A better strategy would have been to lower the price of Flex Data Services (aka LiveCycle Data Services) to be affordable. I was wondering about what would happen with LCDS since they were kind of sidelining Flex.  I know for a fact it has a range of uses outside of Flex from the documentation. However, it just felt like there was a "wall" you could hit with parent-child relations and database synchronicity(?) in complex applications.  While there are OSS solutions designed to solve this parent-child problem , they can still be kind of akward to use and intrusive on the code base.  I would gladly pay for many of the functionality facets here (http://www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/dataservices/compare.html) but at 30K a processor, that puts it well out of the range of any non-corporate developer. ... View more

...Not sure where I stand with my app now. That's easy, you are going to learn to rewrite you app in HTML 5/JS.  Not that your app isn't viable right now, but since you know how the app is supposed to look and behave in Flex, it would be great to begin the journey in replicating similar behavior in HTML5/JS. ... View more

I don't think Flex is dying perse.  But what most people including me are scared of is the perception of Flex's viability and long term support.  For instance, I have a little pet project I am working on that I am hoping to pitch to some companies, now if I go into a room full of MBA's I risk being turned down because they have heard this and that about Flex.  The driving issue is that it becomes harder to advocate Flex based projects because of the perceived lack of support by Adobe discontinuing the allocation of resources to it. As far as mobile development goes, that most likely came about in the Flex world because of the perception.  No company wants to get left behind with their technology and having a mobile branch of Flex just made it that much more competitive, at least in the beginning.  With the proliferation of tablets and smartphones, I can't say that was such a bad idea. From my username you can tell I know my way around FOSS, but I have a bad feeling about Flex going FOSS.  Let's start with Java comparisons. Java is a language that generally has its roots in the backend, firmly in the realm of neckbeards.  It is also the backbone of many corporations' backends and technologies, if not for the language itself, then for the VM (JRuby, Scala, Closure,etc).  This leads to the platform having MASSIVE corporate support from tech giants such as IBM, Redhat and others who can see to it themselves that Java survives.  ( On a sidenote, think of the operations coverage Java has, from DBs, Persistence, Networking, Imaging, Fronted("yuck") and even client side("double yuck") ) . Now lets look at Flex,  I don't think it has the massive corporate support as Java since it can solve every single problem in the software field so that may hurt it.  More importantly, like someone else pointed out, what about the VM it runs on, or the idea that Flex is opensource, but EventDispatcher is not ?  I don't think Flex is dead perse, but its market value in terms of people wanting to do projects in it has taken a hit since people are unsure of its fate.  I can tell you this though, I think HTML5 isn't quite there yet ( 6 months - 1 year ), it doesn't seem to lend itself to the same workflow type as Flex/AS3.  The whole JS world and language seems to defy any OO rules at first glance, maybe this is where Adobe is going to come in, I don't know. ... View more

Today has been tough on all of us, first Heavy D dies, then Joepa retires from my alma mater, now this. I understand your angst, I'm a little worried too.  But I do have this to say, Adobe has shown a sense of urgency in adapting to the changing sands.  For instance, they released Adobe Edge for free which I feel was a feeler for HTML 5. They have stepped up the release cycle going from Flex sdk 4.0->4.5->4.5.1, each step along the way incorporating more items making mobile development easier.  They realize that the landscape is changing, and theat the tech world doesn't have alot of time for people who insist on doing things the old way.  Does Flash have some "issues", yeah, it does and quite a few even disregarding security issues.  I dodge some websites (I'm looking at you CNN) like the cops because I know that my browser will lock up like a big block chevy at 6000 rpm with no oil. Now lets look at Adobe as a company, what advantages does it have.  The first is that is has a headlock on the creative side of things.  It doesn't matter whether the software is pirated, borrowed, or stolen, if you want to do design work, you are going to get a CS family piece of software.  This gives them a very firm launching point for other technologies and a market place presence.  So even if Flex/Flash does become a technological ghost, there will still be other technologies and frameworks to avenge it. My last point is, who on earth is doing well in this new world software or hardware ?  Can we all bow our heads while we do a casualty count: JavaFX:  Didn't even make it to the battlefield.  They couldn't transition from the Swing/AWT wars of the late 90's. Such a bad taste was left in developers mouths, they swore to never work with any frontend tech from Sun where the designers were replaced with engineers. Silverlight: Managed to coerce, beat, threaten , extort Netflix into using their tech.  They weren't really able to expand past that and are expected to be put down like Old Yeller. Blackberry Playbook:  They didn't stock their first tablet offering with email and calendar. For their insolence, they were rewarded with 3.3% market share.  It doesn't help that as of late, their products have been met with the same excitement one would find at a wake. HP Touchpad:  No one really knows what is going on with HP, not even the Board of Directors.  I got a Touchpad, threw Cyanogenmod on it and went to work, was a great deal for the price.  An also ran in the big scheme of things, especially since they are playing musical chairs with their CEO position and business plans. So when we compare the techs that left the gate, it appears that getting to today and still having a pulse puts you in elite company. Message was edited by: UbuntuPenguin ... View more

I'm "Loverin" that last name. ... View more