This document summarizes a panel discussion on the state of rich internet applications (RIAs) in 2009. It introduces the six panelists and their backgrounds working with technologies like Flex, Ajax, Flash, and AIR. Several topics are then briefly discussed, including the relationship between Ajax and Flash, opportunities and challenges of the Adobe AIR platform, developing for mobile devices, user experience in RIAs, and overall outlook on the RIA space. The document concludes with contact information for the panelists and links to related websites.

1. InsideRIA Outlook,
2009:
What Every
Developer
Needs
to be Thinking
Andre Charland
(Moderator)
November 19, 2008
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2. Andre Charland
 Founder and CEO at Nitobi
 12 Years in web application
 Focused on user experience
 Ajax, Flash, Flex, AIR and iPhone Development
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3. Steve Weiss
 General Manager, InsideRIA.com
 Executive Editor, O’Reilly Media
 Adobe Developer Library: Co-publishing partnership with Adobe,
covering Flex, AIR, ActionScript, Flash and other topics relevant
to design and development of RIAs
 steve@oreilly.com
 Twitter: @steveweiss
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4. InsideRIA.com
About InsideRIA
•InsideRIA is an online community developed by O’Reilly and
sponsored by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Our goal is to create
an invaluable resource for information on the ever-changing state
of design and development of rich Internet applications (RIAs).
®
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

5. InsideRIA.com
About InsideRIA
•InsideRIA is an online community developed by O’Reilly and
sponsored by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Our goal is to create
an invaluable resource for information on the ever-changing state
of design and development of rich Internet applications (RIAs).
•InsideRIA brings some of the leading members of the RIA
community together, where you can engage with them in an
ongoing narrative about where RIA technology is headed.
®
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

6. InsideRIA.com
About InsideRIA
•InsideRIA is an online community developed by O’Reilly and
sponsored by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Our goal is to create
an invaluable resource for information on the ever-changing state
of design and development of rich Internet applications (RIAs).
•InsideRIA brings some of the leading members of the RIA
community together, where you can engage with them in an
ongoing narrative about where RIA technology is headed.
•We hope InsideRIA will become your first-stop resource to stay
on top of news, events, opinions, and learning.
®
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

7. Panelists
InsideRIA Panelists
Andre Charland Andrew Trice RJ Owen
Adam Flater Sean Rich
Christmann Tretola
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8. Andrew Trice
 Principal Architect Flex/AIR for Cynergy Systems
 Technical lead for multiple enterprise-class Flex/AIR applications
 Business Applications, Data Visualizations
 Author
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9. RJ Owen
 Senior Developer @ EffectiveUI
 Adobe Community Expert
 Lead developer on Discovery Earth Live
 Blah blah etc. Generally a nice guy.
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10. Adam Flater
 Software Architect for Universal Mind
 Has built solutions on the following technologies:
 Java, Microsoft (various), HTML/JS, Flash, Flex
 Today: Architects and implements robust Flex applications for enterprise
clients (many fortune 500/100)
 Founder of the Merapi Project: Connects Java and Flex at the desktop
to enable support for devices and other processes in Flex applications
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11. Sean Christmann
 Experience Architect for EffectiveUI
 7-8 years working with Flash format
 Worked on games, portals, desktop applications, media players
 Helped build community driven libraries for Flash
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12. Business Apps in
Ajax, Flash and
AIR
Andre Charland
November 19, 2008
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13. Ajax and Flash: Friends or Foes?
Flash / Flex Ajax
 Strengths:  Strengths:
 Development tools  Penetration and acceptance
 Performance  Libraries and frameworks
 Rich media  Sometimes immersive
 One run time!
 Weaknesses:  Weaknesses:
 Small knowledge base  Many runtimes
 Controlled by one vendor  Lack of tools
 Plugin adoption  Media support
 Performance
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14. Ajax and Flash: Friends or Foes?
 Opportunities:
 Using Flash and Ajax together
 Flash in Ajax: Upload, Offline, Charing, Video, Audio
 Flex > Ajax > Vanilla HTML: Graceful Failure
 Convergence of runtimes
 Threats
 Becoming a one trick pony
 Compatibility across mobile platforms (iPhone)
 Difference of skill sets
 Different dev tools
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15. AIR: Where the
desktop and the
web converge
Andrew Trice
November 19, 2008
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16. AIR: Where the desktop and web converge
 Strengths:
 Emerging web platforms
 Companion applications to web applications
 Cross platform
 Web + Desktop with a single skill set
 Web + Desktop with a single code base
 Weaknesses:
 No access to native code
 No native access to hardware
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17. AIR: Where the desktop and web converge
 Opportunities:
 Anywhere you have a web application, you have an opportunity for a desktop
companion
 API Development – one API for web/desktop applications
 Great looking desktop applications that are easy to build
 Threats:
 Everybody wants in on the action: Microsoft, JavaFx
 Perception: Flash is not just for the web
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18. Breaking the
browser on
devices
RJ Owen
November 19, 2008
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19. Mobile Devices
 Strengths:
 Portability
 New interfaces and gestures (Immersion)
 Awareness
 Weaknesses:
 Too many platforms
 Disorganized data
 Duplication of functionality
 Reliability
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20. Mobile Devices
 Opportunities:
 New users
 Flexibility
 Markets for developers
 New tools
 Threats
 Security
 Too accessible
 Choosing the wrong technology
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21. The User
Experience of
RIAs
Adam Flater
November 19, 2008
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22. The User Experience of RIAs
 Strengths:
 Many RIAs are improved by adopting development methodologies centered around
UX
 Brings the users closer… better UX means better adoption
 The Flash platform is an excellent choice to deploy these solutions
 Many clients / users are seeing the ROI of UX
 Weaknesses:
 Defining and executing a great UX is difficult
 As a methodology UX is very new - a lot of work to be done
 UX Talent is in high demand (weakness for clients)
 Only recently have technology platforms been available that allow good UX
development
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23. The User Experience of RIAs
 Opportunities:
 The space is being defined… great opportunity to be a part of that
 Technology platforms are improving
 Clients are investing in UX
 Cross-channel / device UX
 Threats
 UX gone wrong… poor execution could develop a negative image
 The tools for building UX need to be improved to make significant progress
 The value of UX could be lost if the cost is too high
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24. Outlook on the
RIA space
Sean Christmann
November 19, 2008
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25. Outlook on the RIA space
 Strengths:
 Slowly replacing more desktop apps. Quake Live coming online soon.
 3D infrastructure is maturing.
 Flash and Flex are remaining ahead of the curve.
 People are more receptive to interactive web apps, understand how to navigate them.
 Weaknesses:
 Coding platforms and frameworks growing at a rapid pace.
 Become a jack of all trades, or a master of few?
 Can accessibility keep up?
 10% of users still on dial-up as of July 2008
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26. Outlook on the RIA space
 Opportunities:
 Data Visualization needs are skyrocketing. We're creating data at a high rate.
 Invest in design to open up your client roster.
 Familiarize yourself with different transport vehicles, AMF, JSON, SOAP, etc.
 Keep your eye on where javascript is going. Clients may start requesting it.
 Threats
 The web keeps getting “free”-er. Can you monetize your RIA or is it just for
marketing?
 Could a large company like Google make portions of our work obsolete, like
their enw charting api?
 Popularity of RIA space will cause client rates to drop once pool is saturated.
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Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. reserved.
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights

27. Panelists
Q&A
•Steve Weiss (steve@oreilly.com)
•Andre Charland (andre@nitobi.com)
•Andrew Trice (triceam@gmail.com)
•RJ Owen (rj.owen@effectiveui.com)
•Adam Flater (adamflater@gmail.com)
•Sean Christmann (sean.christmann@effectiveui.com)
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28.  insideRIA.com
 adobedeveloperlibrary.com
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