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72Pantera
Known Participant
December 27, 2013
Question

Air is Dead

  • December 27, 2013
  • 35 replies
  • 103028 views

Let's face it guys. Air is Dead.  Look at the feature list for 4.0.  The pace of development and bug fixes have slowed to a crawl.

It's presented to us as a mobile development platform but you can't pick a video from the Gallery, read the Contacts database or Play a movie.  The forums are full of bugs and when Adobe rarely chimes in it's to ask us to vote.  Shouldn't you just fix bugs?

It's touted as a cross platform mobile environment but it's not listed in a single article comparing them.  No new developer in his right mind would program in Flash at this point. I did for ten years but I'm done. Tired of spending hours on bugs and workarounds.

I wish Adobe would spin out the two or three guys still working on it and open source it.  Maybe they could call themselves MacroMedia.

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    T
    TrickeyDee
    Participating Frequently
    January 9, 2014

    As I said - I don't agree or disagree. I think it's a non-point which will annoy some people as we have seen in similar conversations. So no I don't challenge your right, but as you are having a conversation that will not accomplish anything, and will make some people feel bad I do question your judgment.

    7
    72PanteraAuthor
    Known Participant
    January 9, 2014

    @TrickyDee, the post is already accomplished. I've programmed in Flash (and Air) for a decade but I'm not connected (other than this forum) to the Flash development world. Flash was pronounced dead in the media long ago but I never agreed.  I continued to program with it. The media moved on.

    Now that I feel based on technical grounds - the slow pace of development and the lack of bug fixes for fundamental capabilities - that it's dead, I wanted to know if my fellow developers agree.  If you have no opinion on that, it is you who has the only inappropriate reply on this thread.

      T
      TrickeyDee
      Participating Frequently
      January 9, 2014

      The point is, it's not that simple. 'Dead' for you (nice buzz word by the way) is not 'dead' for everyone else. Obviously there are still a lot of people being employed to use flash, and obviously there are a lot of areas for which it is no longer appropriate. My issue is the insistence (not just yours but that of many people) that it is black or white, dead or alive. Frankly it's a childish approach and it just leads to the type of technology wars that the internet is peppered with - and you can't say that your title is not sensationalist.

      If you argue for the right to have the conversation, which I fully respect, then I must also argue for my right to express my thoughts. In this case they are that I believe the conversation to be moot. Use a technology where that technology is best suited. Air is still best suited to many areas.

        T
        TrickeyDee
        Participating Frequently
        January 9, 2014

        I don't see the point in this post. Use Flash for things it is good at and use alternatives for things they are better at - no need to complain about the technology you choose not to use. Surely you know how people react to this type of stuff on the internet. Whether you meant it or not (I imagine not), it is antagonistic. I also can't imagine it suddenly making Adobe act any differently.

        L
        little fat girl
        Inspiring
        January 8, 2014

        I sadly agree. And I appreciate you calling Adobe out on this. I've been using Flash for 15 years. The changing technological landscape never made me doubt Flash's future. What's made me doubt Flash's future is the way Adobe can't mothball it fast enough. A lot of us would be willing to stick our neck out for the product if it didn't seem like Adobe was ashamed of it (and of us).

        It is sad to be in a design/animation dilema on the web much as we were in the late 90's( accomodating small screens; accomodating low-end processing power; regurgitating flat, cookie-cutter page layouts) and to see Adobe failing so hard at this.  Flash originally broke out in this kind of environment and turned loose a whole new immersive experience of motion and sound. And I know that Adobe can't control what Steve Jobs is going to say, but I have a hard time believing Macromedia would have let it go down like this.

        If only the team from Macromedia would get back together and do a Kickstarter project to buy back Flash. I would support that. And given Adobe's attitude about Flash, they might be able to get a great deal on it.

          7
          72PanteraAuthor
          Known Participant
          January 8, 2014

          Amen brother (or sister).  I really do see incredible potential as a cross platform mobile app environment for a dedicated team.  I've spent a huge amount of time trying the other cross platform tools (PhoneGap, Titanium, and more) and they all have major issues.

          FlashBuilder with Starling/Feathers could be great but there are big issues.  To give a specific, I have a URLLoader that calls a web page that does a redirect.  It shouldn't matter to the client what the server does but Air locks up. It's been that way and reported to these forums for over a year.  I don't own the web page (service) and thus can't move forward and sadly (@Anton), I not up for rewriting URLLoader as an ANE.

          Starling and Feathers can't build a skyscraper on a poor foundation. Evidenced by this post, Adobe has left the building.

            Parag_Shah
            Parag_Shah
            Participating Frequently
            January 9, 2014

            Adobe AIR wins Compass Intelligence 2014 Mobility Award for Best Mobile App Development tool! Does anyone think it was a fluke?

            A
            Anonymous
            January 3, 2014

            this is just your personal point of view. i am developer which has been working with flash/flex/air for more than 10 years. and i am still proud and happy for these technologies. i see how they are progressing and supported. i can easily migrate my complex business applications to Mac OS, Windows, iOS or any Android device. and this all is in OOP. there is no other such technology in the world like flash and air.

            User Unknow
            User Unknow
            Legend
            January 3, 2014

            play movie can be done easy using native for device mp4 or all flash formats

            contacts can be received using native extensions the same as video gallery. or u dont know what is native extensions?

            A
            Anonymous
            January 3, 2014

            "or u dont know what is native extensions?"

            - i would better ask if he knows how to fix bugs.

            7
            72PanteraAuthor
            Known Participant
            January 3, 2014

            Gentlemen, I too have coded in Flash for a decade. Declaring me a poor coder does nothing for your case.

            I've used a handful of ANEs and they all have issues.  Show me one that allows you to pick a movie from the Gallery. I've used two of the ones that purport to.  The Fresh Planet ANE throws lost context states when it starts and stop - four amateur screen flashes with each video pick.

            The VideoRoll version throws errors if you use it with Actionscript (works better for Flex) but has a long list of bugs reported.  Read the forum post on this feature request and you'll see developers begging for this simple upgrade for well over a year.

            As for video, you can't put Starling or conventional Flash elements on the same plane as StageVideo.  Face it guys, it's Mickey Mouse tools in 2014. 

            In my career I've programmed in C, C++, VB, Java and Flash.  The fact that no professional market has emerged for Adobe ANE proves it has no following or future.  If you're writing enterprise apps, you need professional tools and support.  Adobe has farmed out the most important elements to a couple of outside projects (Starling and Feathers).  If you have experience in tech you know that you must bring core elements inside.  It shows that they want to keep collecting the coins but they don't want to spend any. 

            The elements I pointed out (there are ten more that I didn't) are fundamental to the two mobile platforms that matter.  How can you argue for not being able to pick, play and share a movie from your phone?  It's the most important pieces of the most important platform.

            Let's face facts, we're programming in tomorrow's ColdFusion.  It's a shame because I love(d) Flash.  The abstraction level and the paradigm of a programmable movie is brilliant.  They had a ten year lead on HTML5 but conceded the fight without throwing a punch.  When the sole owner of a proprietary tech gives up, it's over.

            Turn the lights out when you leave.

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