Reflections on MAX 2011

Well I just got back from MAX and I would have to say it was probably my worst experience. Not because of the event in anyway but I got really sick with a virus/flu/MAX killer bug at 4am on Monday/day 1 of MAX. So I missed the entire day and only pulled myself together on day 2 to get to see the keynote and stick around for the famous "sneaks". I was about all out of energy once the sneaks had ended and bitterly disapointed I was going to miss the MAX bash. It looked really fantastic when the bus took me back to my hotel to rest and recover. So come day 3 I had to pull out as I was travelling home the next day back to New Zealand which is about 14 hours of flying. So in reflection it was my worst MAX but that was to do with me than the conference. I can't say it enougth that it sucked I was sick at MAX. When I had moments of feeling well I popped online to see what was up and caught up on day 1 keynote. I have to give Adobe kudos for getting these resources up so quickly.

I read a blog post which I think best reflects my opinion of the event in general.
http://www.rblank.com/2011/10/06/thoughts-on-adobe-max/

The only additional thing I'd like to say about the event is where was Adobe's CEO Shantanu Narayen? Of the past three MAX's he started the day 1 keynote. So why was he missing? The first MAX I attending was in 2008 I was like who is this Shantanu guy as he was not a familiar face to me but I got used to seeing him at the start of each keynote on day 1. Bit of a mystery to me.

The one thing on my MAX wish list was to see a new developer focused tool towards HTML/JavaScript development. Yes Dreamweaver can do it but it's audience is not focused towards developers. I want an awesome HTML/JS eclipse plugin similar to what Flash Builder is for Flex/ActionScript. Well we can all dream.

All that said I'm looking forward next year and the innovations ahead.

Yeah going to MAX!!!

Well if your not aware I'm going to Adobe's MAX conference this year. Its going to be a long trip from New Zealand to San Francisco but I'm sure it will be worth it. Will be catching up with some developer friends who I haven't meet in person before. I can see nights of discussing projects & new ideas will be in order with a local ale. I also will be taking in some of the sights when I'm there before my short trip comes to an end I return to kiwi land.

Yeah Cairngorm 3 and now on Adobe Open Source!!

A while ago I posted my thoughts about Cairngorm and its future. Well I'm glad to hear that it now lives in on Adobe Open Source. I'm a little cheery to say the least about this latest move by Adobe. Doing my Flex dance. Also it's been announced that Adobe consulting will be leading it's development with input from the community. In short this is great news for Cairngorm and Flex!

Feel like learning Flex in a week? Well how about you get on down to Flex in a Week Adobe are seriously making it easy for developers to pick up Flex with more and more resources.

The Cairngorm framework ~ Adobe what is it's future?

Sort of an open question to Adobe on what is the future of Cairngorm? I must admit the community is fractured on it's use. You have the die harders on either side of the argument but why is there such a divide? Well I'm not going to try and answer that question ~ other than saying one solution does not fit all solutions.

What I'd like to know is why Adobe still has Cairngorm on labs. When talking with Adobe it appears it is on labs but they don't support or recommend it (no official line I might add). Though with it being on labs it gives the impression they support and recommend it's use. Some clients do have this view and also some developers. So what is the story Adobe? Maybe they could move it into the community as an open source project on SourceForge? There hasn't been an update for Cairngorm since October 2007.

A follow up questions to Adobe is there another MVC framework in the works? Or is this a path Adobe took but really they didn't want to get involved in MVC frameworks and imposing this upon the community?

What ever the future holds for Cairngorm it is uncertain at this point.