Unless you live in a technology cave you have probably noticed the discussion in the industry around Flash and HTML 5 that has been started by the Apple controversy.  My goal here isn’t to rehash what has been said around using Flash or HTML 5 in a browser or on a mobile device, but to share my thoughts around this debate as it applies to Enterprise Business applications.

There is valid debate occurring around the pro’s and con’s of using Flash to serve a banner ad, or a video, or if the <canvas> tag or <audio> tag are a viable alternative.  However this is a minor point when you are considering which platform to use to create a business application or a consumer facing RIA (Rich Internet Application).

First, let’s look at where the HTML 5 spec currently sits.  It is a much-needed refresh of the current HTML 4 spec and has some great features such as support for video, audio and offline data storage using SQL Lite.  The W3C HTML 5 specification is currently in “Working Draft” status and is not expected to be finalized until 2012 or later.  The other current issue with HTML 5 is that is only supported in varying degrees by the major Internet browsers and some of its features may never be supported by some browsers (such as an offline data store).

We do a lot of work for Fortune 500 clients and have used both Adobe Flex and HTML 5 on projects.  Currently HTML 5 is an option if you have full control over which browsers will be used to run an application (which is frequently not the case, even in the Enterprise).  In contrast, Adobe Flex is a great platform to build business applications and can run in virtually all desktop browsers. 

Flex is a rich platform that has complex UI elements (data grids, tabbed navigators, menus, etc.) built directly into the Flex SDK (now called Flashbuilder).  It allows you to take your application and easily run them in Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) on the desktop (outside of the browser) or on a mobile device*. 

As a company we are generally technology agnostic and try to bring the best options to the table to meet client needs.  Although our focus is around deploying Cloud based solutions we have found that user interface or taking the Cloud offline is important to our clients.  The question of Flex vs. HTML 5 for a business application is an easy one to answer today and will likely be so for the next couple of years.  The promise of HTML 5 is great, but until the specification is finalized and it is widely supported by all major browsers it can only be used in limited ways and it doesn’t have the developer productivity tools that are inherent in Flex. 

Here is a real world example.  One of our early iPhone products on the iTunes AppStore was Search2GO, a simple search tool for Salesforce.com.  This was built in Objective C and it took approximately 8 weeks to develop.  Yesterday I watched two developers create over half of this same functionality using Flex/AIR and had it running on an Android phone in a day.  Granted there are still things that could be added, but this was a great illustration of why Flex/AIR is a great toolset.

So while the debate rages on about HTML 5 vs Flash in the consumer market I’d recommend taking a hard look at Flex for business applications.

* Except the iPhone or iPad of course…

Today, Marc Benioff, the ever-vocal CEO of salesforce.com made a blog post over at Fortune on the end of Microsoft. In his post he outlines Microsoft’s latest ad campaigns, the ones spouting off about Windows 7 being "my idea." He pokes fun at one in particular where Windows no longer crashing was somehow deemed a feature.

Is that how low our expectations are these days? Certainly not in general, and it is a sad state of affairs for Microsoft that crashing is one of the expected behaviors of a Windows device.

He goes on further to point out the explosive growth and success of sites like Facebook and YouTube. These consumer websites have absolutely changed people’s expectations of what a web experience should be like: engaging, easy to navigate and providing loads of value.

Here at Model Metrics those themes ring true for everything we build. We do nothing but cloud computing, which is really what Facebook and YouTube are all about. Computing in the workplace has historically lagged behind what’s available at home. That’s no longer true. With technology from salesforce.com, Google, Adobe and Apple getting things done at the office is as easy as using your favorite personal websites.

While Microsoft isn’t leaving any time soon, newer technologies are showing better promise than the failed paradigm of machines prone to crashing.

According to John Herlihy, Google’s vice-president of Global Ad Operations, the conventional desktop PC is rapidly becoming irrelevant. Between the explosive sales of smart phones and other mobile devices, netbooks, and laptops it appears the "traditional" means of computing are changing quickly.

Google of course has a vested interest in this game, but it’s clear they have a point. The power of the PC is moving to the cloud for all of the heavy lifting. Buying ever more powerful equipment is simply unnecessary. The enterprise can do much of its computing in the cloud, and with Apple’s latest moves the consumer will soon find media there as well.

So now that the cloud is fully established for both consumers and enterprises alike, it’s just a matter of time before the old desktop PC goes the way of the dinosaur.

In late 2008, Google surprised the tech community by launching their own browser. Rumors swirled about the direction of the company, since this was Google’s first significant foray into building applications that run locally. What could they do in 2009 to top that? How about an entire operating system.

Google Chrome OS is built on the idea that other operating systems were designed in an era where most computing was done offline (Microsoft, Apple, are you listening?). Everybody knows the common complaints of those systems: expensive, heavy resource hogs that get slower and slower the more they’re used. Since many (if not most) common computing situations are now performed online, having a bloated operating system doesn’t always make the most sense.

The implications are clear. Google wants you running their operating system, using their browser, and accessing their online office applications (Google Docs). In keeping with their mantra "don’t be evil," Google claims there are multiple options from competitors to keep the DoJ from getting too keen on anti-trust issues. Google has clearly learned from Microsoft’s example.

Judging by the video below - this major undertaking is well under way, and if history is any indicator it will be highly polished upon full release.

(credit to Interperetivist Clog)

As the New York Times’ David Pogue put succinctly in his article, Apple may have stepped in it by rejecting Google’s "Google Voice" application from their App Store. Speculation abounds, but many feel AT&T put the kibosh on the application - highlighting the dangers mobile device manufacturer’s face when tethering themselves to cellular service providers.

With the FCC launching their own investigation into this mess, Google has apparently moved on. They are now said to be developing a web version of the Google Voice service, which will offer the same functionality through the iPhone’s Safari browser. This comes as no surprise, as they did the same thing with their Google Latitude application.

All of this only further serves to highlight the importance of net neutrality, something I have been passionate about for a number of years. Internet service providers want desperately to filter content, giving preferential treatment to those who pay extra for tiered services. They claim that since they own a section of the delivery mechanism (the “end of the pipe,” as it were) they should be able to control what passes through those pipes.

If net neutrality is not supported, services like this from Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com, even salesforce.com – could be significantly crippled, devastating the productivity of hundreds millions of people around the world in both their personal and professional lives.

I take the view that the Internet was originally built with public money, and is continually supported with both public tax dollars and ISP subscription fees. If the ISPs can’t get their act together to make a profit at the rates they charge, then they should raise their rates to a level the market will still support – not suppress everyone else with draconian law.

I have an iPhone and for the most part I love it.  I like the interface, the seamless access to music and all the apps on the AppStore.  I don’t like the shortcomings, such as the lack of cut and paste, no video capture, lack of landscape keyboard, etc… Many of these will be addressed soon with the 3.0 OS, which is already in public beta.  We have created six apps for the AppStore ourselves and we know and love Objective C.  But what about Android?  I’ve heard a lot about it, especially when the G1 launched, but I’ve never personally used it or seen it in action beyond some POC work by some of the developers on my team.

That is about to change.  Google did a very smart thing, which at first I thought was very generous, then I realized was a brilliant move to buy mindshare.  They gave all 4,000 of us a free Android phone just for coming to their conference.  But we weren’t 4,000 random people.  We are thought leaders and developers from all walks of life that know enough or care enough about Google to spend a couple of days learning more about it.  Even with this “Google Centric” crowd I saw a lot of iPhones and Blackberries and very few G1’s.  But now all of us have a free Android phone, and not only that but it is unlocked and we have a SIM card for 30 days of voice and data access.

I’d say the odds of all of us trying out some development on this platform just increased dramatically.  I’m curious to see what comes out of this or what types of skunkwork apps my team can put together now that we have a spare phone we can actually try things out on.
 

I recently listed the desktop version of CardLasso on Adobe’s AIR Marketplace.  If you haven’t heard of AIR, check it out on the Adobe site.  It is the “Adobe Integrated Runtime” which allows you to run RIA apps on your desktop and distribute them with the ease of a web app.  Our AIR version of CardLasso is targeted at the Tradeshow user, and allows you to quickly gather business cards when you have no internet connection and save them locally.  You can sync them up to Lasso2Go later back at Starbucks or the hotel.

It seems like not a lot of people know about the AIR Marketplace so I wanted to write a quick note to raise awareness and let you know about the listing process.
First off, I really like their approach.  You can use your existing Adobe ID to create a publishing account on the marketplace, this took 10 seconds.

Next you enter publisher information to tell everyone a little about your company and upload a company logo.  Very fast and easy.  I was immediately approved as a publisher.

Then I filled out the listing for our application which included all the standard info you would expect, description, logos, links to download the app, etc…  (See below)

The only hard part about the listing process was sizing down graphics and screen shots to fit the requirements, but not a big deal.

Then I clicked submit.

Literally less than an hour later I had an email from Adobe with a few questions and suggestions on my listing.  I made the suggested changes and our product was live.
It was great to list a product on an online store and have it live a four hours after starting the listing process.  Granted it doesn’t have the volume that the Apple AppStore has, or the security implications that the Salesforce AppExchange listings have, but both Apple and Salesforce could learn a few things from how Adobe approaches the listing process.

It’s been live for a few days, check it out here and add a review to let us know what you think.

Calendar2GO Lite for Salesforce CRM on the iPhone

We just found out Calendar2GO Lite was approved by Apple.  This is a free little application that allows you to easily see your Salesforce calendar on your iPhone and shows all the events for the current week, broken out into days and is very similar to the home screen in Salesforce.  You can drill into an event to see the detail, whether it is recurring, it’s description, etc…

There is a full version that should be approved soon that adds several nice features such as a daily view, weekly view, linkable phone numbers, email addresses. 

Check it out and let us know what you think.  I’m curious how many other organizations use Salesforce as their company calendar.  Also, any interest in seeing this on a Blackberry?