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aligned2009
Participating Frequently
November 9, 2011
Question

Is Flex/Flash Builder dead?

  • November 9, 2011
  • 12 replies
  • 36532 views

I don't understand today's announcement. Is Flex/Flash Builder dead, or does desktop development continue, or do I continue developing and everything will magically work in mobile devices with AIR?

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    Dave Alger
    Dave Alger
    Participant
    November 9, 2011

    I think that today's announcement is being blown way out of proportion.

    The thing that is no longer being worked on and supported by Adobe was already not really being used, supported or working... mobile Flash player for mobile browsers

    I can't think of any major or worthwhile web application that was designed to run inside of a mobile browser.  Even well written HTML5 apps have a hard time performing in a browser running on a mobile device.

    Flash Builder / Flex / ActionScript isn't going anywhere and will continue to be used for creating and compiling native applications for any Android / iPhone / Blackberry mobile device along with all the major desktop browsers.

    In addition, new products like Edge will fill the gap for using familiar movie timeline tools for making animated banners / logos / buttons in pure HTML5 eventually removing the need for Flash player in other browsers but that transition will still take awhile as development continues for Flash player in all the major desktop browsers.

    as a side note: I met some of the developers for Edge at MAX this year and there are only like 5 or 6 of them and the product is turning out far superior in some ways to the Flash IDE.  It doesn't take a lot of developers to build something awesome, clean and performant.  In many cases when it comes to software development, too many cooks spoil the broth

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    Claudiu_Ursica
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2011

    Medium to long term this will lead to a gradually replacement of the existing flash and flex apps. Why would you have 2 applications one for desktop and one for devices when you can have only one browser app using html5 targeting both of

     them? Devices are a reality and even if now the player is not used that much on mobiles, not having it in the mobile's browser will exclude flash/flex as a possible choice in the future. As a company why would I invest in a second technology just to target the devicewhen I can have only one.

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    pauland
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2011

    aligned2009 wrote:

    I don't understand today's announcement

    That's understandable.

    Is Flex/Flash Builder dead,

    No.

    does desktop development continue

    Yes.

    do I continue developing and everything will magically work in mobile devices with AIR?

    Yes, absolutely.

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      aligned2009Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 9, 2011

      Thanks - flash on mobile devices without air didn't make sense to me due to the high interaction required with local data. What was exactly cancelled here that Adobe laid off 750 people? Is this a way to pay homage to Steve Jobs so that air (ie flash) can become more prevalent on iphones? It doesn't sound to me like flash builder will be targeting html5 as much as mobile users will be required to install air on their phone. Am I incorrect here?

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      pauland
      Participating Frequently
      November 9, 2011

      Everybody wants to predict the future. Adobe has an intrest in Flash and HTML so I would expect them to look at being the best HTML 5 development platform, one way or another, but I don't see it as an either-or situation.

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