Flexing Your Internet Muscle

Flex is Adobe's version of Laszlo. With it, you can make rich, flash-based, Internet applications. The SDK is free, but the editor is a bit pricey.

The reason I love this new technology is because it makes it dead simple to make web application. Much in the same way OpenLaszlo works, developing an Internet application is very similar to making a desktop application. And with Flex Builder, you can just drag and drop all the elements you want. For someone like me who always struggles with design, it's a life-savor.

Combining it with Rails as a backend is pretty simple too. The Flex on Rails combination is gaining a lot of popularity. There's even an ebook being written on it. And with WebOrb, you can gain a lot more control over the Rails framework. When I saw all this support for Flex on Rails, it made me more at ease, I don't have time to try to reinvent the wheel.

Having a large company like Adobe is also comforting, because you know they have a vested interest in the future of the technology. The only drawback was that the SDK was propriety. That is, until yesterday. Adobe recently announced that they're opening the source to Flex. This'll speed the development, decrease bugs, and allow for much greater control. It's a very smart move for Adobe, especially since they're now competing with Microsoft.

All things point to Flex being the next big thing. There seem to be a slew of companies popping up based on this technology. Even Facebook is getting in on the action. It'll be really interesting to see how this affects the future of rich internet applications.