LAMPsig

Adobe Flex is a collection of technologies released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross platform, rich Internet applications based on the proprietary Adobe Flash platform. The initial release in March 2004 by Macromedia included a software development kit, an IDE, and a J2EE integration application known as Flex Data Services.

Flex is a hot (open source) topic this year and Linux users aren't left out. With the newly announced Adobe AIR for Linux and the upcoming Flex Builder 3 for Linux desktops, everyone can develop cross-browser/platform applications for the Web (SWF) or any popular desktop operating system (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows). Chris Charlton will be covering how to develop in Flex and deploy an RIA with one code-base while not having to worry about platform or browser differences.

So what is Flex and doesn't it cost money? The Flex SDK is free - containing a debugger, compiler, and the entire Flex framework. Adobe's IDE (Flex Builder) costs $250 (Standard Edition) and is free for students and teachers.

What's the difference between Flash and Flex? Why not just use Ajax? Good questions, but you'll want to attend the next LAMPSIG meeting to ask and find out!

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Chris Charlton has tons of community involvement: authorized Adobe Flex Champion, Adobe User Group Manager for LA AIR, helps run LA Drupal, is co-author of the book Advanced Flex Application Development: Building RichMediaX, and teaches at the Rich Media Institute.