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CormacRedmond
Participating Frequently
November 21, 2008
Question

Can you advise me on which Adobe software I need, please?

  • November 21, 2008
  • 2 replies
  • 470 views
Hi,

I haven't looked at Adobe software in over a year - stuff has changed a lot and I'm a bit confused! 🙂

Basically what I intend to build is is a web application that is capable of having multi-user chat, and drawing capabilities which allow other users to see what a person has drawn, etc. I'm not really interested in video or sound broadcasting at the moment. The website www.isketch.net seems to achieve everything that I would require - although I am not building this as a game. It uses an old pre-Media Server platform, I believe.

What Adobe products would you use achieve this kind of thing? Flash Media Server? Or is Flash Meda Server overkill for my needs? Can Flex achieve this? What about non-adobe software? Any suggestions/input is greatly appreciated.

Note: I am a software engineer - but haven't much experience with Adobe - although I have researched their products in the past.


Thanks for any help as always,
Cormac
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    C
    CormacRedmondAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 25, 2008
    Hi,

    Thanks for that useful reply! Cocomo looks really really cool. I wonder what the pricing will be like though! ;)

    But if it isn't too steep, it might well be worth it!

    One question, you said "Flex or Flash"... isn't Flex just a bunch of Flash APIs?

    Also, what's happened to Shockwave these days? Is it dieing a slow death?


    Regards,
    Cormac
    robdillon
    robdillon
    Participating Frequently
    November 22, 2008
    If you really enjoy writing software and you want to develop something completely from scratch, then Flash is your best choice. If you want a ready to go out of the box, free application that's designed just for this sort of thing, then look at basecamp. You can find it at http://basecamphq.com/ 37 signals has a number of other products that provide similar functionality.

    Acrobat Connect is good, non-free tool for this sort of thing. You might also find something useful at labs.google.com or labs.adobe.com
    C
    CormacRedmondAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 24, 2008
    Thanks for the response. I had a look at 37 signal's stuff - seems good.

    One of my worries with a non-Flash approach is that I won't achieve the nice friendly look and feel that I could with Flash.
    Again, I have created very basic flash applications, I don't know of its capabilities. I want a drawing application that updates on-the-fly to show all parties in the room what person X has just drawn.

    I have no problem writing the client/server architecture - but how possible is it to map Flash to, say, a Java backend, and have the backend control what the Flash component displays/does?


    Thanks ;)
    Cormac

    G
    greg_h_
    Participant
    November 25, 2008
    Hi Cormac,

    For multi-user chat and drawing capabilities you need:
    -- UI technology, e.g. Flex or Flash
    -- Communication Server, e.g. FMS or BlazeDS or LiveCycle Data Services (aka LCDS)

    Personally, I think the quickest way for you to get up and going is to take a look at the following new offering from Adobe (released just last week at MAX)
    http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/cocomo/
    http://cocomo.acrobat.com/

    Cocomo currently is an open beta (so, for now, the service is 100% free).

    Cocomo runs FMS under the hood with Adobe providing the hosting, plus Cocomo gives you prebuilt Flex components for building and branding your own, customized applications that include all or some of the functionality that Adobe currently is offering through their ConnectNow service
    http://www.adobe.com/acom/connectnow/

    So:
    -- 100% power of FMS
    -- Adobe provides server install and hosting (they call it PaaS, Platform as a Service)
    -- Prebuilt UI components

    For your purposes, Cocomo includes a prebuilt Whiteboard component, etc.
    http://livedocs.adobe.com/labs/acrobatcom/com/adobe/coreUI/controls/WhiteBoard.html

    hth,

    g
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