So what is Flex then, again?!
With the release of the new Flash Builder 4 beta yesterday, it’s my chance, again, to congrat Adobe on the name change. Yeah I know this is old news, Flex…
With the release of the new Flash Builder 4 beta yesterday, it's my chance, again, to congrat Adobe on the name change.
Yeah I know this is old news, Flex builder has been rebranded to Flash Builder. I just wanna join the people who welcomed it.
Flex sounded more serious then Flash so, it served it's purpose as a marketing term for showing the maturity of the Flash platform. Confused already?!
I know a lot of people were and probably still are. Even seasoned Flash/Flex developers weren't sure want is going on.
I've heard comments like – "Flex is what competing with SilverLight and not Flash." Which is obviously wrong.
I really wonder why it's so difficult to understand, it's not that complicated. If you feel like you still don't get it then, read this.
Of course some people think this change is a terrible mistake, these are mostly the people who the name Flex was meant to attract and will rather die in pain then to say they're Flash developers. – You can still be a Flex developer, you know!
Some raise none important questions, to say the least, like – [will the new logo retain it's colors](http://blogs.4point.com/taylor.bastien/2009/05/quick-question-for-adobe-what-logo-will-flash-builder-use.html "Quick Question for Adobe: What Logo Will "Flash Builder" Use?")? – yes it does, yes it does.
I mostly like the change because, it reduces the pain of trying to explain common people what is Flex.
– "There is the Flex Builder and the Flex framework." Here you probably lost most of them already. And you end with – "but anyway everything is compiled into Flash." – "Aha, so what is Flex then, again?!"
Here is a screencast about the name change that also showoff the new builder.
Anyway it's time to get busy with the new toys:
What's new in Flash Builder 4 beta
Flash Builder 4, Flex SDK4 and Flash Catalyst tutorial and demonstration videos
Related Posts
Comments (5)
Imported from the original blog
The mess has been only made worse by the fact that even within Adobe personal the references are not always accurate.
Up to this day there's an article on the Adobe Labs website that reads:
"Gumbo, the next version of Flex Builder, ..."
Obviously that cannot that cannot help at all.
Ha ha. Good post (and thanks for referring to my tongue in cheek post on the new logo.)
I think that for developers who have been around the block a few times, it's easy to identify both sides of the debate:
- the developers who are too "serious" and "professional" and "accomplished" to be developing in Flash
- the developers who are tired of having to explain to everyone in their family and circle of friends the difference between Flash and Flex in order to justify the seriousness of what they're doing ("It's enterprise-level development using Flash, *honest!*")
Frankly, I grew out of the first category by simple maturation (though I can still remember a distant me from years ago turning my nose up on various "un-serious" languages/platforms). As for the second, well I frankly don't care what you call the technology I'm paid to use, as long as a) it has decent market share (and therefore is professionally rewarding to me personally) and b) I can use it to create the software that I imagine in my head.
The "Flash Platform" easily covers both, whatever name Adobe gives to the individual bits and pieces.
There's been a lot of confusion for some time between the use of the words "Flash" and "Flex", and I think on the whole that this is a good move meant to clarify things.
Flex should be the name of a toolset -- or at most meaning an enterprise development methodology -- not a technological ecosystem in and of itself, as it has currently come to be known. Flex is just a subset of the Flash platform, a component framework and compiler toolset.
As Flex Builder grows into a more flexible tool not constrained to be used only with the Flex framework, to demonstrate its improved interoperability with Flash Professional and Flash Catalyst, it needs to lose the word Flex and be branded under the larger umbrella of a Flash Platform tool, not just a Flex tool. Which is a good thing.
I've written more on this topic on my blog here.
Your post is nice,Flex needs to lose the word Flex and be branded under the larger umbrella of a Flash Platform tool, not just a Flex tool. Which is a good thing..........
Man I am confused already. Joe says it best by calling it out a subset of Flash. I agree Flex is building tool just that.