So I came across some very exciting news today… Adobe Labs has released a beta of a Flex compiler that runs on your server.

The Flex module for Apache and Microsoft IIS provides web-tier compilation of MXML and ActionScript files on Apache and IIS web servers. This module lets you rapidly compile, test and deploy an application by simply requesting the main application file from a web browser, similar to working with server-side scripting languages such as PHP, ColdFusion or JSP.
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You do not need a J2EE application server to use the web-tier compiler. The Flex module for Apache and IIS works with just the web server and a Java runtime environment (JRE).

So what does this mean to me?

No more compiling then posting, easier collaborative development, easier source management, lower step in for other developers into the world of Flex. I wonder what it will be like to develop an HTML/JavaScript app with Flex and then use this Apache Flex module… I also wonder how it performs and if that initial compilation time competes with just calling a pre-compiled Flex app.
In the meantime, I’m going to play with it on my local dev machine and see if it allows me to use a development process that’s more familiar to me.

It seems to me like I haven’t been posting lately, well, it’s because I haven’t. Now that I’m ready to get back in the swing of things it seems like there’s a good amount of news going around.

Firstly and closest to home…..

Ultra16 has a new home

Two weeks ago, we feverishly packed up all of our stuff and crammed all of the workstations, desks, books, mannequins, a couple hundred pounds of magazines, and a few small plants into two 24″ trucks and hauled them a couple of blocks up the street. We are now the neighbors of the lovely free weekly The Village Voice.
I don’t really feel like embedding a google map right now, so here’s a link: 36 Cooper Square

Apollo is no more

Now despite the catching name of Apollo, Adobe’s lovely platform agnostic application rendering engine thingy has be rebranded Adobe Air (Adobe Integrated Runtime). If you haven’t at least done any playing around with Air, I suggest you do. This is how the folks over at Adobe Labs put it.

Adobe® AIR™, formerly code-named Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to use their existing web development skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop.

The great folks over at Aptana now directly support Air as well as RoR. These are great times to be a clientside developer.

Safari for Win?

Ok ok, I know that if I had the couple of extra bucks to buy an Intel Mac I could run either OSX or Win either with Bootcamp, Parallels (which recently has made it’s way to V3.0) and I think there might be a few other choices. No matter what my choice, in order to do any testing with safari I’d still have to have a box to run OSX, until now.
Apple has now made the Safari 3 Beta public! And you know what? It runs on windows too! Now all of the great stuff from Webkit, will be available to me on my HP laptop. Only downside is in order to support Safari 1.3-2.0 I still need to drag out my old G4 from the far corner below my desk.