Intelligent folks have offered really good questions about just what the heck we're doing with Flex and how it fits into Service Oriented Architectures, Struts, J2EE, and ASP.NET web apps. Thus: Pointers to a few responses of general note plus a look at the MXML syntax.

Is the incessant chatter about Microsoft and it's products by various Java "celebrities" just a sign of an inferiority complex or is it a manifestation of a completely rational fear?

To do rich apps well, we need the right app model and we need a cross-platform ubiquitous client. I've written about the former, a declarative model for building service-oriented rich apps, called Flex. Now I'll mention a new product aimed at the latter: An evolution of the ubiquitous Flash VM that transcends the browser and runs in the desktop.

Proponents of Open Source software have long claimed that their code is of higher quality than the equivalent commercial software. Opponents of Open Source argue just the opposite: that Open Source software is inherently unreliable. Until now, there has been little independent, objective data available to support either view.

Amid the talk about Macromedia Flex, several questions seem to be recurring. I'll offer quick and unofficial thoughts on five of them: how it relates to DHTML, XUL, SVG, JSF, and our existing Flash MX tool.

We've been working on an XML syntax for generating compositions of rich UI components from web apps, rendering them in the ubiquitous Flash VM, and binding them to remote data and services. Previously code-named Royale, it enters beta with the official product name "Macromedia Flex."

A trailer for the security track at JavaPolis featuring O.S. security semantics in language-based systems, JAAS and auditing.

Why do people develop open source software?

You’ve tried pair programming for a bit and it just doesn’t seem right for you. The whole concept of extreme programming is appealing to you, but you’re having trouble with the pairing part. Don’t worry – you’re not alone.

Using an XML syntax to declare and generate a rich UI for service-oriented and data-driven applications is getting a lot of traction. While much of the talk is about the application model, as it should be, it's also true that approaches like XAML, Royale, and XUL all make assumptions about the ubiquity of the client containers which they target.

Adding Generics to the Java language isn't going to revolutionary change the status quo. People extremely over estimate the value of language constructs in the overall scheme of providing compelling solutions to a customer.

The buzz and crackle of mating unrelated new excitements: Experiences with Amazon web services, Project Atom, and a J2ME camera phone application that acts as a bar code scanner to transform all physical goods into mere floor demos.

I spent the last week of September in lovely Aarhus, Denmark at the 2003 JAOO conference. I've written up my experiences and thrown in a few photos. If you have the chance next year.. go there for yourself, you won't regret it!

Is it valuable for an enterprise to adopt a <i>Reference Architecture</i>? If so, how should that RA be used?

In which I complain about Installshield and extol one or two of the virtues of Ant by contrast.