Comments on: Flex the next Java?

By: IT-eye » Microsoft Silverlight

IT-eye » Microsoft Silverlight — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:32:28 +0000

[...] Even though this blog mainly focuses on Oracle related technologies, in the last few months I’ve also written about Adobe Flex. This is because i think rich graphical web user interfaces are going to become very important in the future. [...]

By: Vinny Carpenter’s blog » Daily del.icio.us for Mar 02, 2007 through Mar 04, 2007

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:31:28 +0000

[...] IT-eye � Flex the next Java? – There seems to be some similarity with Java. Not that Flex will replace it, but Flex might become the Java for RIA?s for Companies who do not want to rely too much on Microsoft [...]

By: SwitchBL8

SwitchBL8 — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:37:57 +0000

Flex is very nice, don’t get me wrong. It’s easy and it looks like you’ve just blingblinged your website. But it’s not open. If that’s not a problem for you or your client, I guess you can fulfill the clients wishes in less time then with JSF.
But hey, clients using the Oracle AS are locked in as well, so what am I nagging about?!

By: Andrej Koelewijn

Andrej Koelewijn — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:01:56 +0000

Interesting thread, i didn’t recognize flex in the demo, but it could be. Might just be html + javascript.

I wonder what the usefulness is of creating flex with adf faces? Technically flex is not harder to create than jsf. I think databinding in flex is even easier than with adf. I haven’t tried adobe’s flex builder yet, don’t know if it’s easier or harder to use than jdeveloper, and how it compares as a 4gl tool.

But jsf is not a good supplement to flex. I think flex in itself is not enough, you probably need some semantically correct html in addition to flex, to make it indexable, etc. It’s easier to do this with jsp than with current jsf implementations. Currently jsf doesn’t generate very indexable html.

By: Jan Vervecken

Jan Vervecken — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:02:49 +0000

see also forum thread “JDev 11 – should we start to learn Flex and ActionScript ?”
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=481689

By: Andrej Koelewijn

Andrej Koelewijn — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 09:16:44 +0000

I agree with you, but isn’t flex’s current situation similar to java’s situation in mid 90’s? (the first jsr was started in 98). But Adobe is a different company than Sun, so i don’t expect Flex to open up like Java did.

By: SwitchBL8

SwitchBL8 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 21:26:51 +0000

Andrej, you’re not reading me correctly. I’m not comparing Microsoft and Adobe, and pointing to the most evil one. I’m saying that trust in Adobe is just as bad as trust in Microsoft. So customers going for a Flex-based RIA are still relying on a one-company driven “standard”. Tell me how that’s something a customer should be comfortable with?

If and only if Adobe opensources Flex, then there’s no vendor lock-in. But they won’t. Flash (Flex is built on it) is their reason of existence. That’s why I said “remember the Macromedia take-over”. Adobe is not a friendly company.

By: Andrej

Andrej — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:45:55 +0000

Microsoft is more threatening than adobe because it wants to do everything. It’s competing with almost every existing software company. So if a company is using components from microsoft, it’s depending on a competitor, which is not a nice situation to be in.

By: SwitchBL8

SwitchBL8 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:12:49 +0000

Right. So companies that don’t want to rely too much on Microsoft, want to rely on Adobe? Oh, of course, Adobe is a nice company. Remember the Macromedia take-over? Flex is as evil as Microsoft. That is, if you agree to the “microsoft == evil” paradigm.

I agree with you that Sun is doing the right thing at the moment.

By: Jay Pullur

Jay Pullur — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:41:23 +0000

It will get interesting if Adobe were to open-source or set up a broader participation with other vendors.

The Java camp could also be coming with alternatives, just like this one from http://www.Dekoh.com.