Monthly Archives: March 2006

AT&T – 15 Mbps Internet connections “irrelevant”. Also 640K of memory should be enough for anybody

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Whenever I hear statements like this it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. In this case it just made me want to go buy more Verizon stock. Now I understand a bit of what he’s saying, but the problem is that he’s not thinking far enough into the future.

Laying infrastructure is a huge, huge task, and Verizon has a major head start. One look at the meteoric rise in popularity of sites like YouTube and Flickr show that internet users have an insatiable demand for media. I’d also say that the youngsters are leading the charge, and as they get older (with bigger paychecks) they’re going to be more than willing to pay for “fat pipes” into their houses. I’d throw tons of money Verizon’s way if I could get FIOS up here in Seattle.

Rich Internet Application developers should hate news like this. We can deliver better user experiences as they get faster connections. Faster connections also allow us to really let our creativity shine. It’s too bad AT&T’s CEO seems so shortsighted.

FlexCF.com – ColdFusion and Flex Resource

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Simeon Bateman has put together a wiki for Flex/ColdFusion developers which you can find at FlexCF.com. I think I’ve said it a hundred times, but I really think that CF is going to be the best way to build Flex applications when they release both Mystic and Flex 2. The two technologies make for rapid application deployment and Mystic looks to be an awesome fit for Flex applications. I think FlexCF.com is going to be a major help.

I also noticed that Joe Rinehart hates Flex! And Joe, you’re absolutely right. You shouldn’t have to do that, welcome to the light side. Or should I say the “rich” side.

Flash Needs More Goowys and Gtalkrs

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Om Malik wrote an article for CNN/Money about the virtual desktop applications that are starting to pop up. A snippet of the article, which he also singles out on his blog summarizes the piece well:

The new wave of investment is driven by the convergence of three major trends. First, broadband is spreading everywhere. Second, open-source programming tools are widely available and improving in quality. And third, technologies are emerging that make Web-based software as graphical and interactive as desktop applications, like Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and Adobe’s Flash.

I wonder if without Goowy, Flash doesn’t even enter this particular discussion of desktop-looking applications delivered over the web. Of course it should be a big part, but so often it isn’t. Part of the problem is a lack of applications people can point to and say “this is awesome, Flash is really cool!”

In may talks with the guys at Goowy and Gtalkr, Adobe seems to be doing a good job at engaging them and working with them to make their applications better. The Flex developer derby is another good example of a way to showcase the potential of Flash. But we need more apps like Goowy and Gtalkr to really get the word out.

So with that in mind, check out the developer derby. CF developers should be entering Ray’s contest. The more public apps we have the more exposure Flash is going to get, and the more people are going to be asking us to develop with it.

Flex Consulting

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In the past I’ve had some inquiries about doing Flex work part time, and I decided to take one of the offers so that I could work with Flex in my spare time on a very cool project while making a little bit of money. It works out really well because I love the new job here in Seattle, but I’m excited to get back into professional Flex development.

To facilitate the consulting project, I’ve started an LLC here in Washington State and I got back the official paperwork yesterday. R.C. Stewart, LLC is open for business as my Flash Platform consulting company. I have no idea what will happen after I’m finished with the current project, but its a very cool feeling to be starting a company – even a very tiny one.

It’s also a way for me to invest in the future of the Flash Platform. I’ve been very excited about how Flex has progressed and the steps Adobe has taken to place it in the industry, and down the line, part time consulting may be a good way to show people how powerful the platform can be. I think it’s only going to get better and better, and combine that with the increased interest in Rich Internet Applications, this will be a fun side project.

If anyone has any tips, I’m always willing to take free advice.

New Features at Goowy (Cool Flash Stuff)

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A couple of days ago Goowy started rolling out some new features. I was lucky enough to get them on the first day so I’ve spent the past couple of days checking them out. The two new features are an online file storage component and IM functionality. Both have a few bugs (although some I blame on the FlashPlayer 8.5 beta), but seem very well done and add a lot to the application.

The IM is pretty standard, and allows you to connect to AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo and “Goowy Messenger.” I really like the interface they have set up and as you switch between features within Goowy, the IM will pop up a window allowing you to keep with the conversation.

The coolest thing, and unfortunately the part I’ve spent the least amount of time on, is the online file storage. They’ve teamed up with Box.net to provide 1GB free. The rumor is that there will be a 5$/month for 5GB offering soon. It seems to be entirely in Flash, taking advantage of some of the new features in Flash 8 which is cool to see. Flash also allows for an embedded MP3 player to allow you to play your stored music right from Goowy. I’m jamming to Johnny Cash – Solitary Man as we speak. You can tag your files so that you can quickly find what you’re looking for.

I had concerns that Goowy was trying to do too many things and that they’d lose a little bit of focus, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I started using it for email back in the day and now I use it to organize my contacts, keep track of my calendar, manage my task list and check up on NHL scores. With as well done as the file storage and IM are for an alpha release, I have no doubt I’ll be making heavy use of them. Just tell me where to send my $5.

There is more commentary over at TechCrunch and also a piece by Campbell Anderson that’s quite good.

Flash, AJAX, WinFX and the Importance of Experience

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There is a fascinating article in Newsweek that everyone who does anything with the web should read. It’s important because it talks to a different audience (the future users) and it comes at the topic without the hype that so many things in the “web 2.0″ space seem to come bundled with. The article outlines what a lot of us already know, that the “new” web is, in the end, all about empowering the users. It’s about allowing users to tag their content, connect with friends, share things and communicate in new ways. This is why the opportunity for Flash is so big.

AJAX is a great technology for building web applications. It’s fast, it’s standards-based and it makes ordinary looking web pages do cool things. But all of these AJAX applications still look like web pages, they just don’t act like it. As the space moves forward, people are going to demand more than just uber-functional web pages. They are going to want full-fledged applications. They are going to be drawn to the kind of warm, engaging transitions that Flex makes so easy.

The Web 2.0 space has, with some exceptions, been made up of the digerati. The basic consumer doesn’t care about RSS or tagging. But they do care about their data, and the fact that they don’t know about RSS or tagging doesn’t take away the value of those technologies. Flex allows developers to very easily create a “web experience” that people feel comfortable with and that is more “human” than current web applications. Windows Presentation Foundation does the same thing. Both Flex and WPF focus very heavily on the experience.

Right now, it’s difficult to show the benefit of that to people using AJAX because AJAX does everything it needs to for the current generation of RIAs. But in the next couple of years, as more and more normal users start using the web to store data, find friends and interact with data, it won’t be able to compete with WinFX and Flex because people will demand more from their web applications. If the “live web” is the internet of today, the “experiential web” will be the internet of tomorrow.

Forbes Interview with Bruce Chizen

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I’m swamped with things today (and the good Huskies play tonight, which means I don’t have an evening to catch up) so I’m postponing the weekly review until tomorrow but I did want to mention this article in Forbes.

It’s a pretty standard interview with Bruce Chizen but it’s still worth reading. Take the CEO-spin with a grain of salt, but Flex gets a mention as well as Breeze.

Enjoy Vista, the Operating System as You Know it is Dead

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Kevin Werbach, a Legal Studies professor at Wharton had a post about Vista which applied to the Rich Internet Application space in a way I hadn’t thought of before. The delay in Windows Vista and the subsequent reorganization at MSFT are excellent examples of two things. One, how much time and energy needs to go into an operating system. Everything is more advanced, more complicated and just takes more time. Two, Microsoft is in big trouble. They have spent an immense amount of both time and resources to make Vista as forward-looking and technologically advanced as possible. They have a slick new interface and a cool way to build applications with XAML and WPF. They’ve changed the filesystem and tried to leverage the power of the internet with Vista.

However think about the advancements in the RIA space during Windows XP’s lifespan and think about what will happen during the lifespan of Windows Vista. In 6-7 years is it really that hard to imagine nearly all of your applications deployed as web apps? I’m not saying that the operating system is dead, but I am saying that you won’t need it to do everything it does day and more importantly, Microsoft won’t be able to charge $200-$400 for it.

In many ways, the “move” to web apps could reopen competition in the OS space for the first time since the 1980s. What starts to differentiate Microsoft from other companies if a lot of what you do is on the web and can be deployed nearly anywhere? The key is the adoption of web apps by the mainstream. That’s where the important of experience comes in, and that’s also another blog post entirely, but this means big things for Adobe.

Adobe Q1 Conference Call – Flex 2 ETA is June

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As you can see (see after hours), things didn’t go so well during the Q1 conference call (AND it wasn’t in Breeze – booo). However, there was record revenue and strong demand across product lines. One downside seems to be that the merger is costing Adobe more than expected. Overall, it was a pretty interesting conference call (or as interesting as they can be). I know I said no numbers, but I’ll give you a quick run down of the revenue for the business units:

  • Creative Solutions – 379.6 million (Solid demand for new bundles)
  • Knowledge Worker Solutions – 168.8 million (Good quarter for Breeze)
  • Enterprise and Developer Solutions – 45 million (Record quarter for LiveCycle, new customers for Flex and ColdFusion)
  • Mobile and Device Solutions – 8.6 million (revenue down)
  • Others – 53.5 million

Shantanu mentioned that Flash Media Server is seeing “strong adoption” and he also described Breeze as an “exciting opportunity” which only reinforces how important Adobe sees the multimedia space as being. As far as Flex it seems they’re very excited about it, and they’re expecting it to ship in June (I wasn’t sure that I’d heard a date before). He also described Flash/Flex and AJAX as “complementary technologies” and the Flex/AJAX bridge got a mention.

The mobile space continues to expand (although revenue is not) and they announced that there are 1 million people using FlashCast. I think all of them are in Asia :) . They also announced phone deals with LG and another company (I can’t remember which)

It’s always a good reminder for me to look at how much more the Creative Solutions business unit makes compared to my favorite, the Enterprise and Developer Solutions. CS and Studio continue to be the cash cows for Adobe, but it will be interesting to see how that changes when Flex 2 is released (I assume Flex Builder will be in the E&D unit).

The press release is here [PDF] and I assume a copy of the call will be post on the investor relations site.

Gazing Into Adobe’s Crystal Ball

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We’re just under two hours away from Adobe’s Q1 conference call (it starts at 2:00 PST) and I will be putting my various podcasts and country music on mute so that I can listen in. If you’re interested, the link is http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/06q1analyst/earning_confcall.html. I realize that I’m a bit of an economics/wall street nerd, but I find that the earnings calls usually provide a hint into what products are getting the most attention at Adobe and what their vision of the future is. For those less interested in listening I’ll try to provide an overview when it’s finished. I’ll keep the numbers out of it and just try to provide the strategic summary.