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The second paragraph wasn't dated - that was about 2009 when my friend was trying to encourage me to apply to join this fledgling Flex team - so even after 2002

The second paragraph wasn't dated - that was about 2009 when my friend was trying to encourage me to apply to join this fledgling Flex team - so even after 2002 people were still following the Flash / Flex mantra.

est 11y ago
still, Flex is better than the crowds embraced Silverlight™.
- simonh 11y ago
  Possibly the most mistimed technology introduction in the history of computing. Any other candidates out there?
bshimmin 11y ago
I'd say that in 2008-2009, Flex, for that sort of application, wasn't necessarily a bad bet. Most people date Flash's demise to the start of the mainstream smartphone movement, but the first iPhone was only released in mid-2007 - obviously it had no Flash support, but it notably didn't have a lot of other things too (like copy and paste!), so it wasn't immediately obvious that it would never get Flash; and the Android devices that followed the iPhone did support Flash (it was even touted as a differentiator from iOS devices), albeit poorly. Steve Jobs' "Thoughts on Flash" piece was published in 2010 and that probably did hammer a few nails in the Flash coffin, at least in terms of public awareness. I think if you were betting big - millions of pounds big - in mid-2010 on Flash, you could be accused of making a silly mistake. Before that, I think it's more forgivable. Flex was always bunk, if you ask me, but it did some of the same things that people like about Angular, with the addition of a bunch of (fairly poor) UI components. In theory you could build business-oriented / data-driven applications with it quite easily, so finance was very much its intended audience.
- robmcm 11y ago
  There is a tendency to group all flash content together, if you break it out into say: Websites (typically micro sights) Banner adverts Creative websites Games Video players Audio players Applications Desktop AIR applications Mobile AIR applications Web site components Each use case has a date when they became a bad bet, some never were. Even today web components (shims/polly fills) are written in flash and are acceptable.

est 11y ago

still, Flex is better than the crowds embraced Silverlight™.

simonh 11y ago
Possibly the most mistimed technology introduction in the history of computing. Any other candidates out there?

bshimmin 11y ago

I'd say that in 2008-2009, Flex, for that sort of application, wasn't necessarily a bad bet. Most people date Flash's demise to the start of the mainstream smartphone movement, but the first iPhone was only released in mid-2007 - obviously it had no Flash support, but it notably didn't have a lot of other things too (like copy and paste!), so it wasn't immediately obvious that it would never get Flash; and the Android devices that followed the iPhone did support Flash (it was even touted as a differentiator from iOS devices), albeit poorly. Steve Jobs' "Thoughts on Flash" piece was published in 2010 and that probably did hammer a few nails in the Flash coffin, at least in terms of public awareness. I think if you were betting big - millions of pounds big - in mid-2010 on Flash, you could be accused of making a silly mistake. Before that, I think it's more forgivable. Flex was always bunk, if you ask me, but it did some of the same things that people like about Angular, with the addition of a bunch of (fairly poor) UI components. In theory you could build business-oriented / data-driven applications with it quite easily, so finance was very much its intended audience.

robmcm 11y ago
There is a tendency to group all flash content together, if you break it out into say: Websites (typically micro sights) Banner adverts Creative websites Games Video players Audio players Applications Desktop AIR applications Mobile AIR applications Web site components Each use case has a date when they became a bad bet, some never were. Even today web components (shims/polly fills) are written in flash and are acceptable.