AIR, Water and Fire!

As the world keeps turning, people are getting poorer and the application world is getting richer! The Economic depression is certainly getting messier by the day. Adobe cut about 600 jobs, Google cut some jobs too and looks like that is going to continue for a longtime. Companies that were once in the forefront of business development are stepping careful. A lot of people I know don't know where they are headed. Well, I do hope things get better now than never!
Eventhough I couldn't attend Adobe MAX 2008, due to the obvious cost factor, I made sure that I stayed up with the latest news! "Thermo" finally got its real name - "Flash Catalyst" and the "Flash Platform" was announced! I know I am quite late in blogging about it, but, I am not covering the MAX :)
"Rich Applications" (not just the web!) always interested me. I was really happy when those old "formy" looks were thrown out of the window. "UI" gave way to "UX" and the world is a better place to live. When colour was introduced, application power wasn't lost..infact.. apps became more powerful. We have the best of both worlds - a fast growing powerful web and a richer more functional desktop. I started my professional life as a designer and thought Flash was just a "Splash screen" menace. Well, those were the days of the dial-up! Within a couple of months, I was swearing by Flash (Flash 4 then)! It never crossed my mind, back then, that Flash would become a whole platform - the web, the mobile, the desktop..world domination?!?? ;-) Today, my world revolves around Flash, Flex and AIR.
Eventhough I am only developing my 2nd application in AIR, I've grown to love it. My first app was an MP3 player. I am not really proud of the player, but, its my "Hello World" app! The app (more of a utility) that I am working on currently is called "Fetch". In a nutshell, its a sort of a Favourites Bar which syncs with your desktop, del.icio.us and google bookmarks. It is a simple application to make. I just love working with APIs. My next app is a more complicated one - a Project Management Tool to me and my colleagues with our day-to-day work. Its more of a personal project that I am still in the process of creating specifications and project flow. Theres a lot of studying before that, since, this is sort of custom built. Interesting times ahead!