Level Four Blog

For those who are in the development industry, it has been a roller coaster ride these past few years, regardless of what language or technology you have been developing on. HTML has seen some significant increases in development with HTML5 becoming more broadly accepted and some new features allowing new opportunities. Adobe developers using Flash have seen some ups and downs with a struggle to be accepted on marketplaces, then mobile browser bumps; putting all Flash and Flex developers in a position to think about their choices.

With all this change occurring, and necessary change, it’s interesting to see that clients and customers are often left in the dark, to struggle and figure out what any of this means to them and their businesses. Many large companies have been developing multiple sites in multiple platforms to reach as many as possible, while smaller companies are reworking as they go. Even giants like Adobe are changing strategies as they move to align with the markets.

Yesterday, adobe released its new roadmap for the Flash platform, and while it may not be a surprise, it’s a good read to see what is coming down the pipeline for this decade old technology. Of particular interest in the article is that the Flash player will become more focuses on game intensive apps and video streaming, two key areas that Flash continually outdoes other technologies.

With 3D coming into the Flash player, along with a huge codec support and multithreaded video capabilities, it’s hard to say that html5 will ever reach this type of potential… Even html6 or html7 will not reach these areas, nor should they. Adobe is focuses on getting Flash into the next level of markets, just like it did ten years ago with animation and tweening in the browser. Adobe is now focuses on getting those older technologies into the html5/CSS/JavaScript realm and pushing the envelope with gaming and video.

Another particularly interesting section is the Adobe ‘Next’ language, what some might call ActionScript 4.0. This new updated ActionScript language may be the first update since ActionScript 3.0 came available in 2006. Good news for programmers and developers diving into more Rich Internet Applications, Game Development, and Creative Content. Language development is what drives the development industry to take up a platform and continue its usage.

While Adobe has lost some interest in the mobile browser plugins, it’s evident that they are looking at the larger picture. The Flash platform is no longer a web tweening technology, but a full platform for Mac/PC/Linux Desktops, Mobile Markets, and Televisions… all while retaining the smaller capability in the desktop browser.  For those developing apps using Flash, it has become an exciting time, creating one application and publishing to multiple marketplaces within a day.  With more and more powerful hardware being released each quarter on mobile and desktop devices, it will be exciting to see Adobe’s new releases targeting the performance issues as well.

To read the roadmap release from Adobe, Click Here!