Adobe Delivers Flash Player 9, Flex 2

Adobe on Wednesday released the final version of Flash Player 9, which the company says offers ten times better performance through ActionScript 3.0 and a new ActionScript Virtual Machine. The update provides the backbone for Flex 2.0, Adobe's new line of development tools.

The new releases are intended to promote the use of Flash in next-generation Web applications. While AJAX is garnering much of the spotlight, Flash is finding its way into a number of services, including Yahoo! Maps, Google Finance and Goowy Web mail.

According to Bill McCoy, General Manager of the ePublishing Business at Adobe, Flash has struggled to find acceptance among the Web development community because its scripting language, ActionScript, offered no real advantages over JavaScript.

"Well, now Flash app development is even more compelling and a lot easier," McCoy explained. "Flash Player 9's new ActionScript 3, compatible with proposed next-level of ECMAScript, is a powerful language that supports direct XML processing (ECMAScript for XML, aka E4X), strong types, inheritance and mix-in interfaces, exceptions, and other robust software-engineering capabilities."

Flex 2.0 will also break down the development barriers. Adobe is offering the Flex 2 SDK free of charge, while Flex Data Services 2 provides real-time data synchronization and collaboration capabilities. Based upon the Eclipse open source IDE, Flex Builder 2.0 features a library of built-in controls and services for easing application and user interface development.

"I'm a useless manager, and even I have been able to whip up cool things with Flex Builder. With 10x less code than, say, a Swing or SWT Java application, and 100x less time than it would take me to debug an unmanaged-memory C++ app or the JavaScript spaghetti of an AJAX web app," said McCoy.

Adobe is additionally working on a new eBook product based upon Flash 9 and Flex 2. The idea is to expand on the standard digital paper concept and build fully interactive eBook experiences, McCoy notes. "Microsoft's WPF has a great "spec sheet" of capabilties but a Windows-lock-as the industry-wide cross-platform solution is repugnant."

Flash Player 9 is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox from FileForum. A PowerPC Mac version is available, but Intel-based Mac users will need to wait for a future update. A shareware version of Flex Builder 2.0 is also available.