Latest News from Adobe Flex Journal

What Makes a Web Application Enterprisey?

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:31:00 EDT

We’re starting to writing a book for O’Reilly that’s titled “Enterprise Web Applications: From Desktop to Mobile.” The book will be available under the Creative Commons license, which means you can read it and provide your feedback from the get go. Here’s the github repository where we’ll keep the current version of the book. In the morning we had a discussion about the meaning of the word Enterprise applied to Web applications. Below is the draft we came up with and we ask your input – would you agree or have a different understanding of the meaning of the term “Enterprise Web Application”. The easiest way to do this is by example. Creating a Web application that will place process orders is not the same as creating a Web site to publish blogs. Enterprise applications, including company-specific workflows, might need to be integrated with a number of internal systems, data sources and processes. Google Doc would not be an enterprise Web application. But Google appliance integrating a search operating on company documents, databases, processes, tickets, and providing collaboration is – integrates consumer/workforce front office with what the company does (back office). Google Maps is not an enterprise application. But a Google map integrated within the company site used by insurance agents to plan daily routes, scheduling, address verification and geocoding can be considered and enterprise application.

Don’t Listen to Your Business Analyst

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:15:00 EDT

I’m a partner in two companies – an IT consultancy Farata Systems, and SuranceBay - a 3 year old startup where we’re creating a software for insurance industry. Brian Morton, my partner at SuranceBay who knows everything about insurance wrote a blog delivering a message that Steve Jobs formulated in one sentence: let’s give our clients not what they want but what they need.

Adobe or HTML5 - Flex or JavaScript?

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:15:00 EDT

I know, some people will say it’s apples to oranges. Some people will say Adobe is also pushing for HTML5. But I’m writing this for people who read the title of this blog correctly: Flex or JavaScript. Disclaimer 1. I do both. Disclaimer 2. I don’t care about game programming. I work for a company [...]

Opsview Enterprise V4 Delivers Next-Generation IT Monitoring

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:00:00 EDT

Opsview, the IT monitoring software provider, has announced the launch of Opsview Enterprise V4 designed to help organisations more effectively monitor and improve the performance of their increasingly complex IT infrastructures. Opsview Enterprise V4 combines the latest data visualisation and dashboard technology to provide organisations with a highly-visual and scalable platform to monitor their physical, virtual and hybrid cloud environments. Opsview uses an 'open core' licensing model, so that its customers benefit from enterprise-grade IT monitoring capabilities without the high costs associated with legacy, proprietary solutions.

No One is Moving from Flex to HTML5

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:30:00 EDT

The fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is been slung around by profiteers like folding chairs at a WWE event. The haters are still being haters. Nothing new there. But now I see JavaScript companies’ desperate pleas for Flex developers to …

How to Make Your Chrome Browser Work Faster

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:00 EDT

Any Web browser has local cache, and everyone knows that its goal is to minimize the number of network requests by caching locally some resources like images or even the program code. The google.com home page opens blazing fast? Sure, because the browser loads it from your disk cache, not from the network. host=yakovfain.com&blog=16177610&post=7282&subd=yakovfain&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />

Social Networks Are Getting High

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:30:00 EDT

Not that I don’t like social networks, but I see no use for them in my personal life. I use Twitter for business reasons mainly, like advertising my upcoming training “JavaScript for Java Developers“, which doesn’t prevent me from posting a photo of two salmon heads that I was about to use for fish soup. [...]

Germany Opens Borders for Programmers

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:35:00 EDT

Have you read today’s German version of Financial Times? I did. Not that I can read German, but you don’t have to – just copy/paste the text of this article to Google Translate’s left box. It’s smart enough to recognize that it’s in German. Pick your language in the “To:” dropdown and enjoy the news. [...]

Design Patterns Were Not Born Equal

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Design patterns were not born equal. Some of them are boring, while others are special. Do you remember your feelings after learning what the Data Transfer Object is? Don’t remember? Of course – cause you didn’t have any special feelings about it other than “It’s easy”. What do you say about Singleton? Yeah, this is [...]

Reading Another Funny Document by Adobe

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:20:00 EST

Today Adobe released another document that brought tears into my eyes. Why they think that people are dumb? Why not just say, “We couldn’t figure out how to monetize Flex and we’re getting rid of the ballast”? Adobe is a public company, and, beside developers they have investors and their stock went more than 10% up since last (infamous) November. They’ve chosen investors over developers. This is understandable, but why keep lying to developers? Today’s doc contains lots of words, but the most important section is this: Adobe runtime support of Flex Flash Player 11.2 and Adobe AIR 3.2, which are anticipated to ship in the first quarter of 2012, will be tested with applications built using Adobe Flex 4.6. Adobe will test future releases of Flash Player and AIR against the Adobe Flex 4.6 SDK and maintain backwards compatibility for five years.

Three Tips to Successfully Load Test Adobe Flex Applications

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:31:00 EST

The world has changed dramatically for organizations that use web-enabled business applications in enterprise environments. The complexities of modern applications, which include multi-tiered, globally distributed architectures, SOA and a host of other new technologies, have forced major change in the way enterprises develop, test and manage web-enabled applications. Specifically, Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flex allow a faster, more engaging, interactive experience with browser- enabled applications and services. While an attractive option for developing expanded application capabilities these RIA technologies bring new challenges to organizations that need to deploy application features and functions in a compressed time frame and at a lower cost.

Enterprise Development: Flex or HTML5?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:00 EST

There are many ways of creating Web applications and creating them for the enterprises is not the same as developing a Web site for a pizzeria in your neighborhood. During the last five years we’ve been using mainly Adobe Flex for development of the front end of Web applications. Flex applications work in a well known and predictable run-time environment called Flash Player. The code is compiled and you have convenient tools for development.

Adobe Sends Flex to the Apache Foundation

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:00:00 EST

After casting a pall on the future of Flash by canceling any further development of Flash on mobile devices last week, Adobe has abandoned its Flash-based Flex application SDK to the tender mercies of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), reinforcing the idea that Flash is ultimately toast, burned by rival HTML5, a posthumous victory for Steve Jobs who openly loathed Adobe’s stuff. Flash’s future looks bleaker still considering Flex can build both desktop and mobile apps. The Apache Foundation will have to vote on whether it will take Flex and its roadmap under its wing. Flex has been open source since 2008 but will have to shift out from under Adobe’s control and be managed as an independent project.

Adobe MAX 2011 Was Good Despite The Keynotes

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:30:00 EDT

Just came back from LA, where I spent three days at MAX – the main Adobe conference. Four people from our company were there and all liked it. I went there to see if the company is still strong, has a clear road map that, hopefully, matches my understanding of where IT population is moving.

Sherlock Holmes and Adobe's Error #2032

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EDT

During yesterday’s Flex training the students had to install an Adobe's sample application "Tour De Flex". Everyone did. Everyone but one student was able to run this application. He was getting a weird error “An Internet connection is required” even though he was online. No proxies. This student went through the badge install of this AIR application from his Firefox browser. After a quick interrogation, the student has revealed that he ignored several error messages #2032, which is the infamous streaming error that has no generic cure. Basically, that application was installed, but with a little brain tumor. Google returned nothing but friendly posts suggesting to connect to the Internet. Actually, there was one post that Tour De Flex periodically performs server pings to check that the Internet connection is in place. In cases like this you may get a feeling of loosing control.

Adobe releases Customer Experience Enterprise Platform and Flash Builder 4.5.1

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:01:00 EDT

Adobe offers Customer Experience Enterprise Platform that includes Flash, Flex, HTML, PDF, designer’s tools, workflow servers, data services, tools for all major mobile platforms, marketing campaigns in social networks, usage analytics, friendly content management system. Adobe becomes a one-stop shop for all the tools for creation of enterprise applications with great customer experience. Just be creative and integrate these technologies in your business application.

Adobe SocialAnalytics Begins Global Beta Program

Thu, 19 May 2011 02:00:00 EDT

Adobe Systems Incorporated on Thursday announced that Adobe SocialAnalytics, a new application within the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture®, is now in a worldwide beta program. Unveiled earlier this year, Adobe SocialAnalytics goes beyond social monitoring and aggregates all relevant activity from social networks and online communities and identifies how that activity impacts key business metrics and brand perception, ultimately guiding social activity across channels and driving ROI. Adobe customers using SocialAnalytics can monitor and measure popular social platforms as well as blogs and forums in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Support for additional languages will continue to be added.

Software Pricing Trends

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Pricing software can be more difficult than creating one. There are companies who do just this – pricing software for others. Setting the low price brings more customers but requires more investments into customers support. Higher prices simplify customers support, but require more investments into sales and marketing.

Pricing software was a science for many years. The ability to have a cake and eat it too makes software (and music, and videos) different comparing to tangible products. A finished program (a song, a video) can be sold many times, but the rightsholder still has it, and can keep selling the same thing over and over again. Isn’t it amazing?

Many years ago Apple started selling downloadable songs for $.99 a piece. It’s a lot easier to shell out ninety nine cents for just one song than $15 for the entire CD. Besides, the inventory is limitless – you don’t depend any longer on the stock of the local music store. In no time a consumer spends the same $15 or more and production costs are close to zero.

But songs don’t need technical support. You won’t blame a musician for playing a wrong note. This is not the case with the software though. You want that bug to be fixed AFTER the sale is made.
During the last 15 years trillions of lines of open source and free software have been written. Most of these lines are a dead code that nobody uses. This code became useless because of the lack of funds for maintenance and customer support. And there is no one to blame for this. Software developers also need to buy food, houses, gasoline… They can’t work for free.

The vendors of a popular open source software make a living by charging an arm and a leg for training and customization of their products. They charge for service.

Last week one person called me asking my opinion about a certain software for advertising and managing meeting, conferences, and trainings. I’ve been using the services of this vendor for several years. When I told the guy that they charge a fee for each person registering for to the event, he said, “Excellent! I was afraid they’d do it for free! If they charge money, they can provide support.” Think about it – he didn’t want free service.

Then Apple did something else that changed people’s expectations about the cost of the software. There are thousands of applications on sale at iTunes store. Most of the products cost just a couple of bucks. Most of the products are useless. But it’s so easy to pay two dollars even for something that you won’t need. The last time I did it was yesterday. I had a program for iPad that had a certain issue. A quick search revealed that there is another great program of this kind, and people gave it great ratings. One minute later I paid $2.99…just to find out two minutes later that it suffers the same problem that the original one. So what? It’s only $2.99. I won’t even bother researching about their return policy.

I’m sure many people easily get parted with their dollars getting cheap software they’ll never use. And by doing so, they set a new pattern for pricing software. The vendors will be slowly forced to lower their prices way below what was considered reasonable just a couple of years ago. And this will affect not only the consumer’s market, but the enterprise software too. It’ll be more and more difficult to sell $100K+ software to managers who (after business hours) live in a world where software costs $2.99. OK, $9.99. Alright, $19.99.

Don’t you think that the quality of the software must go down the drain to be able to make it to the shelves of the one-dollar stores? Am I making things up?

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 is coming to town

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:01:00 EDT

Adobe is about to release Flex 4.5 and Flash Builder 4.5 – both are sharpened for the mobile development. On May 3rd you’ll get the version supporting Android, and the June’s release will support iOS. In other words, developers will be able to create standalone AIR applications for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and iOS.

Enterprise Development on Tablets. Thoughts Aloud

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:29:00 EDT

I've recorded our chat with my colleague Anatole Tartakovsky who leads the mobile development at Farata Systems. We were discussing approach for migrating existing legacy enterprise RIA to these shiny iPads, Xooms and the likes. You can listen to this podcast on any MP3 player, or simply press the icon POD at <a href="http://nobsit.libsyn.com/"><strong>my NO BS IT podcast terminal</strong></a> to start playing on the device you're using now.

Adobe Flex Development - Personal Retrospect

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:12:00 EDT

I occasionally start small projects for friends or family. I intentionally use technology I have not used before in order to learn new things. The client gets something, I learn something new. It's nice also, because it forces me to finish the projects. Last year, I started writing a small application using the Adobe Flex SDK, (version 4, even though it was just beta when I started). The app simply streams audio and flips slide images, a Flex/AS3 component, or a customizable automatically-generated questionnaire/quiz at defined timestamps. All of this is configured through a reasonably small XML file, all via the network.

Flash Shows a White Flag

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:30:00 EDT

After taking heavy fire from Steve Jobs over Flash, Adobe Tuesday ran up a white flag and produced a so-called experimental Flash Professional-to-HTML 5 automatic conversion tool called Wallaby so Flash files can run on Apple’s otherwise forbidden iPad and iPhone. It will work initially on simple stuff like banner ads and animations and create a mix of HTML, CSS and JavaScript that can be edited, if necessary, in Dreamweaver. It doesn’t support movies or sound yet and it reportedly works best at this point with output from the Webkit-based Safari and Chrome browsers.

SmartBear Software Releases Comprehensive Test Automation for Adobe Flash

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:24:11 EST

SmartBear Software on Tuesday announced TestComplete 8.2, the latest release of its automated testing tool. A 2010 Jolt Award winner, TestComplete 8.2 brings advanced test automation to a vast community of developers working with Adobe Flash Platform tools and Flex for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs). “As RIAs become more widely adopted on the web and in enterprises, developers and testers are looking for more efficient and comprehensive functional testing tools to speed up application development time, improve software quality and increase developer productivity,” said Dave Gruber, Group Product Marketing Manager at Adobe Systems. “Using the new release of SmartBear TestComplete, developer and QA teams can strengthen the system development workflow around Flash Platform tools to support the on-time delivery of stable and reliable RIAs that meet customer expectations.”

Adobe Releases an Interesting Marketing Tool

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:02:00 EST

During the MAX 2010 conference, it was clear that Adobe was shifting its focus from Flash Player to HTML producing tools. At that conference, the announcement about the acquisition of Day Software was made without much fanfare. Oh well, it’s just another Content Management System (CMS). But after seeing an impressive demo of the release today of CQ5 (a part of Customer Experience Management Platform), I can attest - this is not yet another CMS. It really puts the marketing department of your organization in the driver’s seat when it comes to creating a Web site for promoting your products.

Original Software Continues to Innovate

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:04:00 EST

Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) and Automated Software Quality (ASQ) vendor, has announced the release of its latest version of TestDrive, an agile test automation solution, and TestDrive-Assist, a dynamic manual testing solution. Version 7 is in direct response to an independent study undertaken earlier this year which revealed that the need for enhanced business agility was the highest rated market driver for improving software quality. With more complexity in IT projects and a need to respond faster to changing markets, development and QA teams have had to adapt the way they work. Original Software addresses the need for a more dynamic way of working and for agile test automation.

Adobe Puts Flash Server in Amazon Cloud

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week, stalwart packaged applications software vendor Adobe announced the availability of its Flash Media Server on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure. It’s a move that should be good for both companies but one that also raises a few questions.

Adobe Announces Strategic Alliance Agreement with Deloitte

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST

Adobe Systems has announced a strategic agreement with Deloitte Consulting to create and deploy a new generation of applications designed to extend the power, reach and impact of enterprise systems for improved customer experience. “We are transforming user engagement with enterprise applications by unlocking their full value for our clients and their customers,” says Paul Clemmons, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and emerging solutions national service line leader. “Through our alliance with Adobe, we are deploying user-centric, rich Internet solutions that simplify complex applications and integrate front end and back end systems for more productive and intuitive business processes.” “Customers are demanding new ways to interact with businesses, and businesses are responding by delivering richer, more intuitive experiences to customers across a range of digital devices,” said Al Hilwa, Program Director, Application Development Software, IDC. “The strategic alliance between Deloitte and Adobe will bring significant implementation expertise and software solutions to organizations who are working on improving customer access to their products and services.”

Facebook Takes Down Operation Payback Page

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:15:00 EST

After the Operation Payback marauders associated with the so-called Anonymous hacker coalition downed the Visa and MasterCard web sites Wednesday in retaliation for their refusing to continue processing financial contributions to WikiLeaks, Facebook took down an Operation Payback page where it appears the vandals have been congregating, congratulating each other and getting their marching orders. Facebook said the page was removed “for violating our Terms of Use,” which outlaw hate speech, threats of violence and bullying. It appears an idle gesture since the self-styled “hacktivists” just regrouped elsewhere on Facebook, according to Forbes. Presumably now Facebook can count on getting DDoS’d itself.

Attending Adobe and RIM Playbook Seminar

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:32:00 EST

I spent a day today attending Adobe and RIM (producer of all-over-the-place Blackberry) seminar about developing software for the upcoming Playbook tablet. If you haven’t heard about the Playbook yet, it’s a 7” dual-core 1Ghz machine with 1Gb of RAM, two video cameras, and multi-tasking.

Adobe to Open London Data Center for Omniture

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:45:00 EST

Adobe is opening a data center in a colocation facility outside of London that will serve its Omniture Business Unit customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It’s supposed to provide faster data processing, improved application usability and performance and expanded localized data storage capabilities. It’s also supposed to make Omniture compliant with privacy and data collection standards. It says, “Data collected on behalf of our European customers will be processed in Europe.”

Adobe Licenses Solid Documents Technology for Acrobat X

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:00:00 EST

Solid Documents, a developer of document reconstruction and archiving software, announced that Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe) has licensed the Solid Framework SDK for Adobe Acrobat X. Adobe Acrobat X takes advantage of Solid Documents' PDF to Word and Excel conversion capabilities, allowing Acrobat X users to easily reuse and repurpose PDF content. "After reviewing the available options, we chose to use Solid Framework technology for the conversion of PDF files to Microsoft® Word and Excel in Adobe Acrobat X. The document reconstruction quality is very good and the Solid Documents team has been a pleasure to work with on this project," said Aman Deep Nagpal, Senior Product Manager, Acrobat Solutions, at Adobe.

The Next PDF You Open May Be Your Last

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:39:00 EST

You know by now not to open unexpected email attachments, but what if someone that appears legit sends you a PDF? How harmful can it be? As it turns out, very. This week a harmless-looking invitation to a Nobel Prize ceremony was a nasty piece of business indeed. When saved to a hard drive and opened, it sets up a backdoor so that the bad guys can take over your PC at will, all while you think nothing is going on. What is troubling is that this isn’t new. This PDF exploit has been around for several years, yet it seems that it doesn’t get much attention from the general public. The security community is all over it. Here is a collection of articles that appeared on SearchSecurity.com earlier this summer that tells corporate IT folks how to secure these type of files.

Adobe MAX 2010 Starts Today in Los Angeles

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:53:00 EDT

The main annual event for all Adobe fans starts today in Los Angeles, CA. \Below is an overview of Adobe’s news announcements today at MAX 2010. For more information, please visit the hyperlinks below or on the Adobe.com press room. You can also check out the MAX online press room for the latest Adobe news, videos and images throughout the week Additionally, on Monday, Oct. 25 and Tuesday, Oct. 26, MAX Online will feature the event keynotes—streamed live and on demand. Register at http://max.adobe.com/online/ if you’re interested in the news and activity coming out of MAX. Yakov Fain is there - follow him on Twitter @yfain for his latest notes.

Adobe Unveils LiveCycle Enterprise Suite 2.5

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:07:00 EDT

Adobe on Monday announced the availability of Adobe® LiveCycle® Enterprise Suite 2.5 (ES2.5), expanding the company’s set of solutions for delivering superior customer experiences. New capabilities in LiveCycle ES2.5 include enterprise mobility for improved multiscreen delivery of applications, an enhanced framework for building enterprise rich Internet applications (RIAs), and real-time collaboration to empower organizations to interact with customers and citizens in more meaningful, personal ways. Adobe is also announcing three next-generation Solution Accelerators to reduce development time and increase quality of enterprise applications.

Adobe Powers Multiscreen Revolution at MAX 2010

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:42:00 EDT

At its annual MAX conference on Monday, Adobe Systems Incorporated will showcase technology innovation that enables designers, developers and content owners to fully embrace today’s multiscreen revolution across PCs, smartphones, tablets and TVs. In the keynote address, Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch will address the market forces driving a new era of multiscreen content authoring, delivery and measurement. He will highlight how Adobe is helping solve the challenges of delivering multiscreen experiences with both Flash and HTML5 across areas of content creation that include websites, digital publishing, online video, enterprise applications, and gaming. The keynote will begin today at 9:30 a.m. Pacific. Sign up for live streaming of the keynote at the MAX 2010 website at http://www.max.adobe.com/online/.

Adobe Extends AIR Applications Across Screens

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:39:00 EDT

Adobe on Monday announced Adobe AIR 2.5 software for televisions, tablets, smartphones and desktop operating systems. A key element of the Adobe Flash® Platform, AIR enables developers to leverage existing code to create and deliver standalone applications across devices and platforms. Adobe AIR now supports smartphones and tablets based on BlackBerry® Tablet OS, Android™, iOS, and desktops including Windows®, Macintosh and Linux® operating systems. In addition, Samsung will be the first television manufacturer to integrate support for Adobe AIR 2.5 in Samsung SmartTVs while Acer, HTC, Motorola, RIM, Samsung and others are expected to ship the runtime pre-installed on a variety of devices including tablets and smartphones later this year and early 2011.

Adobe Announces New Digital Publishing Suite

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:28:00 EDT

Adobe on Monday announced the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, providing publishers a set of turnkey hosted services and viewer technology to create, publish, optimize and sell digital content direct to consumers, through content retailers or leading mobile marketplaces. Built on the foundation of Adobe Creative Suite® and Adobe InDesign® CS5 software, the Digital Publishing Suite enables the design and delivery of innovative publisher-branded reading experiences, paired with flexible commerce models and support for deep analytics reporting. Using InDesign CS5, PDF, HTML5 and the Digital Publishing Suite, publishers will be able to efficiently author both fixed and adaptive layouts, natively build new levels of interactivity directly in InDesign, distribute and monetize their digital editions, and optimize their editorial and advertising content for a complete end-to-end digital publishing workflow.

Hybrid Flash Multicasting: The Next Generation of Enterprise Video

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:15:00 EDT

Hybrid Flash multicasting is the second and decisive wave of innovation that will enable enterprises to stream video without overtaxing their network infrastructures. It eliminates the usual tradeoffs between video consumption and network investment, regardless of increased video traffic in budget-constrained corporate networks. Hybrid Flash multicasting also solves the cost and complexity challenges of IP multicasting. By combining a new form of multicasting, known as application multicasting, which leverages a peer-assisted model of video sharing with an IP multicast network, a video stream can reach virtually everyone on the network using existing bandwidth and infrastructure. Hybrid multicasting finally unlocks the full potential for video within the enterprise by combining IP and application multicasting to deliver streaming media using the most efficient algorithms within a dynamic self-optimizing topology.

New IDE for Flex Developers Hits the Market

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:38:00 EDT

SapphireSteel Software’s Amethyst Professional is a new IDE which provides Microsoft Visual Studio users with a powerful development environment for the Flash Platform. Amethyst has a visual drag-and-drop designer for Flex 3, Flex 4 and AIR. The designer integrates with ActionScript and MXML code editors which support code refactoring, IntelliSense, auto-expanding snippets (code templates) and customizable code formatting. Amethyst has a unique multi-process ‘Cylon’ debugger which is able to debug into multiple SWFs simultaneously. The Cylon debugger has both simple and conditional breakpoints and allows the programmer to drill-down into complex objects by hovering over identifiers in the code editor. Amethyst Professional costs $249 and a 60-day trial version is available. After the trial period, the software degrades to the free Personal Edition unless a license is purchased. Amethyst Personal Edition supports editing and debugging but lacks high-end features such as the visual designer and refactoring.

Former Dell Accountants Pay for Mischief

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:45:00 EDT

The SEC has fined two ex-Dell accountants who rigged Dell’s books between 2001 and 2003 to meet Wall Street expectations to court, charging them with fraud. Erstwhile chief accounting officer Robert Davis and assistant controller Randall Imhoff had a bunch of “cookie jar” reserves that they dipped into to compensate for any shortfalls. Dell had to restate its 2003-2006 results and just paid a $100 million fine for such finagling including secret payments from Intel used to make its numbers. Dell chairman Michael Dell and then-CEO Kevin Rollins agreed to pay personal fines of $4 million each and former CFO James Schneider $3 million. Neither the company nor the men took responsibility for any wrongdoing. Davis is to pay $175,000 and Imhoff $25,000.

Adobe Reorgs

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:45:00 EDT

Adobe now has a Creative and Interactive Solutions business unit headed by David Wadhwani, who ran its Platform business so the company can take a more integrated approach, and “deliver faster on our vision of multi-screen publishing and drive innovation and support for both Flash and HTML 5 authoring.” John Loiacono who ran Creative Solutions is now heading up a new Digital Media Solutions unit focused on the company’s core digital imaging franchise. Former Omniture CEO Josh James is leaving the company at the end of July and will be replaced by former Omniture biz dev VP Brad Rencher. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said Omniture now represents about 10% of Adobe’s revenue. Adobe bought Omniture 11 months ago for $1.8 billion.

To Use or Not to Use Flash/Flex Portals for Websites

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:44:00 EDT

Last week I was thinking about design of the main view of a new project for a new client of ours. This application is interesting in that it can deployed as an enterprise RIA as well as a tool to be used by any consumer connected to the Internet. The mockup of the main view looks clearly like a Web portal with a number of portlets, which can be maximized, moved around, and independently communicate with the server(s). But… This Web site has to be discoverable to bring more and more new customers. Here comes the quiz. Can you see why the previous two paragraphs have an important logical issue, which represents a misconception sitting in minds of many creators of Web content?

Day to Be Acquired by Adobe - Implications?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:37:00 EDT

On Wednesday, Adobe announced it was going to buy Day Software, another WCM manufacturer based in Basel, Switzerland, who uses the same technology foundation as Magnolia. As an initiator of the JCR standard and main contributor to Jackrabbit (the JCR reference implementation), Day is certainly important for the JCR ecosystem. Let's have a look at the possible implications of the deal for Magnolia. Adobe bought Omniture not even a year ago for 1.2B$, which was/is the leader in web analytics. With Day's CQ (their CMS), Adobe now has the final part in their portfolio to create, analyze and publish content. (I couldn't find out yet what part "Adobe Publish" plays. Seems to be an SaaS platform, so probably not competing with CQ.)

Day Software Reports Revenue Growth of 47%

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:18:00 EDT

Day Software Holding AG, a provider of open, standard-based content infrastructure and content management software, on Wednesday announced record revenue growth and strong operating results for the first half of 2010. In a separate announcement, Day Software also announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Adobe Systems for Adobe to launch a public tender offer to acquire all of the publicly held registered shares of Day Software for CHF139 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately CHF255 million on a fully diluted equity-value basis. More details regarding the transaction are available in the joint press release issued by Adobe and Day Software earlier today, which can be found at http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations. Day reported total revenues of CHF 25.1M, an increase of 47% from total revenue of CHF 17.0M for the first half of 2009. License revenue accounted for 49% of total revenue at CHF 12.4M, an increase of 71% from total license revenue of CHF 7.2M for the first half of 2009. Strong customer renewals drove CHF 7.1M in support and maintenance revenue, or 28% of total revenue, with services revenue totaling CHF 5.5M for the period. Day also reported net income of CHF 3.7M for a total profit margin of 15%. Total cash at the close of the first half of 2010 was CHF 27.2M, a 49% increase over 1H 2009.

Adobe to Acquire Day Software

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:58:00 EDT

Adobe Systems Incorporated and Day Software Holding AG announced the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for Adobe to launch a public tender offer to acquire all of the publicly held registered shares of Day Software for CHF139 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately CHF255 million on a fully diluted equity-value basis. This approximates US$240 million at the current exchange rate. Adobe’s acquisition of Day will strengthen the company’s enterprise software solutions with market leading Web Content Management (WCM), Digital Asset Management and Social Collaboration offerings. This acquisition represents a significant market opportunity for Adobe to help organizations transform themselves by enabling them to create, manage, distribute and monetize content while optimizing the web experience for their customers.

Notes of a Lifelong IT Student

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:36:00 EDT

Have you ever attended software training? If yes, have you enrolled voluntarily or your employer required you to get re-trained to get extra points for your annual review? If so, was that class useful other than getting these points? In my blog “Notes of a traveling contract trainer ” I promised to write a sequel from the student’s point of view. You got it. If you work for a large corporation, the chances are high that you are entitled for taking one or two training classes each year. In some cases you even get to choose which classes to attend. I mean off-sight training. But most likely, you are enrolling a class offered onsite by an invited instructor.

Enterprise Development with Flex

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:25:00 EDT

It's been almost four months since our book “Enterprise Development with Flex” been released in print by O’Reilly. Since day one, it remains in Amazon’s bestseller’s list in several IT categories. This gives me a great feeling given the fact that Amazon re-calculates their stats hourly.
I’d like to share with you some interesting facts that from the times when this book was in its proposal stage. If you carefully look at the book cover, you’ll notice a little logo and the text Adobe Developer Library. To earn the right to be included in this library our book proposal had to be approved by Adobe engineers. We made it, and are grateful to excellent software engineers from Adobe Flex team, who put their trust in our ability to write such a complex and advanced book. After the approval process was done, O'Reilly sent us the Flex team members feedback without revealing the names of engineers who wrote them. Most of them were 100% positive. But our special thanks go to one unknown member of Flex team who wrote something like, "I don't agree with many of the things that these authors write about Flex in their blogs and articles, and I'd rather not approve them, but I will because there are not many people in the industry who are capable of writing such a book." We don’t know your name, but we consider this assessment to be the best compliment we've received so far. Looking forward to meeting with the members of Adobe Flex team in October at MAX conference. The authors of this book are going to attend this event in LA in October. Our praise goes to the O'Reilly cover designers who correctly visualized three authors of this book without ever meeting them in person. If you bought this book, Farata's team would really appreciate if you'd spend 10 minutes and publish your review of this book on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be long, but we are looking for getting your honest opinion about our work.

One Less Thing for Flash to Worry About

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EDT

Move Networks, a once-promising adaptive bit-rate video streaming house whose pricey plug-in-based technology was used at least briefly by Fox.com and ABC.com, has hit the wall running taking over $90 million in investments from Microsoft and Cisco, Hummer Winblad, Comcast, Benchmark Capital and Steamboat Ventures and Televista with it. Officially it’s looking for a buyer after failing to raise another $20 million. Staff has been laid off and its CEO, former DirecTV COO Roxanne Austin, is gone, replaced by its biz dev guy.

Notes of a Traveling Contract Trainer

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:08:00 EDT

Over the course of my career, I've been running lots and lots of training classes on software development. I still do. Teaching software takes 15 - 20% of what I do for a living - the rest is work on real-world projects. These days I mostly teach Java and Adobe Flex courses, but it's like riding a bicycle - if you know how to do it, you can ride any bike, really. The last two months were unusually training-heavy and I've been on the road most of the time.

Training is the best way for marketing of the services that you or your company has to offer. other professional services. Usually, I run training for the clients of our company, but once in a while training firms need a contract trainer for a week, and I consider these gigs too - spending a week in the classroom with professional developer may bring you some development work in the future. Hence I usually don't reject any training request if I know the subject and it fits my schedule. Below are some rules that I've learned during these travels. If you fill I missed something, please leave a comment to this blog.

1. Check the courseware - if you don't like it - reject the training gig. You might make a quick buck, but damage your reputation. After you're gone, people will be left with poorly written courseware and they wouldn't remember that it's not your fault.

2. Book your flights on well known air carriers - if a flight gets cancelled, they can put you on another flight. If a company runs only one flight to your destination, find another carrier. Cheaper ticket price can turn into late arrival for training.

3. While booking the seat on the plane, check with seatguru.com . They can give you misleading information about electric outlets on board, but can save yourself from selecting an inconvenient seat.

4. While people work on a hands-on assignment ask often, "Anyone needs help?" Some people are too shy to ask and can waste time on struggling with a simple error.

5. Stick to the manual. You can and should share your real world experience, but still, people need to be able to use the manual after the superstar is gone.

6. Ask the lab. technician to do what it takes to have the software installed and ensure that licenses are not expired. Ideally, they should re-image all disks in the classroom and install fresh software. Have plan B if this hasn't happened.

7. Don't change the software used in the course just because the client uses different one. If the courseware was created for Tomcat server, don't run the class on the client's WebSphere server just because "Java runs the same everywhere". Trying to be a nice guy may turn into a failed training and bad reviews. Custom training is possible, but it should cost a lot more and has to be prepared in advanced.

8. Don't curse the courseware you are using. Use the rules we used with passed away people - either say good things about them or nothing at all. If you don't see the analogy, I'l help you out - either nothing don't use the courseware, or be nice to it. Instead of saying "I clearly see a bad practice example on page 231" say something like like "I understand why the authors of the courseware wrote it like this - they wanted to give you a quick and dirty example, but in the real-world I'd suggest to do it differently"

9. Speak loudly. If you have a soft voice, purchase a voice amplifier - they have portable wristband ones.

10. In the beginning of the class ask about people's background and expectations from the course. Typically, you'll have a healthy mix of students who really want to learn the subject and vacationers. The latter just use this class as to get a way from their desks. Both categories have equal rights to be in the classroom and your goal is to make sure that they like your class and want you back in the future. I can't give you a concrete advise on how to do it - you'll have to figure it out on your own.

11. The chances are that on the introductory courses some people will state that they already use this software for a couple of months. Just ignore these statements and teach a class as if everyone is a beginner. Don't be afraid that these couple of people will get bored. They enrolled into a 101-level class and have to find a way to enjoy the show.

12. Respect your students. They are fellow software developers that just happens to need a little help in a particular subject area. Remember, you are not a teacher, you are instructor.

Good luck!

Till the next blog titled "How to attend software training".

Disappointed with Adobe

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:40:00 EDT

I was not planning to write this post. It was ignited by the “Disappointed with Flex” article posted by Valery Silaev, our lead Flex/Java developer. I’ve been working with Valery on a couple of projects. He’s good software developer. And when he says that he’s disappointed with Flex 4, you should listen. I really value people who speak up freely and have something to say. Valery is disappointed with Flex 4, but I’d like to take it one step further. I’m disappointed with Adobe. To put it simple, Adobe is sloooooow. I mean really slow, and I’m not sure what’s the reason. I know some people from Flex team. They are smart. They can deliver given the right support from top management and proper investment, which is definitely not there.