Adobe Releases Another Ajax Competitor

Adobe has been riding the waves of popularity in RIA through FLEX and Adobe AIR. The former is a direct alternative to Ajax as it replaces Flash instead of JavaScript while Adobe AIR is aimed for those who are looking for an efficient RIA. But none of these products were able to dent the popularity of Ajax.

From the mere fact that Ajax is an open-source programming language to the additional complexity and less user support, these programming languages that are aimed to build an efficient RIA is not as powerful when compared to an Ajax based application.

But Adobe is not going to let this go down without a fight. Even though Flex and AIR is not that powerful they still have Flash which is still the preferred format for video streaming.

Flash is still an application and could still render RIA if they are just used effectively by the developer. Adobe went back to Flash and added significant features so that it could become another powerful application that could actually rival Ajax.

Repacked as Platform

Using the popularity and efficiency of Ajax, Adobe will release a platform based on Flash. This platform will be used to develop applications that could rival other online applications from Ajax, Silverlight and even its own Flex.

What they did is basically to develop Flash into something more than just software for videos and other simple applications. Flash will now be a platform for developing powerful applications that would also focus on the client side, hoping to establish and gain support from developers worldwide.

Adobe believes that this time, Flash will be able to be a good rival for Ajax and other RIA platforms. Flash is practically found in at 80% of websites that offer video streaming. If that will be translated into applications, it will really put a dent or even defeat Ajax as the application for developing RIA.

Aside from developing Flash as a platform, Adobe will also release an additional programming language for further enhancing the application. Adobe will be releasing Adobe Flash Crystal which is basically a simplified tool for designing applications.

This application will help developers build a better looking application. The end result could be executed in the browser or in AIR. The combination of the platform with Flash Crystal could be very powerful as they will help developers build an application.

This release will also go with the upcoming version of AIR which will be on version 1.5. This version will add more functions as it will become receptive to additional languages such as JavaScript, SQL and Flash. They will be releasing AIR for MAC and PC with Flash platform and Linux will be released later.

If you base the eventual success of Flash platform on the extensive use of Flash, Adobe could really put a dent on Ajax. But it all depends on the learning requirement for this platform.

If the result will be another language to be learned then it will have a hard time getting the attention of developers but if developers could use their knowledge of Flash, then Adobe is in for something big.