Well said Stan! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stan Vassilev" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 4:30 PM Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Macromedia unveiling Flex 2 and Flash 9:communication or cacophony ?
Just few points: - you no longer need to buy Flex Server for $15000 with the new Flex 2 product line, it can compile to SWF offline like Flash 8 Pro / Basic can. The server part is separated and optional now. Flex Builder 2 will cost around, say $600 - $1000 (price is not decided yet so this is as accurate as I've seen it discussed in articles and such). - Flash 8 has, well... ok it does have lots of rough edges but this will get better with time (you know actually we had plenty of issues with the first releases of Flash 6 and 7 too, but subsequent point rleeases made it all work smooth). - Crashes you experienced with the menus are probably related to killing an active Context Menu which is since the new garbage collector collects the menu and Flash then tries to access a non-existing object. This was dicussed around blogs and such - and has a workaround (i.e. like not killing the menu prematurely for now). - There are also some glitches in the Firefox player with existing sites (I have some sites not load) and some issues in the new features which can be worked around (and will be fixed in future build I suppose). You gotta understand the folks are under a lot of pressure by competition and the Adobe acquisition and all... The amount of changes to the flash player with flash 8 and 8.5 is enormous. Not all people need those features for casual apps, but plenty do, and when Vista comes, Flash would become simply irrelevant if it doesn't have the features and speed people demand from it... So consider all those products and updates we're getting now as securing the future of Flash as a capable and feature rich platform that is competitive to other players in the field. After the smoke goes away the picture will be like this: - Stable 8.5 Player - Flash 8 Pro for authoring creative complex artistic interactive content, cartoons and applications which do not need every bit of script speed and the advanced AS3 capabilities (and, come on, the fact Flash 8.5 is out doesn't mean anything before it is obsolete... Flash 8 level capabilities still rock, can't deny it) - Flex Builder 2 for authoring AS3 content & using the component framework... Flash (9?) Authoring will also get Flash 8.5 (or 9..?) support so it's not like "Flex or nothing" but for the moment until the next Authoring is out is a good time to try out Flex Builder and see what it does for you - maybe it's not that bad as you make it out. The hardest part now is to really have that stable Flash 8.5 player out & Flex Builder 2 in the first half of 2006 so things can calm down a bit and people can see where is this all heading. The folks are open enough to give us public alpha, and let us help them deliver the product we want. This is probably the best that can be done in the given stuation. Regards, Stan Vassilev > It was with a mixture of interest and irritation that I read Macromedia's > announcements about Flex and Flash Player 8.5 and the ensuing reactions. > > The valid assertion that "Flex is a tool for building RIAs (Rich Internet > Applications)" is gradually becoming widely interpreted as "If you want > to do 'rich' (fantastic, impressive or professional?) things with Flash > you need to buy Flex." Many of the people who have been fortunate enough > to be able to play with Flex since it was released are now self-declared > RIA experts, most of whom are extremely pleasant, incredibly easy to reach > and ... > ... _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
