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Oh, now it's on brother :)
At least you let me know that we were competing for that term ;)
Piece of Cake :-)
You should compare our pageranks hehe
I've written a Facebook application, although I'm recent to the Utah part :-)
You mention Google Gears. What are your thoughts on Adobe's AIR or the upcoming file system support in Firefox 3?
I'm not that familiar with Adobe's AIR - I will have to do some research. I am very excited for the filesystem support in Firefox 3. I really hope IE follows suite and incorporates similar in their browser as well. I think this is an exciting era, as when the desktop moves to the web, you need some sort of tie-in to the file system. Also, I should mention that Dojo also incorporates some ability to store on the file system, so I hear.
Right, Dojo is using Flash 'under the covers' in order to gain access to the file system. Google Gears and Firefox 3 will be cool but all they're essentially doing is providing offline database support: your 'application' still is dependent on the browser window and all (memory sharing, potential crashing from badly behaved pdfs etc). And, as I understand it, Gears and Firefox3 won't have filesystem support.
AIR does have an SQLite db under the hood. You can have things like custom chrome (or modal, or always on top), native drag-and-drop to/from the OS and other systems, native clipboard support, native context menus, etc. It truly allows web developers to leverage their skills and build desktop applications - not just an RIA dependent on a browser window.
Not every application needs or should have a desktop presence. But my AIR app clients are amazed at how I'm able to take their brand and information needs and make them work in an offline environment. I think its a great platform (at least the HTML/Javascript development part - I haven't played enough with the Flex 3 part to pass judgment on that).
That sounds very interesting - I will have to learn more. I have to admit, I tend to be a little skeptical about anything Adobe - I am not a big fan of one corporation controlling all the engine development. I prefer it be a community effort, with open access to all the code.
Right, that's understandable. But this isn't your father's Adobe reader we're talking about. Adobe is undergoing a change, of sorts, to a more open, community driven focus. They've open sourced Flex as an experiment. They've launched their labs.adobe.com site to release free stuff back to user communities, get early eyeballs on releases, and act as a petri dish for new ideas. They've been long competitors with Microsoft and have seen Redmond's failings; after seeing their multi-year road maps and talking with their movers and shakers they have no desire to repeat those mistakes.
As Novell has shown, just because a corporation is acting as a steward for a platform doesn't mean the developer community receives jack for benefits.