Question: tools for business apps development

[Daniel Ellison]

Carlos Ribeiro wrote:
> 
> I understand that some people really like Flash. It's nifty and
> powerful. And the CSS+HTML+JavaScript combination is slow, tricky,
> confusing, complex, etc. -- it's just asking for a redesign, but there
> is way too much code written for it to happen in any dramatic fashion.
> However, Flash is not an open standard, and that's a big problem. Who
> can guarantee that the upcoming versions of the Flash plugin will keep
> the same interface? It's a risk that you have to take into account.
> 

No, Flash isn't SVG. Luckily. But, as has been mentioned before, the swf 
format is published by Macromedia and is freely available. The Flash 
plugin is in well over 90% of all browsers in the world (actually it's 
around 95% for the Flash 6 plugin). It would behoove Macromedia *not* to 
make any drastic changes to Flash in order that they maintain 
compatibility with the hundreds of millions of installations already out 
there, not to mention the tens of thousands of Flash animations, 
advertisements (yuck!) and now web applications that depend on the Flash 
player/plugin.

A risk, yes, but not much of one.

Dan