Goodbye Flex, Hello Ruby on Rails

RoR is not a competitor to Flex. RoR is worth learning but that has nothing to do with the decline or otherwise of Flex. You can use RoR with Flex. See for example http://flexonrails.com/. If you're trying to replace your Flex skills learn another front-end technology like HTML5 or Java Swing.

Seems as if Adobe isn't worried about scaring the crap out of the Flex dev community.  Hopefully, after the huge stock fall today, a little PR will kick in tomorrow.

I wish they had said something to the effect: "we are commited to improving flex on the desktop" or "focusing on improving the AIR runtime for mobile".  Instead they are just letting us assume the worst, which leads me to think...

Ruby on Rails is a great framework for web development and it will continue to grow. Adobe Flex for browser like Microsoft own silverlight isn't best option after plugin free mobile enviroment became hot platform. Adobe AIR on other hand is for developing applications which is best option for those who are planning to develop application for iOS, Android and Blackberry (all), which requires Flex skills (your skills are still very much useful). But on browser side HTML5 stack is better option due to its availability across all devices(windows phone, 8 metro..).  App development market for iOS , Android ect. is much hotter than Ruby on Rails, you can even learn rails and use it as AIR app's backend with RubyAMF I guess.

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

I came here this morning expecting a firestorm of a discussion on Adobe's announcement.  I can't believe this is the only post so far.

I don't entirely understand Air.  But my thought is that it was essentially a Flash player that lives outside the browser (i.e. so your Flex app could run stand-alone).  So it seems to me a little contradicatory when they say Air for mobile development will continue but Flash for mobile is dead.  I'm OK if my Flex apps require Air to run on a mobile device in the long-term/future... but I'm not sure if that's what they're saying. 

Thoughts?

Kinda curious... Why relate RoR with Flex?

While I'm disapointed in the announcemnent, that statement of yours just feels so... pointless...