RIAs are increasingly important to many different companies, and one of the most important tools that have helped many Flash developers gain an edge on RIA development is Adobe's Flex. Software developers who work with Java, C++, Delphi, ColdFusion and others on a daily basis often have little trouble with Flex, making it an ideal step for many different companies to take. Because it seems to be the newest in a line of technologies to help, many are still left wondering why they should bother with Flex.

Concrete Benefits

Anyone who has had a moment to tour a Flex application, though, isn't left wondering long. Like Flash, Flex can make SWF files that run on Adobe's Flash Player. Even if you ignore all of the other features it offers, it's a paradigm that has the ability to compile to SWF. Sure, there are lots of other features, especially the fact that the way you develop these files is wholly different, but at the heart of the matter, that's what you're getting from Flex.

Perhaps the most important benefit of Flex, though, comes from its compatibility. It's been hard to sort out compatibility in the world of technology during the last two decades, but Flex really represents the forefront of this revolution. Not only is it compatible with all HTTP servers, it also plays nicely with the hundreds of version control systems and server side programming languages out there. While that's enough to convince the head of many companies, it may not be enough to convince your clients. This, however, is. In addition to compatibility features like that, is this one – it runs on Flash Player 9, an application that is installed on nearly 95% of computers worldwide. There's still more, though. It also runs on Adobe AIR and on mobile platforms as well. By using concepts programmers are already intimately familiar with, it delivers unheard of compatibility in today's complex technological society, and that's business in the bank.

While compatibility is at the forefront, the show-stopper is yet to come. While existing technologies have been adapted to make RIAs, Flex was actually designed just to build them, and there are many great apps floating around online just to prove the point: Buzzword, Picnik, and SlideRocket are just a few of the most popular online today. A brief tour on Adobe's website lists many more. The key with all of them, though, is that they provide the experience a real application might, not just the experience we've all been getting online over the last few years.

There are only a handful of tools out there designed to produce rich internet applications and Flex is an open source, established and highly scalable system. What does all this compatibility really mean for developers? How many times has a developer spent many expensive extra hours working on a web system that works fine in one browser but won't work quite right in another? Flex does away with these frustrations and nuisances by simplifying the development process and virtually eliminating the need for multiple pieces of code meant to achieve the same tasks but on different browsers or operating system platforms.

Why wouldn't you choose Flex for your application development when you can potentially reduce development time and cost thanks to Flex's robust compatibility? It's generally best to use a development tool native to the environment you're trying to develop for. In today's world with the trend towards cloud computing the web is the platform. In yesterday's world it was troublesome adapting and extending old technology to produce content on the web. It's a cumbersome job. In today's world Flex is a tool born and raised or rather built on and for the web. Essentially the web was Flex's back yard growing up, making it today's tool of choice for developing RIAs and to bring desktops up to par in the growing world of cloud computing.