications and to rapidly increase their knowledge and skills to better support their organization's goals. He has taught and mentored the technical teams at Standard and Poor’s, eBay, IBM Global Services, the Social Security Administration, and other Government and Fortune 100 organizations.
Because of his depth of knowledge and long standing relationship with Adobe, Rob was selected to write the Certified AIR training course as well as the ColdFusion and Flex certification exams. Rob has also co-authored four best selling books on building secure, cutting-edge and rapidly developed applications using Adobe AIR, ColdFusion and Flex. He is also very active is organizing and speaking at Adobe conferences and user groups. In addition to growing his software consulting practice, On3, Rob has been building expertise in rich client application development on a wider variety of devices and platforms that extend the applications to change the way we all create and live.
On3 provides consulting, mentoring and training services to help organizations grow their own experts from within. For more information, visit us at www.On3solutions.com. Rob Rusher maintains a weblog devoted to Adobe Flex and other Internet technologies at www.RobRusher.com.
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