You kinda hit the mark for the reason for AJAX version Flash in select situations. This is what people are missing. This concept of Open-Source versus so called ‘Proprietary’ is really moot.

The technology used needs to meet the client criteria and the developers budget. Skills can be learned but costs and restrictions are fairly fixed.

In Robs case I bet its the users who have not explained the issue correctly and thus the problem.

There needs to be more public applications of Flash to convince people that it really is much more viable than AJAX. To think if Gap had used Flash instead maybe there sites wouldn’t have been down so long and have intermittent problems after launch.

If MM can accomplish this, I bet the AJAX hype would die down significantly, oh Avalon will also help in this arena. Let them both live but realize there are real limitations to AJAX. As I’ve said before can AJAX render a 3D Object?

That excludes Flex as well, although even if it didn’t, I’d never be able to convince my company to spend $12,000 on it. I had to fight for weeks to get $1,500 for ColdFusion. Flex is a great solution for companies with money, but us poor folk will stick with good ol’ HTML and Ajax. :)

You’re a smart man, Patrick.

But when you really want the interface sophistication of a desktop app, Flash Player is the way to go. And I can get people to update it without asking them to download a whole new browser.

For example, the coolest JavaScript app ever is Microsoft Outlook Web Access. It’s absolutely beautiful. But if you asked me to write it, I’d tell you I was gonna do it in Flash.