Adobe will drop desktop apps to become web only
today.reuters.com
today.reuters.com
This is why Adobe bought Macromedia- They see the future as web-based applications, and they want control the API. Microsoft got to where it was by controlling the API people code in, and the environment applications run. Adobe's showing that they're in a position to control the API for what's next.
This is a very clever move. They're signaling to developers who might be tempted by Silverlight that they are eating their own dogfood on Flex, and betting the farm on their tech.
Given the huge investment that Adobe has in existing desktop applications, the implications of this are huge. Flash/Flex is already a Cross Platform development environment that's installed on 99% of machines.
They're looking to make it a par with Cocoa or .Net in developers minds... And it has a good chance of working.
Of course it would be neat if they could sell you bursts of processing power from huge servers somewhere. That would be an improvement over desktop versions.
To me web app replacements of desktop apps sometimes feel like a camping trip. You can survive just fine, but not comfortably. Esp if your app needs to talk to the GPU, iPhone or other devices...
That said invisible updates and implicit backups are great.
Imagine a world 10 years from now where everyone bought a fully enclosed computer like you would buy an iPhone now, but you have to pay a monthly subscription service to get updates or to use it. That's why all these companies are making web-os, thinking that's the way of the future. It's going to be horrible.
Seriously, as much as I like open source software (and I really like it), I can't agree with you on this. I think you're doing raymondism.
There is little innovation in the open source world; it's mostly about making better implementations of things invented long ago by companies or universities. But that's OK because in the end we get good software.
Like Google Earth but developed with portability in mind.
"Broadband, as quick as it gets, is still going to have some limitations in the short term,"
Which indicates they're gambling (heavily) on broadband speeds going through the roof, so those gigs take a minute to upload.
Further, it says people aren't paying $400 for an application anymore.
In other words, they're going to see a heavy revenue hit soon, a revenue timebomb, and I see their stock price halving.
I don't own any stock, etc, etc disclaimers.
Some people keep their computers off the net for security reasons. My father keeps one of his off the net so that he doesn't have to worry so much about viruses.
And no, he doesn't want to use Linux... And even if he did, ProTools isn't available for Linux.
Note: to be fair, he doesn't (to my knowledge) use Adobe programs on his studio computer.
"... AIR is a runtime program that allows developers to create cross-platform desktop applications with the same technologies they use for building web-based applications, such as HTML, AJAX and Flash. At the Adobe MAX 2007 user conference in Chicago on Monday, executives confirmed AIR's importance to the company's long-term strategy ..."
So it is technically possible, How will it effect the bottom line? Who knows. Many companies have stumbled when changing programming paradigms ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm
"Adobe AIR lets developers use their existing web development skills in HTML, AJAX, Flash and Flex to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop."