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I get inspired by the excellent tutorial Napolux , Flex 3, Adobe AIR and the API Feedburner , which shows how to write a simple application (or widget) Adobe AIR using Flex 3, to show how to make the exact same thing using Adobe Flash CS3. If you wish, also, you can use the extension for creating Adobe AIR applications. It is not necessary for the purposes of this tutorial, complete the application as an AIR executable, you can use the proposed code as a simple Flash movie to be "affixed" to your Web pages

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Great news for AIR developers. It was finally released version 1.0 ! End of beta then! New SDK (vital for building in areas such as Aptana Studio , Eclipse , etc ...) and update extensions Dreamweawer and Flash CS3 Professional in Italian ! Until yesterday, in fact, it was not possible to develop an AIR application with Flash CS3 Profession in Italian. Now the new menu for creating RIA AIR is available and running! You can find all the updates (security fixes and extensions) directly on the site.

Another novelty is the official launch of Adobe Open Source , a new website that will track all the latest in open source, not just Adobe. This becomes, then, the reference point for developers who can travare interesting contributions with demos, source code and more, such as support for open source projects Tamarin and BlazeDS .

Soon we will see how to develop a simple AIR application with Flash and Dreamweaver!

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Yahoo! has just released ASTRA , a suite of components for Adobe Flash and Flex . I have to say that, at least with regard to the components for Flash, I had a half disappointment (if not total). The most interesting, perhaps, is the TabBar ... the rest leaves much to be desired. They look for some components developed their project - internal - and now released as open product! Perhaps, at Yahoo!, we are already aligned with the Microsoft policies ... since today the software company founded by Bill offered 44.6 billion dollars to buy Yahoo!! 44.6 billion, I have not misspelled!

But take a trip on the site where you can find several useful resources. We hope in the near future.

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Adobe has finally released the alpha version of Apollo . We are still far from the final version, but you can check out some of its functionality due to Demo applications (. air) proposals online. The installation ( Apollo runtime ) of this Alpha weighs about 6Mb - for Windows. The Demo (Apollo sample applications) do not come to weigh even 600Kb. After installing the Apollo runtime will seem nothing changed on your PC (not added any links on the desktop or taskbar), even though you have installed - in fact - the new browser from Adobe! See Web2.0: Adobe is trying to Apollo?

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It is available online version of Firefox 3.0 Alpha 2 , code-named Gran Paradiso. Among the features announced (the final version is expected in late 2007) we can use the browser in offline mode. All this reminds Adobe Apollo , which, despite not presenting himself as the browser, it evokes the essential features.

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It happened to turn the TV Net TV, as had happened to become the Radio Net Radio, not to mention the music! Now, as mentioned in other posts, it's official for the software to turn short in Net Software!

Adobe , which we know has recently acquired Macromedia, formalizes the Web Application - Web 2.0 - in real RIA (Rich Internet Applications) with the announcement of wanting to take on the popular Web editing software Photoshop. It is the latest ' agreement between Adobe   and Photobucket   to make available online a technology for video editing and remixing. Thanks to new technology developed for Flash 9 with ActionScript 3.0 , Adobe aims high, anticipating that within six months will be available online a version of Photoshop based precisely on Flash technology.

Indeed the new capabilities of ActionScript 3.0 (involving projects such as Flex and Apollo - also see Web2.0: Adobe is trying to Apollo and Ajax: Rich Internet Application ) makes it the perfect candidate for the implementation of true on the Web Ajax RIA , on the other hand, we see ousted from his throne in this new scenario. Despite the countless Ajax Framework, some of excellent quality, products over the past few years, Flash provides an environment more advanced and easy to manipulate. Also we talk about one of the world's most popular plugins: Flash has behind it a few years older than Ajax and derivatives.

Furthermore, it is obvious that Adobe Flash chooses, he being the producer now. However there are technical issues that may be considered - to date - only to be resolved in a harmonious way with technologies like Flash. Taking a look at the new ActionScript 3.0 we immediately realize the enormous potential for development offered by this new platform. The ECMA standard of language and new items made ​​available by the framework, allowing to reach a level of detail possible with previous versions of Flash: one of all, for example, the ability to access the bitmap data of an image loaded from hard!

The attack by Adobe seems svolgerersi then on two separate fronts that share Flash technology (which remember has always been the ability to actively interact with the browser and then using Javascript Client side and Server side scripting).

The first attack came from outside, on the browser side, where the technology Apollo is really proposed as an alternative to the usual kernel of different platforms, available today (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc. ...); use Adobe Apollo , then, instead browser for better performance and applications (RIA true) unthinkable, thus bypassing the incompatibility between Internet Explorer, FireFox and companionship. In addition, Apollo provides a single development platform, JavaScript-like Ajax, but without compatibility problems. This last point is a significant setback to technologies like Ajax, which still suffer enormously from cross-browser compatibility issues, do not forget, also, the whole issue to the output (rendering) graphical CSS!

The other attack takes place directly from within, hitting Ajax Framework with Flash card. The winning element in this strategy is the use of Flash, the Flash technology, which applies both in Flex , both in Apollo , in both standalone as we are already accustomed to seeing (simple SWF files for instance)! There is no doubt that this scenario is extremely appealing to developers, and Web. What becomes immediately realizable in Flash reusable in various ways, without forcing me to change a single line of code and, moreover, without worrying about compatibility!

All this, in my opinion, is an important step forward, a change of considerable proportions that also involves the world of games and Marketing. We'll talk again soon, make no mistake!

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Question: We consider the Ajax applications like real prorie RIA (Rich Internet Application - RIA is a web application with all the features and functionality of a traditional desktop application for PC)?
According to Ryan Stewart, no - or at least not now.

The role of the desktop Rich Internet Applications by ZDNet 's Ryan Stewart - Rich Internet Applications have helped change the face of the web. It's more interactive, Designers Have Been Able to leave Their mark and innovation in web development has soared. Rich Internet Applications helped open up the web to better Experiences and now They are doing the examination for desktop applications. Where do RIAs fit into the world of desktop development?

In fact, competition with other "approaches" - so to speak - is very high. The recent explosion in Net TV, for example, shows that the union is strength. In "Ajax" you can not see a video, for one thing. How you can make many other stuff. I do not think Ajax will be the absolute future. I see in Ajax more like a browser extension and a new way to address some of the dynamics on DU first even considered.

However, if someone had noticed it, there are still obstacles to overcome. For example:

• Improve the compatibility between different browsers on the market, enlargement topic discussed on this very Blog
• Allow greater interaction between Web pages and the operating system "host", such as a Drag & Drop from the desktop to the Web page
• Standardization of scripting: JScript, JavaScript (1.3, 1.7, ...), VBScript
• Accessibility, usability and security, given that we are on the net!

Libraries, Prototype / Script.aculo.us and YUI components: the real stumbling block?

When a developer creates a library or a frame-work to fix (once and for all) a variety of needs, start creating a monster. Often do not realize it but the developer link end-user is really convoluted. It starts, for example, with the creation of a JavaScript library can create simple windows. Just recently, and someone creates a similar library that allows you to create modal windows resizable and with the management order and overlap. After a while, 'it comes up and you also implements customized graphics ... and so on.

Basically when you get something, the instant immediately following that something is simply not enough, seems to be the standard and then seek new accessories to even further improve the performance or appearance. All end-user requests! And the developer runs, almost like a frightened dog, the end-user is always right!

This race continues, in a universe like the Internet, threatens to cast long to bring more confusion than anything else.

Web 3.0?

Lately experiences (beta) have proliferated in the Web2.0 on the network at an impressive pace. Each has brought attention to its Ajax-style application, each with its embedded solutions, relying on libraries notes, writing proprietary frame-work, etc. ...
Each experience had its peculiarities: some was visually appealing, some extremely fast, extremely customizable, and other other extremely usable.
But no one, until now, has managed to combine all this in a single environment.

Ragionandoci carefully is evident that the reason is the lack of support provided by the browser itself and by the immense complexity of the problem.

Even if someone has assimilated the browser to an operating system, it still holds a huge advantage. Foremost among these is the so-called Kernel. What is the kernel Explorer or FireFox? Both, like Opera or Safari, barely support the scripting language called JavaScript (or JScript as the case). Mozilla, FireFox is about to release its version of JavaScript 1.7, really interesting. But will Microsoft Explorer? It will install an ActiveX emulate him, wait until 2012 for the release of IE8 or use a myriad of if to understand on what platform you are working?

I can only agree with Ryan Stewart. For the moment, Ajax is a technique of great help in very specific cases, but to compare this technique (and I stress technique is not technology) to a RIA seems to me - at least for now - really eccesivo.

Macromedia / Adobe

Interesting, however, are the technologies (and I emphasize technology and non-technical) Flex / Flash and Apollo, that after the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe are going to live a second life.
I highly recommend to all interested parties to view the Adobe Labs , where he shows a nice new policy that certainly inspires more confidence in the future of Script.aculo.us - no offense, and without detracting from the developer.

But the Internet has a unique feature, that of surprise, so I'm not surprised at all that he said - in short - a myriad of nonsense!

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