The Future of Rich Internet Applications

Can't Get Enough Ajax writes "While Ajax continues to get most of the attention these days in the space of rich Internet apps, the future 'face' of Web applications may consist of a combination of Ajax and plug-in technologies based on the new Flash development platforms or other plug-in models. Why? The challenges of building and maintaining sophisticated software in Javascript and the lack of support for audio and video are just two reasons that any RIA strategy will involve a mixture of Ajax and one or more technologies like Flex, Laszlo, or others. But while there are significant advantages to the new RIA technologies, there are also important trade-offs including breaking the model of the Web, lack of HTML support, and more. ZDNet's Dion Hinchcliffe has a round-up of the latest generation of RIA technologies, pros and cons of each, and why there is likely a 'war' brewing among them."

Comments

Re:Telcos have been doing this for years.

[jelle]

"Flex is free (the compiler), ease of use is a subjective measure, and people are using Flex now too."

And god knows why. I you want your webpage to be visible on the Internet, don't use it.

I RTFM, and decided to give flex a try by following the "Check here for my favorite Flex 2 demo app;". Well, I had enough time to go back to /., find your post, click reply, and type this: The tab with the flex demo is still loading. Cool demo: Trashcan here it comes.

Ok, now right when I'm typing this, it has stopped loading and shows me a blank page (well, blank, I think the color is called 'slate blue'). Wow great. I can do that in much less code with plain html.

Is that supposed to be the professional way to do it?