My thoughts on the Apple vs. Flash battle...

Some history: Apple seem to be launching an all out offensive against supporting Flash on their mobile, mini devices.

I don't think that the Adobe and Apple fight over Flash is about technical issues with running correctly. I think this is what Apple are bleating, but I think it is far from the truth. Here's the real problem Apple face, and it's strategic. Apple are relying on their developer kit for iPhone to win over thousands of developers... and that has been working. A significant reward is needed to convince companies that it's worth developing in a totally new environment on a new platform: Enter iPhone Apps and revenue as the reward, and the Objective C and Apple developer stuff as the environment... Now, logically, once companies are developing for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, it's not a far leap to develop full-on Mac apps. What has happened, the Mac has become a developers platform, highly supported and tons of software being written for it. Can you see where I'm going here: Flash on these devices, will undermine their strategy of getting more developers, because suddenly people can bypass their precious Objective C platform, and simply use Flash and Flex. Apple don't want this. They REALLY don't want it, cos while in the short term it will benefit them to have more apps in the form of flash apps, in the long term, they go back to square one, and don't have a mass of mac developers.

eclipse, adobe flex and setting it all up...

I've recently installed the new Eclipse IDE on my mac, using Aptana for my main PHP and web development. I've been so impressed in this product, that it's made me curious about Eclipse's other plugins available for more development.

I want to install Flex 3, without buying the FlexBuilder app, so back to Eclipse I go. Wesley Swanepoel, a top designer developer at a UK-based agency, (and also a personal friend of mine) has put the following help on his blog. I find his blog really rewarding - letting him do all the pioneering and then putting his experience online to assist others (newby's to Flex and Flash, like me)!

http://blog.wezside.co.za/2008/01/complete-starter-guide-to-develop-flash.html

Check it out if you're getting into Flex.

coldfusion 8 released

July 30th is a good day. I've been 30 for 4 days. I'm with the girl of my dreams. Life is good.

And now CF 8 has been launched. I'm busy downloading it now! Just in time for one of my major projects starting, which was done in CF 7. CF 7 didn't work easily on my intel mac, but CF 8 is a universal binary, and the beta installed and worked just great. So now I have successfully moved across entirely to my mac.

Even though my main area of focus is now PHP and Symfony, I guess I'll always have a soft spot for CF. And will continue to develop in it if the demand is there.

Watch this space for the new Auction Explorer Books site in Symfony, and the new MISA site in ColdFusion; all due this year (before Leopard!). Like I said, life is good.

Apple drops the ball

In what most deem is a big risk, Apple decided to release Safari 3 public beta to the masses. By masses I mean both PC and Mac platforms. This move could have been ingenious, if the product was the usual Apple offering. However, it has fallen short, FAR short of expectations. Where is the "3 years into the future" design thinking that Apple are famous for? What, I can shift my tabs around and find things?? What were you thinking? Yes, the time is now to get PC users in, but do it with a product that isn't absolutely terrible! Think of a bunch of amazing browser innovations, build in some ideas from the firefox plugins if you can't think of them yourself. And reduce the features in favour of making it a little more stable. Yes, it's a beta, but my download didn't even start up after it was installed! I'll look again when there is a better offering, but my opinion is, most people wouldn't be bothered.

Another note on Safari. It claims to be a standards based browser and the best for web developers to test their goods on. In my experience, being a web developer, I find it dreadful to use. I've never thought much of Safari, and no amount of hype thrown at a bad product will ever turn it into a good product. I'm just concerned that Apple start resting on their good innovations in the previous few years, and rely on riding the wave of hype. This won't cut it with PC users (remember, they don't worship Apple), it won't work on a bad browser, and also, let's hope Leopard has more to offer than a few shiny makeovers and some irrelevant functions.

Adobe are getting this right, concentrating on workflows and cutting down production times. I'm hoping Apple don't get sidetracked and that recent popularity hasn't gone to their heads. That being said, I'm still a big fan of the company. I guess the expectations are high because people have become accustomed to only the best from Apple.

photoshop CS3

Firstly, WOW. I mean it. Photoshop has come a long way since I was cutting up impossible designs by graphic artists back in the late nineties with Photoshop 6. Since going my own route in business meant keeping legal software, which meant limiting myself to the necessities - I have used the Macromedia Suite of software since Studio MX. Now with the merge of Adobe and Macromedia, I get all the MM stuff I know and love like Fireworks, Flash and (ahem) Dreamweaver, and then now I get my hands on Photoshop too, and a bunch of other Adobe specialities. After attending the Adobe Live show (workshop more-like) last week, I've been using a few of the tips that I've learnt, and I'm loving using it again.

This pic is an example of that. I took 3 pics on my holiday in Vietnam, and Photoshop, all on it's own, has stiched these together, keeping the layers and masks - creating the most amazing panorama-style photo. I didn't even use a tripod. Behold - Photoshop CS3, making "awesome" a matter of simplicity. (Sounds kinda Steve Jobsy hey?)

Note: The original doesn't have those little crack-lines I see, that's due to my bad resizing skills, or something. It did produce a 120+ Meg PSD file!

To open source, or not to open source.

This post started very differently. I was all boisterous in my description of Open Source software and how advanced it was getting... and then my open source browser crashed and I lost everything. I don't normally swear, but 3 minutes ago I let one slip. It happens.

I guess it goes to prove what I've seen time and again. Things work marvelously, until you show someone how well they work, or until you tell someone about it in your blog. (sigh, save as draft.. continue)

I've been using Open Source software for quite a number of years now. And I've realised that the decision to use Open Source is quite an individual one, and requires thinking about your particular situation. There are times when an Open Source replacement will suffice, and other times where the added time and frustration caused by moving to Open Source/freeware is just not worth it. I remember trying to convince Wesley that Eudora was the coolest Mail Client out there. I never really succeeded in this, and more often I think I was trying to convince myself of my decision. I'm currently using Thunderbird which is not my idea of the perfect mail client either. It is an example of something that is almost but not quite there.

When I switched. Switching is a term I've learnt from the Mac users I've recently come into contact with. People who move from PC to Mac are known as switchers. I'm not applying this term to people who move across to the Open Source alternative, because, the move from the known and familiar to the unknown is a common factor. So, look into it when switching.

I've used the Open Office suite since it's inception, and used StarOffice before then. This is a product that has really come a long way and I definitely recommend it. I tried it when I decided to legitimise the software on my machine, because there are times when I refuse to shell out a few grand (in ZAR) for a piece of software. Ofcourse, some of my choices turned out to be black sheep: my constant convincing my friend Wesley (and myself in the process) that Eudora was actually cool. [cough, change topic]

So when is it better to spend money on software. In my opinion, when it greatly affects your productivity or quality of work. For me: I've been very impressed with the (Macromedia) Adobe Studio product suite. And I paid up from version MX through to Studio 8. It is good software, great value at it's cost, and I'll gladly spend what I consider to be very reasonable upgrade fees to the newer version (hoping this stays reasonable with Adobe at the help of MM). AND you get Flash! That alone is worth it.

Recently, I've changed the primary technology I use for churning out websites. My focus has moved from predominantly Adobe Coldfusion websites to ones done in PHP, the widely used Open Source web language. I've also started working on a project which uses the Symfony framework as it's core, which is also Open Source. Learning PHP and Object Orientated thinking has really been exciting and challenging, but it has included a few frustrations now and then. I have to get out of the habit of wanting to write queries which do stuff. It's quite a discipline, and I'm fortunate to have a seasoned web programmer (PHP, Java, Python, TCL/Tk, PERL) leading the project, guiding and helping me adapt. The best way is just to do a project and learn from your mistakes. Mistakes like writing 16 lines of complicated PHP code instead of 1 line which says $this->user->save(); Wow. Thats when OO really blows your socks off!

Symfony work has shown me that the common idea of "Choosing Open Source means being abandoned to figure stuff out alone" is just not true. It is so well supported, and the developer are eager to help others out. And many of them are French, which goes against another common idea about helpfulness and the people of France. Je veux dire que les francais sont formidables sur le projet symfony!

Another option for Open Source is just to play around with software that you wouldn't invest in. An example: Blender3D. I'm no 3D artist, and I certainly wouldn't spend the thousands of Rands needed to get set up with Maya just to mess around. But I have installed Blender3D and I'm having fun playing around with it. What a great product, and it is available for PC, Mac and Linux. Students with future careers in animation, wanting to dabble, take note: Open Source/ Freeware is your friend.

So, sometimes it's worth switching over. But it's always fun to check stuff out and play. Here's a nice grouping of software to get you started. Enjoy.