Comments on: Are Flash’s Days Numbered? (or “Is Microsoft a threat to Adobe?”)

By: rmansperger

rmansperger — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 12:51:09 +0000

Actually – isn’t the Flash blocker on the new update to IE a result of the Eolas lawsuite victory over Microsoft as opposed to a malicious attack from Microsoft against Flash? Eolas recently won a case establishing that the framweork that MS uses with Active-X to get plug-ins working in the browser (like Flash) were in fact ‘lifted’ from Eolas. As a result of the verdict, if you’ve updated the browser you now have to authorize the plug-in to play. (Or my understanding of the issue).

By: audiowizard

audiowizard — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:48:59 +0000

Anyone else perceive Microsoft's latest IE update which blocks Flash content to be an attack on Flash? In which their intention is to hope that consumers believe there to be inconsistent compatibility issues with Flash, and therefor decide to purchase and use Microsoft's new Expression software?

Things that make ya go...well hell yeah.

Personally I would've titled this thread "Is Microsoft's Base Dissolving?"

By: haleOnEarth

haleOnEarth — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 15:29:51 +0000

To this day, as if having seen a Fiero driving cabbie, I’m still absolutely dropjaw amazed that anyone uses Windows, upon which to develop anything.

By: developer-centric?

developer-centric? — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 15:19:59 +0000

Sincere thanks for your insights from your experience. I noticed you wrote about graphic and interaction designers passing the workflow on to developers for the “heavy-lifting” I merely hope you weren’t insinuating any sort of comparison in regards to inherent skill or task complexity between the roles. I’ve developed applications over the years beside some of the most talented experience designers in the trade and they see, understand and implement things that amazed me, providing for the most seamless, elegant, functional and often enjoyable experience. For me to think my task of wiring the logic engine behind it all, was any greater feat or importance, would be quite ignorant indeed. Such widespread ignorance and unappreciation of invested experience design amongst developers is the exact culprit that has littered the digital universe with so much garbage. The Redmond brigade itself is no stranger to this phenomenon. Classes, objects and methods alone, does not a user-friendly application make. I just had to make sure the experience makers weren’t to be misinterpreted. Keep up the great work Aral!

By: lee

lee — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 09:55:20 +0000

That sounds like a probable MS strategy. Reminds me of the difference it made for MS to license their OS to external manufacturers. I still hear people saying, "MS holds over 90% of the industry, and that alone justifies using MS products over anything else". Not that I agree, but I believe many companies choose MS for that reason alone.

But I've also found that more often than not, my client doesn't give a damn what software his project is developed on, so long as it looks good and works. Which brings us back to "this technology does this VS that technology might next year, or the year after that". In which case, I predict MS loses among the in-the-know crowd, and wins the newbie/conservative crowd.

Do the Expression "see it in action" video's suck for anyone else? Not only does it seem about like I've heard it all before while twiddling my thumbs reading the Adobe CS2 install-filler, but the functionality is crap over here.

have a good day sir

By: DannyT

DannyT — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 01:02:09 +0000

One element that I believe is somewhat overlooked in the "how will MS compare to MM" stakes is corporate strategy. I mean beyond the "this technology does this Vs that technology does that".

From what I have deduced (from a magical day out at MS's UK HQ) we will be seeing microsoft perform something like this:

HUGE marketing campaign aimed at the consumers of developed solutions (as in the big finance company that pays the little tech company to build them a system). Something like a highly believable TV Ad, where some logistics company uses an end-to-end solution developed on MS technologies, cuts costs, saves millions, etc etc.

Then make ALL their development tools available to dev houses for free (or near enough) so when Joe Blogg's Logistics comes knocking: "Can you build me one of them MS solutions I saw on the pretty TV ad?", they're armed and dangerous. Joe Blogg's pays for the licnces in the end solution and everybody's happy.

If that is the case, bearing in mind I could be wrong, I think it's pretty clever and wonder what Adobe will be doing beyond offering up Flex2 for free.

By: Aral Balkan

Aral Balkan — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:48:05 +0000

Make no mistake, Microsoft *is* a serious competitor. They may not get simplicity or be agile but they are furry and weigh 600 pounds :) Adobe definitely has competition for Flex in WPF/Expression/Visual Studio — if anything, Microsoft’s entry into RIAs raises the bar in the playing field.

If anything, however, this competition should be good for us all as I’m sure it will spur Adobe on to create bigger and better things.

By: ae

ae — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 23:09:20 +0000

great round up. in some ways i was hoping for more from MS - not because i support them (akk!!), but to keep adobe from becoming slack as can happen in a monopoly.
there will alwyas be MS development houses who for the most part are not very innovative and service enterprise clients ho-hum applications. these are the people who will love and embrace these products.
but i could't help think of the recent blog posts from current MS employees regarding the state of their company. it certainly has echoes in Expression.

By: craig

craig — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:06:01 +0000

Great work, as always, Aral.

You mention a ~70% project failure rate (in your response to Kim), which seems alarmingly high. Do you have a source for this estimate? I ask because this is relevant to a development methodology I am currently working on.

By: aral

aral — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:36:04 +0000

@David: Sorry if it appeared as if I was saying that FES is required for building data rich applications in Flex -- of course it's not: What I was trying to say is that FES-style functionality *should* to be built in to Flex/Flex Builder in order to compete with the ease of development in Expression Interaction Designer and Visual Studio. I have yet to check out the CF integration so this may be something you guys have handled on this front. (And it's great to hear that there will be further efforts in making the creation of data-rich applications easier -- in other words, more integrated, holistic support for the workflow of created data-rich applications.)

@Alexandru: Really looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with for Flex builder.

@Kim: It was definitely intentional: I see more harm done on a daily basis due to workflow and development process issues than anything else in our field. The fact that ours’ is a field in which we experience ~70% project failure says something. It says that most of us are doing things incorrectly, most of the time. (Of course it's much more complex than this and concerns not just development methodology but the greater organizational landscape of enterprises and the politics that go with that). In any case, the reason I dwelled so fully on the naming of the products is because I believe that prescribing roles to these products -- especially the wrong ones -- will affect directly affect team organization and workflow and thus have a real impact on the success or failure of projects, not to mention the daily development experience (quality of life) of team members.

@Raphael: Thanks for your kinds words! :)