Ted Patrick > { Events & Community } > Adobe Systems

Ebay is hosting a free 2 hour workshop training course on Flex every month. The first class is on Nov. 9 at the Ebay Conference Facility in San Jose. The training is provided by Ebay, RoundPeg, and SilvaFug Flex User Group.

Here are the details.

SilvaFug Site

There is some more news for a conference coming in March of 2007 but I will hold off on making early announcements. Lets just say that 2007 will be full of Flex.

cheers,

Ted :)

With the creation of the Adobe $100 Million dollar venture fund, there are a lot of questions about venture capital within the development community. I have been around the block with start-ups (4 times) and venture capital (2 times) and there are some important things everyone needs to know.

DISCLAIMER - I work for Adobe but I do not have any involvement in the venture fund. This post is based on my own experience in venture capital and the start-up process.

Plan, Plan, Plan!
You must have a business plan, period. No VC is going to give money without a plan, not one cent. Investors need to see a business plan to judge an investment in terms of quality. No plan, no money.

Test your plan!
Your business plan will be scrutinized in every detail from every angle by many people. If you do not explore the plan and test it in detail, you are toast.

60 Second Rule!
The plan needs to be simple, easy to communicate, and easy to understand. If you cannot communicate the plan in 60 seconds with 1 presentation slide, you are toast.

NDA, NDA, NDA!!!
Get an NDA signed in advance of talking about anything. Fail to do this and you are toast. This NDA item was on the line. I use an NDA but many VCs will never sign them. In hindsight, striking this one is advisable.


Focus on "What" not "How"
"How" will change but "what" (your goals/objective) will not. Whether the business delivers using Apollo or Mobile or AJAX is unimportant when compared to the value you are going to provide. If you are building a mouse trap, first you need to decide "what" you are going to catch, "how" your particular business works comes later.

WAG, WAG, WAG!
Make sure that you take into account all inputs and outputs of the business. Do your best to identify all inputs/outputs in terms of time, money, ip, and people. When you are unsure about an area, insert a WAG, or Wild Ass Guess. Adding WAGs into your business plan is smart because it accounts for the unknown. There are 1000s of unknowns in a new business and if you do not account for them, you will not have enough money and resources when it matters most.

Asking for more!
Unless you have accomplished your goals with money received, do not ask for more. If you fail to accomplish your goals with funding asking for more is a brutal. If you take funding, you need to know that you can deliver 150% of what you promise. Fail to deliver and asking for more will cost you an arm and a leg.

Demo First!
Failure to have a working demo is a mistake. You need to have a working demo or a complete product ready. If you are looking for first round money, you will be taken to the cleaners without something working. VCs like to avoid risk, if you have a working application, your venture is far less risky in their eyes. Having something working means you understand the problem well and that you have thought deeply about solutions. A demo is worth 10000 words.


Make sure you need the money!
If you ask for VC money make sure you need it. For every dollar you receive you will be giving up ownership and control of the business. VC money is not free and comes with a price in terms of equity control. The flip side of this argument is that funding adds tremendous value and capability to a venture. Just make sure when you decide you need funding that you in really need it.

Early money, larger bite!
The earlier you get funding in a venture, the larger equity stake the investment will take. The driver here is investment risk. Early money takes a much larger risk than late money and thus typically gets a larger stake. In many cases, the first money is the most important because it established a base value of the business investment-wise. Say you take $1M dollars for 25% of the company, investment-wise the company is worth $4M based on the investment. Assume you take $10M in a second round for 10%, the company investment-wise is now worth $100M based on the 2nd round investment. $4M to $100M is a big jump in value yet the 2nd round got far less of the company than the 1st round did. The key is that the first round was far riskier than the 2nd round for the investors.

Exit Strategy
Create 3 exit strategies for your business. VCs will evaluate your business on its ability to return the investment or exit. If it doesn't have a viable exit in being sold, going public, or profits then your business will be viewed as less desirable. Show the ability to exit well and you are golden!

Be a First Mover!
Have an original idea and be a first mover. These ventures get funding. The only exception is when you have a delivery model that is dramatically better than what exists. VCs look for ideas that are hard to duplicate and are defensive in the marketplace. If you do not present something original or something better you will have little hope of getting funding.

There will be a lot of companies created to develop Apollo based applications. If you are serious about wanting to create a company around Apollo do this first:

1. Create a Plan.
2. Create the killer application/demo.
3. Get a high quality NDA.
4. Create a 3 Slide presentation and a 60 second elevator pitch.
5. Pound the pavement shopping for funding.
6. Never give up, Take no prisoners!

The irony is that venture capitalists must find companies to invest in. They must fund businesses in order to grow returns for investors. If you have a great idea and have what it takes, there are investors ready to fund the next big thing.

Adobe has committed $100 Million to funding business around Apollo and is looking for investments. I strongly encourage everyone to get started today by creating a plan and getting started with Flex.

Cheers,

Ted :)

I am headed to MAX APAC in Taipei and Singapore tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to the trip. I have a few days between the conferences and I am lugging my dive gear just in case there is an opportunity to relax a bit.

I will be giving the following sessions at MAX APAC:

Understanding Security in Flex and Flash
Building an Enterprise Reporting Framework Using Adobe Flex
Improving ActionScript 3 Performance
Advanced Apollo Application Development
Integrating Flex Applications with Browsers and AJAX

See you in Taipei and Singapore!

Cheers,

Ted :)

The Flexifier is live at http://try.flex.org today. The Flexifier allows anyone to try Flex MXML and AS3 programming without downloading or installing anything. Simply type some MXML or AS3 into a form and you can see the resulting SWF file instantly.

The Flexifier was developed by Ben Forta, Ray Camden, and myself. The backend is powered by a customized build of ColdFusion and the Flex SDK.


Check out the Flexifier!

Cheers,

ted :)

Dynamic Help is quickly becoming one of my favorite features but it is a hidden feature for many. Dynamic Help is tied into the code hinting engine of Flex Builder, if you click on any class, method, property, or MXML Tag, it will provide results in context with the cursor. The results provide entries to the Flex API reference and Search results from the documentation. To turn on Dynamic Help simply do this: Press Menu > Help > Dynamic Help and click on any variable, method in MXML or AS3.

Turn on Dynamic Help, you will find it is a great feature.

Cheers,

ted :)

I would like to thank the presenters and attendees for making MAXUP a success. The session content at MAXUP was impressive and I have received a large number of compliments on the session quality and the format. I would like to get feedback on MAXUP, please include your thoughts in the comments.

Here are my takeaways from MAXUP:

15 Minute Sessions - The tight timeframe of 15 minute sessions forces the presenter to focus on key points and demos. Where longer sessions tend to wander, 15 minutes provides a very nice balance.

Community - Adobe has an amazing community of designers and developers. The content presented at MAXUP was amazing in quality and was a tiny glimpse into our vast community. We need to find a way to surface more community and get developers and designers involved.

Business/Employment - After almost every presenter finished, a small group of interested attendees would chat with the speaker in the back of the hallway. At a future MAXUP, we should provide an area to foster business/employment opportunities with developers. There are 1000's of projects/jobs looking for developers and I think MAXUP provided an ideal venue to foster this business.

Stuff not Fluff - I was pleased to see that MAXUP really highlighted cool stuff, not marketing. We had several speakers representing commercial products at MAXUP and fluff was kept to a minimum.

Self-Managed - Speakers made MAXUP very easy to manage. Everyone was professional and courteous. If a speaker finished early, they allotted their time to the next speaker.

Location/Marketing - Our location and marketing need some work. MAXUP was planned in 1 month with limited budget. The MAXUP schedule was finalized the night before MAXUP began so we had limited ability to post a schedule or market. Although in contrast many presenters and attendees created a large buzz about the event.

Thanks for making MAXUP a success.

Regards,

Ted :)

MAXUP is ready to go from TUES-WED 11AM - 5:30PM. MAXUP is on the 5th Floor of the Venetian Conference Center. Just as you are about the enter the exhibition hall, turn left, MAXUP is on the right hand side. If you are speaking stop by and schedule your session. The stage is set, the speakers are ready, and MAXUP is looking great.

MAXUP
Venetian Conference Center
5th Floor
TUES. 11AM - 5:30PM
WED. 11AM - 5:30PM

Also there is a nasty rumor going around that Adobe might sponsor a standalone MAXUP conference in San Francisco as early as February 2007!!!

I will keep you in the loop on MAXUP 2007 San Francisco!

Ted :)

I read "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" in 2000 and it really changed the way I think about software and community. "Scratching an itch", "Release Early, Release Often", and "Many eyes, shallow bugs" have become really important to me. In many ways MAXUP adds these patterns MAX. The sessions are 100% community driven adding what developers want to see thus "Scratching an Itch". The tight 15 Minute presentations make for very dense and focused sessions, "Release Early, Release Often". Also with exposure, community speakers rise to deliver higher quality, "Many eyes equals shallow bugs". I think you will see that MAXUP is a different approach that embraces the Bazaar.

I really do have faith in the Bazaar in that the community will rise to make MAXUP great. 38 Speakers signed up for sessions over the past few weeks and I did not exclude anyone. No filtering, no management of the content, anyone that posted a session (now closed) is listed as a speaker. The fact that I had to do very little to manage this process is a testament to the quality of the community. I cannot wait to see MAXUP it will be fun, a bit chaotic, and very alive just like a real bazaar.

MAXUP - TUES and WED at Adobe MAX!

Ted :)

Yakov Fain posted an article about PowerBuilder, Java, Flex, and Agile Development. The article talks about Flex productivity and highlights why Flex is taking hold. Simply put Flex is productive, makes prototyping quick, and lets developers focus on the user experience once again. I am a big fan of the team over at Farata Systems, they are doing some amazing things with Flex. Both Victor and Anatole will be presenting at MAXUP and I cannot wait to see their talks.

Great post Yakov, spot on!

Ted :)

MAXUP, the Free Adobe community unconference, will be next Tuesday and Wednesday 10:30AM - 5PM at Adobe MAX in the Venetian. MAXUP will highlight the best of the Adobe's development community and include some amazing sessions. I have personally been blown away by the content that developers have submitted for presentation and MAXUP is looking to be a great addition to MAX. MAXUP schedules will be available at the Keynote on Tuesday and session will begin at 10:30AM after the keynote.



MAXUP will host 3 development competitions, ColdFusion Drag-Race (Ray Camden - Host Wed 12-1), Flex Drag-Race( Tom Ortega - Host Tues. 12-1), and the Component Cookoff (Dave Wolf - Cynergy Systems Tues/Wed at MAXUP). Bring your laptops and get ready for some coding fun.

I would like to thank the speakers for committing to speak at MAXUP. Without them this event could never have happened. Every speaker will be sporting a MAXUP TShirt. Among our speakers we have a special group from Japan joining us. The Japan Flex User Group will be presenting a Flex application they created to teach Origami. They have created an application and lots of example Origami to share with the community. I really applaud their effort as a group and cannot wait to see what they have created.

MAXUP Speakers, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!

Stop by see what is going on and make sure to include MAXUP in your conference plans. We will have lots of great giveaways at MAXUP including TShirts, MAX Stickers, Flex/AS3 API Posters, IRiver MP3 Players and much more.

ColdFusion and Exchange - Terrence Ryan, Wharton Computing
Processing Dynamic Forms with ColdFusion - Erik Goodlad, Price.com
ColdFusion Drag Race - Ray Camden
Speaker Scheduler - Flex/CF hybrid by necessity - Bob Flynn, Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Flash - Communicating with Robotics and Electronics - Robert M. Hall, Feasible Impossibilities
Flash-based Web Builder (FLABER) - Flabber
Wallop - Karl Jacob
Flash Multi-User Applications - Bascule
Flash-Lite Mobile iCalendar Reader Demo - Ali Mills, Pattern Park
Measuring the Customer Experience with Flex and Flash - Brian Shin and Rishi Dean, Visible Measures
Developing a RIA for building a collaborative search engine - Chris Griffith, AJ Software & Multimedia
Building Large Applications with Modules - Logging module sample - Anatole Tartakovsky, Farata Systems
XMPP and Flex - Nick Velloff
Flex for Personal Productivity Applications - Kevin Hoyt, Adobe Systems
A Flex 2 Signature Panel - Mike Givens
SuperGrid to the MAX - from database to application in 15 minutes - Victor Rasputnis, Farata Systems
Developing Rich Internet Applications with SAP and Flex - Matthias Zeller
Flex and Lucene for full-text search - Simon Barber, ThoughtFaqtory
RingDesignOnline 2.0 beta - Rich Tretola
Flex pub/sub and Real-Time Messaging on .NET - Mark Piller, Midnight Coders
Automated Testing with FlexUnit and ANT - Kristoffer Singleton, Emergent Game Tech
Flex Video Show & Snap App - Andrew Muller, Webqem
Make Your Flex App Test Itself - David Coletta, Virtual Ubiquity, Inc.
Enterprise Portal and Dashboards - Fabio Terracini, DClick
YAGC - Yet Another Grid Control? Bridging data and experience in Flex. - Dave Wolf, Cynergy Systems
Oragami project - Japan User Group
XIF Communications, Inc. - Ben Nunez, XIF Communications, Inc.
Flex Drag Race - Tom Ortega, Ebay
Monitoring and Troubleshooting ColdFusion with SeeFusion 4 (Featuring Flex 2) - Patrick Quinn, Daryl Banttari, Webapper Services, LLC
Design Patterns in AS2.0: The Strategy Pattern - Jeff Carnes, Resource Interactive
Building TagTV with Apollo - Ted Patrick, Adobe
Creating and Writing Image Data to the Filesystem - Mike Chambers, Adobe
Apollo SOA App - Duane Nickull, Adobe
Mission Critical Architecture - Chafic Kazoun, Atellis
Application Components - Chafic Kazoun, Atellis
Cairngorm in 15 Minutes - Steven Webster, Adobe
Adobe Consulting Demos - Alistair McLeod, Adobe
Apollo Installation and Security - Ethan Malasky, Adobe
Flex and PHP - Mike Potter, Adobe

See you at MAXUP!!!

Ted :)

The Linux Flash Player 9 beta is available on labs.adobe.com. Go Tux!



Ted :)

We make mistakes, we listen, we adjust, we care. The API posters will be available for FREE, FREE, FREE at MAX. We only have 1000 sets ( 3000 posters ) at MAX as this was the first printing run. But there is much more to this story, 12ft more. We didn't just print API posters, we are Adobe! We printed 12ft by 4ft of AS3 and Flex APIS on high quality stock on state of the art large format printers. To give you some scale, here is a photo of Matt Chotin and myself. The posters below are the samples we made for review.



Cheers,

Ted :)

The rough cuts of Programming Flex 2 and ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook have taken over the home page of Oreilly.com. It is really good to see these book headed to market.





Cheers,

Ted :)

Ben Forta and Ray Camden have created RIAForge.org for RIA open source projects. I will be moving FXT and some of my new projects over to RIAForge.org shortly. It is a very well done effort.

I am adding it to Flex.org now.

Cheers,

ted :)

There are 3 API posters available at MAX and I just posted the PDF versions of these posters to Flex.org! The posters provide a visual map of the class inheritance in Flex and AS3, exposing all methods, properties, and events. I cannot wait to wallpaper my cube in these posters.






ActionScript 3 API PDF at Flex.org

Flex 2 Framework API PDF at Flex.org

Again if you want high quality posters, they are going to be available at MAX.

Regards,

Ted :)

The applications driving Web 2.0 shift processing to the end users computer leveraging the idle distributed computing capability of web clients. We are entering the era of Distributed Internet Applications. These applications have all the benefits of desktop applications yet leverage the Internet while remaining easily deployable to a mass market. Here is my take on the trends we will see as distributed computing goes mainstream.

Real-time & Multi-User - We will see an explosion of applications that allow many users to work together in real-time. The solo internet experience is dead and social applications have highlighted the importance of shared experience. We will see an explosion of applications leveraging Socket connections enabling bi-directional push data exchange. I have witnessed many developers exploring integration of XMPP, SVN, VOIP, RTMP, XMLSocket, Messaging, Data synchronization into applications. This trend will only grow.

Online/Offline - We will see applications that let users work online or offline seamlessly. These applications will be able to detect Internet availability and execute logic accordingly. I will fill out my expense report on the plane offline and when connected, my expense report will be submitted automagically.

Rich, Beautiful, Amazing - We will see applications that seamlessly integrate audio, video, images, animation, data, and text. These applications will be easy to use and provide a greater UI experience than anything available today. End users want graphically rich applications that are both intuitive and productive.

Simple Server APIs - Servers will get much simpler as the presentation layer is removed and they evolve into APIs. Instead of serving data embedded into the presentation layer of HTML, we will see servers publish an API that implements a standard integration format, like SOAP, REST, AMF. These API standards will allow mash-up applications to be created by mixing data from distributed services. We will see faceless API's being sold/leased to power these distributed applications. If I want a backend for a "Job Board" I will rent a API/backend that allows for seamless integration into my application.

Flash Player/Apollo is the client - We will see Flash Player and Apollo become the defacto standard for web/desktop application development and deployment. Given support for MP3, XML, AS3, E4X, Socket, Fonts, Messaging, vector graphics, GIF, JPG, PNG, SWF, ByteArray, FLV, zlib, AMF3, On2, Sorenson, Nellymoser, File Upload/Download, Full Screen, components, RSL, Local Shared Objects, filters, animation, Read/Write FileSystem Access, Desktop Integration, Shared Object, and Streaming video/audio upload/download, we will see amazing applications created. These applications will be rich and seamlessly deployed atop Flash Players wide platform support. Apollo will allow these rich applications to jump outside the browser yet integrate existing browser content seamlessly and compatibly. Yes, Apollo has a standards compliant web browser inside independent of the operating system (custom browser in 5 minutes).

Cross-platform - Given the rise of Apple OSX and Linux platforms, applications must support cross-platform. We have reached the end of the Windows era and Windows-only or Vista-only (plus hardware) options are a dead losers for development. WPF will be the biggest flop in the history of Microsoft because it is hardware dependent, not cross-windows, and not cross-platform. WPFE will be the equivalent of SVG, and thus DOA. It is simply no longer acceptable to create applications that do not work cross-platform. With Apollo we will see the first binary compatible application delivery model for Windows, Apple OSX, and Linux. Yes a single binary will install on 3 platforms. Why would anyone create applications with a limited reach?

It will be interesting to watch and participate in these groundbreaking changes moving forward. If anything is constant in technology, it is change itself.

My 2 Cents,

Ted :)

Today I received a box of 3000 Flex Rune stickers for MAX! The stickers are white circles with the FX Rune and are slightly larger than the Apple logo on my MacBook Pro. Myself, Matt Chotin, and Mike Potter will have reels of the stickers at MAX so if you want to sticker your computer or car, just ask! Tariq, I have a FX Runes for your car!



Cheers,

Ted :)

MAXUP is still FREE but the dates are Oct. 24-25 10AM-5PM in the Venetian conference area. Again MAXUP is Oct. 24-25 10AM-5PM. See you at MAXUP in Vegas! Ted :)

Yes, the MAXUP Track at Adobe MAX 2006 is now FREE. Working late into the evening last night the team arranged to have MAXUP positioned outside of badged conference areas enabling it to be FREE. There will be 2 solid days of sessions from 10AM-5PM on Oct. 24-25th and many great developers and companies are going to speak.

The MAXUP schedule is filling up fast! If you want to speak you have a limited time to post your sessions to the MAXUP planning list. Visit http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/maxup/ and post a session title, session description, session length (5,10,15 minutes), and your name.

Free MAXUP, see you in Las Vegas!

Ted :)

It looks like MAXUP is getting a major upgrade from 2 high profile companies. Development teams from Ebay and MySpace will be presenting 1 hour sessions at MAXUP! If you are planning to attend MAX 2006 in Las Vegas, make sure to stop by MAXUP during the Ebay and MySpace presentations. I am sure you will see some amazing things in development.

The MAXUP schedule is filling up fast! If you want to speak you have a limited time to post your sessions to the MAXUP planning list. Visit http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/maxup/ and post a session title, session description, session length (5,10,15 minutes), and your name.

At what point does MAXUP become "THE REASON" to attend MAX 2006?

More to come!

Ted :)

The sessions for MAXUP are shaping up nicely. If you want to speak at MAXUP, post your session here! Here are a sampling of the sessions and speakers we are looking at for MAXUP:

Kevin Hoyt - Flex for Personal Productivity Applications
Nick Velloff - XMPP and Flex
Anatole Tartakovsky - Building Large Applications with Modules
Ted Patrick - Building TagTV with Apollo
Ali Mills - Mobile iCalendar Reader via FlashLite
Bob Flynn - My First Flex Experiment
Chris Griffith - Developing a RIA for building a collobrative search engine
Robert M. Hall - Flash - Communicating with Robotics and Electronics
Tom Ortega - Flex DragRace
Ray Camden - ColdFusion DragRace
Dave Wolf - Front to Back Development
Steven Webster - Cairngorm 2.0
Japan FXUG - Oragami Flex

Committed Speakers:
Peter Joel Hall
Chafic Kazoun
Simon Barber
James Ward
Mike Chambers
Christian Cantrell
Danny Dura
Mike Potter
Matt Chotin
Raymond Camden
Ryan Stewart
Precia Carraway
Tom Green
Tiago Dias

Additionally we are looking for more ColdFusion and creative media sessions at MAXUP.

If you would like to speak please do not hesitate to sign-up here.

1. Join the MAXUP discussion list at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/maxup/
2. Post a session: Title, Description, Length (5,10,15 minutes)

More to come,

Ted :)

Tom Ortega will be hosting a Flex DragRace at MAXUP on Tues. Oct 24 from Noon-1PM. The idea is simple. Show up with your laptop and Flex installed. You will have thirty minutes to write an application. What application? I'm not telling. You have to show up to find out. We will then spend thirty minutes looking at what you wrote. It's ok if you don't finish completely. We will judge as a group and have significant prizes to give away.

See you at MAXUP!

Ted :)

Ray Camden will be hosting a CF DragRace at MAXUP on Wed. Oct 25 from Noon-1PM. The idea is simple. Show up with your laptop and ColdFusion installed. You will have thirty minutes to write an application. What application? I'm not telling. You have to show up to find out. We will then spend thirty minutes looking at what you wrote. It's ok if you don't finish completely. We will judge as a group and have significant prizes to give away.

See you at MAXUP!

Ted :)

The MAXUP team has created a discussion list for MAXUP news and scheduling at Yahoo Groups.

To present at MAXUP you will need to post a message containing:

- Speaker Name and Company
- Session Title
- Session Description
- Session Time (5,10,15 minutes)

Example:

- Ted Patrick - Adobe Systems
- Building TagTV with Apollo
- A basic session on creating my first Apollo application.
- 15 minutes

We will be scheduling MAXUP over the next 2 weeks on the MAXUP discussion list leading up to Adobe MAX. If you plan on attending MAX and you would like to speak please step forward and get involved.

URL: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/maxup/
POST: maxup@yahoogroups.com
SUBSCRIBE: maxup-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Regards,

Ted :)

I am in Tokyo this week and have had to learn many new things. The most intimidating was the Tokyo train system at rush hour. It sounds simple (buy a ticket, find a train, board it, and get off at your stop) but it was a very humbling and frustrating experience. It has reminded me of my first experience learning Flex and made me conscious of how intimidating learning new things can be.

I learning Flex 1.5 during the spring of 2005 and honestly I was terrible at it at first. I knew Flash MX 2004 inside and out and could code a RIA in a heartbeat with the timeline, AS2, and components. I had mastered Flash and ActionScript for my consulting work and I felt confident in my knowledge and market value. I could convince clients to pay $75-$100 per hour for Flash development. Then I got the Flex call...

I got an email from LifeOptions who was working on a large scale healthcare project in Flex for Disney, Aetna, and Pacificare. A developer had quit unexpectedly and they were shorthanded at a critical time during development of the assessment engine. I looked at the project proposal and wanted to do the project in Flash Authoring but they insisted on using Flex (much to my frustration). The surprise was that they were willing to pay much higher rates for me to learn Flex. When I agreed to the project I was nervous and intimidated by Flex because it represented the unknown.

I felt like I had been tossed head first into a swimming pool and forced to swim. I struggled with the Flex development paradigm until I got some simple things working. It is within those simple examples that my confidence in Flex grew. I discovered lots of amazing features and after just 2 weeks had a working prototype for the client to review. I took a risk in learning Flex but that decision has paid 1000 fold for me personally.

We (Adobe & Flex Community) need to do a better job at making Flex easier to learn. We need more code examples so that developers can discover how Flex works. We need to make the Flex Community discoverable and searchable. We need to lower or eliminate the barriers to Flex adoption by developers outside of our community. Just as I struggled to learn Flex, many developers will experience the same. My trip to Japan has made me conscious that learning new things is never easy and that even the things we take for granted can be intimidating for new users.

Here are a few mistakes I made during my first Tokyo train ride:

1. Insert 1000 Yen into ticket machine, Press 1000 Yen ticket button. As I departed the station the machine ate my ticket. I only needed a 130 Yen ticket.

2. Finding the right train. When I arrived at Adobe Japan I was handed 2 maps, one for trains and one for subway. Each map has 100 stops on it. Hmmmmm....Where am I?

3. Boarding the train. Stand in a line on the platform. When the doors open you literally flow onto the train with the crowd. I am not sure my feet were moving at all it was so crowded.

4. Walking within the train station. It is like crossing a river of people to get where you want to go. If you have any doubt about where you are headed, you must be very careful when you decide to stop. I paused and 4 people bumped into me.

After 2 rough trips, I am now able to navigate the Tokyo train system with confidence and can now travel a bit farther. In a way it is identical to learning Flex. Once you get started and build confidence you can begin to explore the possibilities. Hopefully over time you will discover, as I have, that the only real limitation in Flex is your own imagination.

Struggle, understand, discover, and explore!

Cheers,

Ted :)

ArcWeb Explorer is an amazing Flex example from ESRI and is now a public facing application. What I like is the wide array of vector mapping options available and the ability to manipulate map data itself.



Way to go ESRI!

Ted :)

I just arrived in Tokyo, Japan where I will be working with the Adobe Japan team all week. I am scheduled for 5 days of meetings with partners, user groups, and press. This is my very first trip to Japan and I am honored to be here. I will be giving 4 presentations this week as follows:

1. Flex Data Services and Java Frameworks - Hibernate and Spring
2. Performance and Productivity with Flex 2 and ActionScript 3
3. ActionScript 3 Performance Tuning (MAX)
4. Building desktop application with Apollo and Flex 2

I am looking forward to meeting with the Japan Flex User Group on Wednesday evening. I will present "Building desktop application with Apollo and Flex 2" and we will be doing some MAXUP planning as a large group from Japan is coming to MAX 2006. I look forward to meeting everyone on Wednesday evening.

Special thanks to the Adobe Japan Team for hosting me this week. The team has put together an amazing schedule of meetings and events. From what I have seen thus far it is going to be a trip to remember.

Domo arigato gozaimasu.

Ted :)