I’m here in L.A. for Adobe MAX, before the beginning of the conference we were very excited about the 2 keynotes because we were waiting for amazing news about our favorite platform… but it didn’t happen, instead we find 2 days very focused to designers (and it’s normal I guess) and to HTML 5, JQuery and CSS 3.
This is an important signal from Adobe, in 2 keynotes they mentioned Flex 2/3 times maybe, all the new stuff for Flash was focused on games and 3D and AIR had only 5 mins to show the new release and its new features.
So the message from Adobe is quite clear: “Use HTML 5 for the web and Flash for the game and out of browser”.
This recommendation from Adobe would change online web design classes significantly in the future.
It seems crazy but it’s the truth… the same company that in the beginning of 2000 was scared from the little Macromedia and its best technology Flash, today substitued the player with a new one.
In latest years I took part of different Flash Platform projects, mainly desktop and mobile applications and I hoped to embrace the right direction with the Flash Platform, with this MAX I’m pretty sure that I made the right decision.
I’m disappointed that my favorite platform will be out of the browser but I’m more disappointed that Adobe is following the market instead of make it.
Today I can say that it’s time to move on and start again to study new “trendy” technology instead of a good and solid technology like Flash Platform.
Could Flash be the new mobile and desktop technology? I really don’t know but I’m sure that this year a new milestone of the web was put by Adobe.
lucamezzalira.com 
Felt exactly the same back here…
I’m more disappointed that Adobe is following the market instead of make it
sadly true.
Guess it’s really time to move on… sigh!
It is annoying!
HTML5 is not a “trendy” technology!
It’s a shame that so many developers are following this hype.
Adobe is unfortunately not innovative.
So the question remains… Would Adobe then Give us a nice stack of JS Libraries that Mimics Flex… and Flash to export SVG
JavaScript isn’t really a trendy technology . It’s a long-time veteran in the IT world. However, over the last 13 years, some really smart people have had the time to build tools and libraries on top of JavaScript that allow us to do things undreamt of in 2000. The browser are now all supporting standard features – features that didn’t exist in 2000.
I’ve been writing about this for a while now, and there’s a lot of people out there with their jobs and careers on the line, and it’s scary. Many folks still not seeing, or not wanting see, the writing on the wall.
Also, to Joseph, if you download and play around with Adobe Edge, you’ll see that they are already providing some great modules that mimic Flash/Flex interactions. That stack will only grow bigger over time.
http://www.fusioncube.net/index.php/adobe-acquires-nitobi-look-out-appcelerato
That’s weird, it truncated the last character of the URL. Here’s the right link
http://www.fusioncube.net/index.php/adobe-acquires-nitobi-look-out-appcelerator
The day my manager will announce we’re dropping Flash will prolly be the exact same day I’ll resign from my job 🙂 JS? noooo thank you. Anything but going back to the late 90’s / early 2000’s.
“I’m disappointed that my favorite platform will be out of the browser but I’m more disappointed that Adobe is following the market instead of make it.”
I think that others have changed the mindset of everyone else, forcing Adobe out. So much Flash hate came about this year. So many mindless people ‘mackling’ all over the internet because Jobs said it so. But also, I don’t think it will leave the browser completely. They will still have a place for games and complex applications. Things like: cacoo.com, noteflight.com, acrobat.com (its better than GDocs), audiotool.com etc… We just need to start thinking of Flash as an advanced tool for creating applications. Applications that can be used anywhere (web, desktop, mobile, tablet).
I think people just need to make a decision. Either you like the work you do, or you like the platform you work in. Either way, you’re gonna have to swing with it. Maybe that means jumping platforms, or jumping projects.
I’m agree with you ktu, but I think that people have to know the real differences between js and as3, in fact I promise to myself to create a blog post about Actionscript vs Javascript going in deep on developer and marketing sides.
why is it important to know the real differences between js and as3? do you mean how js display is done through modifying the DOM rather than as3 which uses the display list architecture?
It’s important because clients and people that aren’t involved on technologies like us have to know when use a technology instead another one!
This is not a tech problem but a marketing one! So we need to guide people in the right direction for each project, I hope my post could help in this decision.
Though trivial things like image slide shows, and galleries are now done with js instead of flash – and they should be. I mean who wants to build one more slide show anyway? The introduction of true 3D into the flash player is huge. If you’re thinking it’s just for games, you’re thinking wrong.
And building applications in flash couldn’t be easier.
The market is shifting, but flash is really the best answer for many customers.
Someone stated earlier that it’s really the developers that need to inform the client and the agencies they work for, what the best solution is for them. Build it once, in flash and export it to all of the platforms that you need to, or build it multiple times in multiple applications. I guess developers and agencies could just be getting greedy and misleading customers.
As far as I’m concerned, the appification of the web is a bad thing. With flash player 11 being able to deliver such a diverse set of content, I’m hoping people will start to shift back to the web.
actionscript is for cool coders. and I’m one of them. tons of people find difficult to learn AS3, so they’re learning AS2. so they can’t do some stuff (really good stuff…), so users are not seeing cool stuff, so it’s unbelievably easy to make business owners think that Flash can do only lame animations, annoying banners and stuff. I’m a freelancer and I do full Flash websites only. and I make them rank too. the average designer can’t use Flash, so will tell anyone “Flash is evil!!”. SEO guy have no clue how to make a Flash website rank, so will tell anyone “Flash is evil!!”. any other language programmer usually don’t give a damn about design or user experience so don’t learn AS3, so will say “Flash is evil!!”. when it’s my turn I show them my websites that are ranking. the last thing I say is “oh, all of these goodies, come with my deal. full Flash websites only”. the client asking for a specific language doesn’t even know why he’s asking for that language. they don’t wanna be #1 on Google (oh, Google CAN read text inside Flash, as long as it’s text field or area) and look unbelievably good? not my problem. and I’m telling you, if there’s no in-house IT or SEO guy, I do work like a charm. no matter what other people say, I know what Flash can do and what HTML5 can’t. I’m not worried at all.
“Could Flash be the new mobile and desktop technology? I really don’t know but I’m sure that this year a new milestone of the web was put by Adobe.”
Maybe Adobe throw away a milestone from the web.