MAX 2K5 Wrapup

I've been back from Macromedia's MAX 2005 conference for a few days, but I'm still recovering from jet lag, my luggage having a longer trip than I did, information overload, and a killer hangover.

The conference was held at the convention center in Anaheim, CA. With over 3,000 in attendance, there was a great mix of folks from diverse backgrounds - guys and girls, coder types and designer types, all ages and abilities from all across the country.

Macromedia announced Macromedia Labs, where they are going to post alpha software and increase community involvement with the development process. Already available is the alpha release of FlexBuilder 2 (previously known as "Zorn," or as I like to call it, "ZORN!!").

I haven't yet had the chance to play with FlexBuilder 2, but this was the most exciting news. Released last year, the first version of the Flex server allowed rich Internet applications (RIAs) - running in Flash, of course - to be developed and deployed independently from the Flash authoring tool. It has great promise and has already been effectively used by SAP. However, the server product was prohibitively expensive and the IDE was essentially a tricked-out version of Dreamweaver.

With FlexBuilder 2, the IDE is completely re-written as an Eclipse plugin, and the server component becomes optional. The server version is still available at the high price, but now you can simply deploy your application front-end as a SWF that communicates asynchronously with your server's business objects written in ColdFusion, Java, or .NET. The communication protocol uses SOAP, Web Services, or a new ColdFusion Adapter. So existing CFCs can be re-used with a completely new, much more responsive user interface.

The server product, which you'll still need to do the really cool stuff, will include Flex Data Services, an ADO.NET-like protocol for data access and charting, but the point is that you can get started with RIAs for the price of the new IDE and your existing server platform. Flash RIAs offer great promise, even if Macromedia's thunder has been stolen a bit by AJAX. However, it behooves Macromedia to embrace AJAX as well, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a cfajax tag show up in the next release of ColdFusion.

Even with the lower price, the trick will be to convince management types of the benefits in taking the time to develop a richer Web-based user experience. This can be particularly difficult in an intranet environment, where people have to use the tools regardless of whether the interface is clunky or elegant, and adding any dependence on additional client software - even just the Flash plugin - gets away from the idea of thin clients (in other words, those Win95 machines may actually need to be upgraded). In some brief conversations with my immediate manager, the best way to approach this seems to be taking the tack of better user experiences leading to increased user productivity.

We stayed at the Hilton Anaheim, which has the longest freaking hallways I've ever seen and presented its own unique user experience challenges. I have no idea who designed this hotel, but they've got a sick sense of humor.

There was perceptible trepidation about the impending Adobe merger. Developers have responded to the culture of openness and communication that's taken hold at Macromedia over the last few years, and there's real concern that it could be lost in the merger. A brief demonstration of integration between Flash and Adobe AfterEffects seemed to allay some fear, but it will be an interesting thing to watch over the next few years.

A hands-on conference session with FlexBuilder 2 was replaced at the last minute with what was essentially a marketing presentation on the software. There was occasional unevenness in the quality of the presentations, but overall, my first MAX experience absolutely exceeded expectations and certainly got me inspired. Plus, the opportunity to speak directly to the engineers building the next version of ColdFusion is pretty much alone worth the admission price.

Tuesday night, Macromedia rented out part of Disney's California Adventure across the street. There were rides and boardwalk-style games, plus all the free food and beer you could hope to consume. I won two basketballs and a stuffed dragon and fish, took a ride on a Ferris wheel, and headed back to the hotel bar where unbelievable fun was had and no photos were taken. Not by me, anyway.

Comments

[Rob Gonda]

check ajaxCFC, a component based cf+ajax framework.
http://www.robgonda.com/blog/projects/ajaxcfc/" rel="nofollow">http://www.robgonda.com/blog/projects/ajaxcfc/