Hello, I just saw that this month's Edge newsletter has an article on this topic too: http://www.adobe.com/newsletters/edge/may2006/section2.html
And it points to a relevent User Group presentation on the topic of Flex for Flash Developers: http://mmusergroup.breezecentral.com/p95561356/ Regards, David Adobe > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of David Mendels > Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 11:28 PM > To: Flashcoders mailing list > Subject: RE: [Flashcoders] Re: Flex vs. Flash IDE > > Hello, > > Let me try to address a few questions on this thread: > > > If I'm wrong, please point me to the documentation, FAQs, etc. from > > Adobe that clearly explain the diferences between Flex IDE > and Flash > > IDE, or details about how to integrate Flex into my workflow. > > We have an article on this up on the site here that hits just this > topic: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/flex2_flash.html > > In addition, one of the best articles on this is now a bit > old (since Flex 1.0, 2 years ago), but still worth checking > out: The best article on this has been on our site since the > release of Flex 1.0, 2 years ago. > There are a few points in it that are now out of date, > because it certainly predates Flex 2, AS3, the free SDK, the > ability to deploy Flex apps without a server. But the core > ideas in the article are still excellent and should help: > http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/flash_perspective.html > > > ----------------- > > Metaphors: two cars to get to work? Or a Boat and Car? > > I don't think either of these metaphors is quite right. But > most complex projects bring together teams of people with > multiple skills and different tools to achieve an aim. Build > a house. The architect will use a cad tool, the carpenter > hammer and nails, the interior designer may use photoshop, > the painter will brushes, etc etc. For a given task, a > carpenter could potentially use a hammer or a screw, but > based on experience, preference etc will usually choose one. > There is no one answer to how a team should build an RIA, but > with Flex and Flash there is now a much richer toolset > available to a wider set of people with differing skills who > can work together to build these RIAs (and others on the team > will use Photoshop, or AfterEffects, or a Java IDE, or PHP, > or or or). If we are right that this RIA idea is a > fundamental trend, having multiple metaphors that let more > people design and build them is a good thing. Look at > building Windows apps--you can use C, C++, MFC, Visual Basic, > Flash Projectors, etc. To build HTML Web Apps you might use > all or a mix of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, JSP, ASP, CF. > Etc. In some cases one person spans all of these roles and > tools and does it all, but more and more teams of people > build these and bring different experiences and skills to the > project, and need different tools and metaphors to contribute. > > > ----------------- > > "Flash for animation and Flex for Forms"? > > I think this is a bit too simple. Certainly at the extremes > it is a relatively valid segmentation, but Flash can be used > for Forms and Flex can be used for animation. For us, the > ideal is to enable teams of people that bring the media, > animation, interaction design skills that proliferate in the > Flash community with the coding/architecture skills that > comes from Computer Science backgrounds (not that these are > mutually exclusely) together to build apps the are both media > rich and data rich, that are both beautiful and > transactional, that include forms and visualization, that > integrate with with back end systems from FMS to JMS to > WebServices, that scale and are maintainable. We have a lot > more work to do, but our aim is to enable seamless workflow > for designers and developers to work together more closely > and iteratively to build rich experiences. As we release > Blaze and we have AS3 in both Flash and Flex, it will become > easier still to integrate the two, and you will see more and > more focus on workflow over time. > > For folks who thing Flex is just for "forms", check out: > http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/ (built with Flex 1.5) > http://www.harley-davidson.com/pr/gm/customizer/launchCustomizer.asp > (Built with Flex 1.0) > And take a look at how expressive Flex components can be at > Ely's blog: > http://www.quietlyscheming.com/blog/components/animated-dragti le-compone > nt/ and > http://www.quietlyscheming.com/blog/components/fisheye-component/ > (requires Flash Player 9 beta 3). > > ---------------- > > "Should we have built a single Uber tool instead?" > > We sorta tried. For a while there we tried to make Flash MX > all things to all people. We found we were not satisfying > the designers and animators and we still had not reached the > bar for acceptence by most developers. Focus matters a lot. A > product can't have two design centers, two "souls". In 1996 > Director was the world's leading multimedia authoring tool > and Shockwave was doing incredibly on the Web. > But we looked at the total opportunity and decided to both > start Dreamweaver and focus deeply on the needs of > professional web designers doing HTML as well as aquire > FutureSplash, now Flash. While we had added web export > ("Shockwave") to Director, we knew that it couldn't compete > (for some uses) with a product like Flash that was designed > from the ground up differently, and far more lightweight. In > fact, back then, I was running the FreeHand product line at > Macromedia (among other things)--should we have said, why add > another vector graphics tool to our product line, lets just > add a timeline to FreeHand? It would have been a > frankenstein. I think the same is true of FlexBuilder and Flash. > Yes, there is some overlap. But the core, the "soul" of the > products, are different and will meet different needs. If we > do our jobs, they will also work together beautifully. > > HTH, > > David > Adobe > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Adam > > Pasztory > > Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:03 PM > > To: Flashcoders mailing list > > Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Re: Flex vs. Flash IDE > > > > >>> Someone suggested that Adobe hasn't done a good job > explaining the > > difference between the two. I can't see how you can say > that. There > > has been a public beta available for over 6 months and a > site almost > > entirely devoted to it. The Samples Explorer is as clear an > > explanation as any developer should need. The only way to really > > understand the difference is to attempt to build something with it. > > > > While I think the concept of a beta program is great, I > spent quite a > > few hours poring over the documentation, and followed a few > tutorials, > > and I did not find the clear explanations I was hoping for. Maybe > > that makes me a bad developer. But I assume Adobe wants to sell to > > bad developers as well as good ones. :) This was a few > months ago, > > so maybe things have improved. > > > > If I'm wrong, please point me to the documentation, FAQs, etc. from > > Adobe that clearly explain the diferences between Flex IDE > and Flash > > IDE, or details about how to integrate Flex into my > workflow. Maybe > > this is all coming after the release. Or maybe it's been > added since > > I looked through the labs site. Where is the practical > tutorial for > > Flash Developers who want to transition to Flex? > > > > I want to like Flex. I really do. I'm not trying to > attack any Flex > > developers or any of the smart people who work at > Macromedia/Adobe. > > I'm just sharing my personal observations around it so far. > There's > > enough contradictory info in this thread alone to make me think > > they're not doing a good enough job getting the message out. The > > ongoing success of Flash is important to me personally, and to my > > career, so I that's why I've felt the need to say this. > > _______________________________________________ > > Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com > > To change your subscription options or search the archive: > > http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders > > > > Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software > > Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training > > http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com > To change your subscription options or search the archive: > http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders > > Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software > Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training > http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com > _______________________________________________ Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com
