Apollo
February 26, 2007
We have been using Flash for development for a number of years. We moved to it from Java Applets while Sun and Microsoft were too busy suing each other to make sure that all web users had the virtual machine.
Flash has been a godsend. It has dropped the number of help desk calls on our projects to near zero and allowed us to work across browser very reliably.
About a year ago, we started to use Flex. The developers loved it. They can work in Eclipse rather then hacking code to fit into a Flash time line. It looks good, let’s our designers look better and has the same advantages of Flash.
The only drawback has been the requirement for Flash 9 for the client. But with the adoption rate increasing, that is becoming less and less of an issue.
One of the most developed ideas that we have used Flex for is an image manipulation tool for ICE Dental Systems. It allows doctors to load images into a predefined set, manipulate each image individually (correcting zoom, colors, etc) and then save a set for the patient. The set can be printed or else delivered to the patient via a web interface. The most painful part of this for the dentist is the delay while the image are uploaded so that Flex can access them. But it works and the dentists are happy with the end result.
But am I looking forward to Apollo. But the dentists are really looking forward to it and they don’t even know it. We are going to be able to manipulate the images instantly since we will have access to the file system. We can completely hide the upload from the end users and reduce the time it currently takes them to work with the patient images. It’s going to be a fun year.
Oh yeah. Here’s what got me started. A great post about what Apollo is good for.
Weblycan: Apollo. What is it good for? Absolutely…
“Nothing? Everything? Well its obviously neither of those, which leaves us with somewhere in between, right? But where? Nearly all the information that’s been filtering through is about Apollo’s capabilities – hybrid desktop-web applications, occasionally connected software, data syncing capabilities, Flash/Flex/html/PDF/AJAX support, etc. Truly amazing stuff and if that’s the info you’re after, Adobe labs is the place to start. Mike Chamber’s blog is also a great source for keeping up with the latest Apollo developments.”
