In the last couple of days, I decided to go through my notes, collect all the presentation files (powerpoints, pdfs and zips) and find blogs that reference the keynotes. Essentially I wanted to reflect and review "the Happening" that was Adobe Max 2008, my first Max.
For the most part I was impressed with this, my first, Adobe convention. It did not fail to inspire and to inform developers and designers on the future of Adobe and their products. In fact, when I got home I wanted to buy the latest Creative Suite right away, based on the feeling that I'm missing out on new and exciting features. Call it the rabid consumer in me. Like all the conventions I've attended in the past, I feel that most of the session only skimmed the surface of what I expected to learn. Keep in mind that I've attended Flash in the Can three times and FlashForward last year. The big difference is the session security lock up. You had to be assign to you time slot session via your id card. If you changed your mind, you had to log in to the system and change your schedule. In other conventions, you could wonder around to another session if the assigned session you were slated to attend went south. I can understand this method reduces the congestion and interruptions of people running around and crashing into the middle of a presentation. My hat goes off to anyone who prepares and presents ideas to a group as large as the Max crowd or any crowd for that matter.
These are the sessions that impressed me the most in no particular order:
The Flex Architecture Faceoff - "to be or not to be" using a Framework. It had as much drama as a Shakespeare play - Starring Todd Anderson, Josh Noble, Chafic Kaznoun and Yakov Falin. I only wish it could have lasted a bit longer. Chafic and Yakov voiced their disdain for using a framework in projects. The idea being that they contain a lot of code that can be unnecessary. They found that an "al a carte" setup with a smaller, tighter group of developers is best for their projects. Ideally using a blackbox approach, passing data providers, is what one should strive for. Other suggestions include passing events on data changes rather than using data binding and using code generation. If there was an opposing side to this argument, it was held by both Josh and Todd. They touted that frameworks are best in large group project where developer level may vary. It is also a means to standardize the work/code. This makes it easier for another developer to maintain the project after the fact. Cairngorm was the framework most referenced in the discussion. There was also a discussion on using Prana with Cairngorm (http://www.pranaframework.org/), to implement inversion of control and dependency injection. From what I understand you can swap out services willy nilly and test object instances via xml file. I heard something about this from the Flex show Podcast. Never used it, but I should definitely try it out. There was a reference to using PureMVC (puremvc.org). No doubt it was a lively discussion. At the end of the session, I think everyone was in agreement on a few points, on when to use and not use a framework. Both sides voiced sensible opinions. Those who attended benefited from their knowledge.
Google Maps with Flash/Air applications: More dynamic views of the map content (3D), Embed video and animation assets. Now support Air... What I got out of this session- I'm interested in building an Air Application using this library verses MapQuest's library.
Adobe XDCE - Air User Experience Model - Demos on Aggregators, Utilities, Media Consumers... Probably the most impressive application demo - the International Herald Tribune - Basically brings the New York Times layout and design to Adobe Air. What I got out of this session, ideas on Air applications that could be built.
Flex framework features to support large applications: Build the case for the Marshall Plan - Dividing the work between sub application domains / different versions of Flex Framework. This plan will start to be implemented from Flex 3.2 on up to newer versions. Many limitations - No strong typing, No Managers/Singletons, Security issues, and Remote Object Data services have serializing issues. The idea is to support legacy frameworks from this point forward when updating legacy projects cannot be accomplished. What I got the most out of this session was the idea of using modules, RSL to break up application and make applications faster.
Session on 2Advanced: I learned that a company that started around the Internet Crash of 2000 happened can still survive and thrive by having employees multitask. I was very impressed with their work ethic and their creative portfolio.
The major keynotes on Monday and Tuesday focused on The Flash Platform and sneak peeks - Flash Player 10, Adobe Catalyst (Thermo), Adobe Air 1.5, Gumbo (Flex Builder 4) The major trends - Client and Cloud computing, Social computing, Devices and desktop computing. They had a small mention of Adobe Alchemy, which allows you to run C/C++ code into Actionscript (hmm interesting).
Links (good accounts of the major keynotes):
http://flashthusiast.com/2008/11/17/liveblogging-max-2008-day-1-general-session-keynote-click-refresh/#more-102
http://flashthusiast.com/2008/11/18/liveblogging-max-sneak-peeks-and-awards-refresh-yo/
http://blogs.adobe.com/pdehaan/2007/10/adobe_max_2007_keynote_day_2_e.html
I am really thankful that my company (TMG) allowed me to attend this conference. It was great to finally meet my fellow talented Morphicians from the West Coast. This was the crème al la crème of conferences, a way to see what can and will be next in our industry.
Please feel free to respond with comments or any thoughts on Max 2008.
