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Should You Choose AJAX or Adobe?

AJAX is the best bet for experienced Web development shops looking to incrementally evolve existing Web applications
By Jeffrey Hammond
Article Rating:
February 20, 2008 04:30 PM EST
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 19,798

When it comes to rich Internet application (RIA) technologies, application development professionals must choose between two paths: AJAX or Adobe. AJAX is the best bet for experienced Web development shops looking to incrementally evolve existing Web applications. Of course, selecting AJAX also raises the question of whether to go with a homegrown, open source, or commercial AJAX framework.

In contrast, Adobe is best for shops looking to completely transform their Web experiences. But to do so, firms must acquire the skills necessary to use Flex, which is the development framework for the Flash runtime environment. Early adopters with time-to-market concerns and comfort with either smaller vendors or open source can select AJAX with confidence. But firms that require support from a larger vendor and full-featured development tools will do better with Adobe.

App dev professionals should make the selection based on their time-to-market requirements, whether they're looking to evolve or revolutionize their user experience, and whether they prefer tools from large established vendors.

AJAX: The Fast Lane to a Better User Experience
App dev organizations that prefer a fast path to RIAs — for developers and users alike — select AJAX for the following reasons:

Published February 20, 2008 – Reads 19,798
Copyright © 2008 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Jeffrey Hammond

Jeffrey Hammond is a senior analyst at Forrester Research where he covers tools and techniques for application design and development. He is a leading expert on software modeling techniques, integrated development environments and the emergence of new rich Internet application development practices and tools. Jeffrey holds a BS in economics (finance) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Pedro 12/10/07 11:02:33 AM EST

These two are not even the best alternatives to RIA, what about a Java Applet? yes, it is easy to find a browser that supports an Applet that one that supports Ajax or Adobe, and it is lighter to load and run than a Flex app... What about JavaFX? what about other choices?, how do you dare to write an article with such a lack of information about the subject?
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