There is a lot of buzz around Apple vs Adobe recently. It all started few years ago, when Flash was forbidden on the iPhone. Somebody claims that it started even before. I really don’t want to get into the chronology of the issue. I am just wondering: do I really need to choose?
Many people took it personal and, as long as the are allowed (by laws and by companies’ policy) they are free to express their opinion. I understand their viewpoint. If you believe in a company, you invested your time by using/learning/building-on-top-of their tools, you get angry when these conflicts happen. And if you are angry you can have reactions like changing your hardware and software in favor of another producer.
I am writing this post because I feel weird about this situation, for I am not angry (yet :). I started my career with Flash, since MX 2004 version. The Flash platform enabled me to pay my bills and it still does, cause I develop, consult, teach and write about the Flash platform. Probably I did a good move a while ago by qualifying myself as “designer and developer of web, ria and mobile applications”. This is my short description, that you’ll find anywhere my logo appears. As you can see there is no commitment to any specific technology. Though I might have preferences about development tools, I think what clients need is a solution to their problems, not a list of complicated techie explanations about what is under the hood. Probably another good move I did almost three years ago was to expand my knowledge of the mobile industry, and specifically of the design and development of iPhone applications. I was fascinated by the tool and especially by the “ecosystem” of iTunes, ’cause the biggest obstacle for me has been commercializing, and not developing, my products. Although I have played with Titanium (and I liked it) I always stuck with Objective-c, because I felt I had more control on the development process and the final result. There are many support tools (debugger, leak hunter) and overall I like XCode.
I built applications for clients and I recently released HugeTweets, an app for the IPad in less time than planned (launch deadlines help :). So far I just I feel I have to say thanks, to both Adobe and Apple. As long as they will run on MacOsX I will use Adobe tools to design and develop. As long as Apple will produce MacOsX and will keep the current ratio for developers’ gain on the iTunes store, I will work on the iPhone/iPad.
In few words I don’t feel the need to say: “I am with …”.
Honestly, I also feel I am taking advantage of the recent 3.3.1 clause . I am NOT saying I am happy of a restrictive rule, I DO like open platforms, but at the moment my investment on the iphone/ipad market acquires value, ’cause there are less potential iphone developers, all those which invested on “third party” dev tools. Should I raise my hourly rate? :)
The main reason I didn’t fully switch to those tools is the lack of debug/measurement tools. Since I spend part of my time improving performance and memory usage of iphone/ipad apps (and Apple provides great tools to do it), I always wondered how can I do it in Flash/Titanium/OpenGap? Still wondering, if you have any idea drop a comment below …
Summing up, I feel weird because I am still using what I think is the best of both worlds: Adobe’s tools to design/mockup and MacOsX to develop on the iphone/ipad platform and I don’t feel the need to boycott any company.

Out of curiosity: how does Apple find out when an application is not built with c/objective-c? Any hidden code put in the binary by the compiler?

UPDATE: Even guys behind Corona are not worried.

ps: wanna betatest upcoming versions of my iPad application? All you need is an iPad and a Twitter account. Drop a message to the support email here: hugetweetsapp.com or dm me on Twitter. You’ll receive instructions.

You probably know Adobe is working to enable the development of iPhone applications on the Flash IDE. Yep, your imagination is correct: open Flash, write actionscript code, follow some step and end up with an iPhone application. The feature has been announced during the last Adobe Max conference. The great evangelist Lee Brimelow realized a video that illustrates how you can build iPhone applications through Flash CS5, which will be available as a beta by the end of the year. Though still limited (e.g. you don’t have a real simulator) the idea looks promising. I will continue to develop iPhone applications the “old way” but I’ll stay tuned for new developments on CS5. If you didn’t watch the video yet, go!

Posty is listed in the Staff Picks on Adobe’s website.

Here is a screenshot.

I am happy!

I am glad to announce that Posty won an award! You might know I am an Adobe student rep for Rich Internet Applications. A while ago I submitted Posty to the RIA application contest. Now I received the notification that … I won!
Here is a screenshot from the Education Developer Center.

Thanks Adobe!

If you recently got unemployed, I am really sorry. Unfortunately I can’t offer you a position, but if you are of the RIA field there are some good places to look for a job like riajobs. I am also noticing there is an increasing tendency to post job requests/offers on linkedin groups like Flex addict or the RIA group.

But there is more. Flex Builder is already for free if you are a student or a faculty member. During this period of crisis Adobe has decided to release Flex Builder for free also to unemployed people. So if you are planning to learn a new framework to get a new job, this is a good opportunity.

This is the link to check out.

I really wish you good luck. As a good auspice, below is the trend for flex developers. Pretty good uh?

"flex developer" Job Trends

"flex developer" jobs