Simeon Says

The RIA War Is Brewing. I saw this article and was again disappointed that people continue to compare these platforms.

Curl and Siverlight? competitors. AIR? not so much its a desktop environment. Compare it to the Flash Platform and move on.

Prism? Its kinda like a half cocked attempt at building AIR applications. The entire platform can be simulated by building an AIR application that includes a single html control with a root url of a remote site. But that where the comparisons end.

AIR is an platform for building desktop applications with existing web tools. These are not RIA’s. You build them with the same tools you build RIA’s. However they do not run in the browser and do not require a back end server to be useful. They are not RIA’s themselves. You wanna compare something to AIR compare Java or WPF or something that actually runs on the users computer with or without the web, then you have a comparison worth getting into.

Quit trying to make news over crap that is unrelated. Just because they happen to be new tools from competing companies does not make them competitors automatically.

KthnxBye.

In working with new technologies I am always concerned about how a user will need to update the third party software that makes them work. Adobe AIR is no different. Although we have badge installs that make getting the runtime on the computer very easy and near seemless for the users, I was not sure how the runtime updates were going to look.

Well suprisingly enough I fired up an AIR application and was prompted to update my AIR Runtime. So I decided to video it if for reference. I used follow cursor so its a bit shaky but at least I know what users of my AIR applications will see.

Not only did I go outside this weekend but I went to the mountain and went skiing! My mother in law has recently rediscovered her love of skiing. But she is lacking friends to do it with. So while I spent 10 years snowboarding I decided to accompany her on a trip to the mountain this last sunday.

Plus this gives me a chance to use the new gallery feature of wordpress 2.5 so lets see how this looks.

Dear Driver,

I am really excited that we have this chance to talk. I think its really important that I take a second to express my feelings about what I just saw occur. You are an asshole. No really, you are. And its not really the fact that you swerved back and forth across a 4 lane highway or were driving damn near twice as fast as the rest of us. The part that makes me really upset is that you didn’t once use your turn signals.

In the three minutes or so of speeding, swerving and riding peoples asses, that I could see before you made your way out of sight, not once did you give any indication of your intentions or directions. Now I want to be very clear on this point, I don’t want to know where you are going so I can follow you, or impact your driving in any way. I want to know where you are going so I can work my hardest to be as far away from you as I can at any given moment. Because while you have been very lucky ( 3 near accidents that I have seen so far) you wont always be. I want to know so that when you crash and your car roles across the highway and you die in a spectacular flaming mess, its only you and the people who love you that have a bad day. I want to make sure that when you meet your amazingly bright and flame-full death, I am far enough away that I barely hear the sirens marking your departure from this world.

So please, regardless of the rest of your driving habits, please use your turn signals when you intend to change lanes.

thanks

Well Hello! There you are. I was wondering where you have been. I don’t think I have seen you in a while. How are you? I am doing well. Yeah, I just finished a couple big projects that have been taking up most of my time. You? Yeah? Cool.

What am I up to now? Gosh, I dont know, well lets see… I’ve been planning on doing a bit more blogging. I have a couple code project I need to spend some time on, I need to come up with a couple good presentations for Adobe Max 2008. I really think I need to find a way to try my hand at video podcasting. I think it would be really cool to do a talk show format like love-line with Dr. Drew. People can watch and then call in with questions about their flex and air code. And then we can put solutions under the microscope and everyone can see. Seems like it might be fun.

Anyway, I gotta run. It was great talking to you. Lets catch up again soon. Don’t wait so long to drop by next time.

Laters