May 11 2007

Adobe-Microsoft-Sun Battle in the RIA Arena: Which to Choose?

Posted by Sophia as Computers, Gadzooki News, Microsoft, Mobility, Tech Companies, Tech News, The Web

If you’ve been using your computer for sometime now (what an understatement!), you might have heard at least one of the three big companies, Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun. Your first computer was probably a PC—a DOS- or Windows-based personal computer—so you’ve probably heard of Microsoft already. As for the other two, I’ve become aware of them about the same time, during high school:

Adobe specializes in graphics software, with Acrobat and Photoshop as its most familiar products. Sun, on the other hand, aside from being a notable hardware company, it is also behind Java, one of the most popular programming languages ever.

The RIA Battle

A few years ago it would be difficult to see how these three companies could ever compete side by side, but here were are in 2007, in the middle of a war for desktop, mobile, and the web supremacy, particularly in the rich internet applications (RIA) arena:

Adobe, having acquired Macromedia to stengthen its online media arsenal, upgraded the ubiquitous Flash with Flex. (A similar program for the desktop is Apollo.)
Microsoft swiftly answers with Silverlight, now touted the “Flash-killer”.
Finally, Sun just announced JavaFX (during the annual JavaONE Conference held this week), also meant for creating and providing highly graphical and interactive media.

What Would You Choose?

All three companies seem to promise compatibility across platforms, mobile devices, AJAX and other web-related acronyms. More importantly, they each want to be the vessel that brings you the most advanced stuff on the internet.

To which company would you trust that (hopefully) mind-blowing experience? The company dedicated to programmers and system administrators? The company catering to graphic and web designers? Or the company that is the most ambitious in the world (next to Google, that is)? Chances are, if you’ve worked closely with either Adobe, Microsoft, or Sun products before, you might be unconsciously biased towards one of them, too.

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Comments (11)

11 Responses

Fire Eye'd Boy
11|May|2007

My first question when Silverlight was announced was, do we really need another Flash? While I have not researched in-depth about Adobe’s and Sun’s solutions, Microsoft’s may have a good argument with Silverlight. Beyond being just Flash-in-a-sandbox, and if my sources serve me right, Silverlight is actually just a fancy name for WPF/.NET 2.0 driven and re-engineered graphics subsystems created for Vista. That’s Aero across all platforms – Windows, Mac (not that they’ll be jumping around with joy) and other *nix-es
ia
11|May|2007

I think WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere) is the former codename for Silverlight (see 3rd question in FAQ). I think the three technologies have to be really mainstream for us to feel conscious of how important they are to us and the exact role they will playing in our computing experience. Because right now, Flash is Flash—it’s hard describing it without experiencing it, right?

I hope somebody comes out with a side-by-side comparison in tabular form!
Phillip Kimpo Jr
12|May|2007

I’m not too sure Silverlight can compete head-on with Flash…though MS sure has huge muscles.
technosearch
14|May|2007

I’m not really a “techie” person so I’m not an expert on these kind of stuff. I’m actually a corporate guy looking for new technologies that we can use in our company.

Anyway from a user standpoint, which is better in terms of graphics and web design? I’m also looking at performance (speed), cost compared with other products, functionality, stability, and flexibility/compatibility.
ia
16|May|2007

I’ll have to say I haven’t tested the technologies side by side yet. I don’t want to claim to be an expert, and let’s just say these technologies have just been announced/released to the public so we shall have to see which one dominates the market and proves most cost-effective. Or, if your company prevents you from doing that, you’ll have to choose which bests fits into your existing IT infrastructure.
technosearch
16|May|2007

“The company catering to graphic and web designers?” (ia)

Ia: I thought you have an answer there so I asked. But we’re a company not really favoring any technology. We choose what is best for our customers, suppliers, and consumers.

Ok, to be more specific, I’m handling a project right now and I’ll be creating a mini-website (internal only). I have limited resources but I still want a good product. I’m also looking into the future.. which is easier to maintain and to learn.

Jeff: Does that mean you are recommending Flash? And I know we’re comparing apples to oranges here, that is why I want to know what makes the apples better (or unique) than the oranges and vice versa.
ia
16|May|2007

I’d say stick with Flash first as it is the most widely used. Asking users to install something new could possibly alienate them even more to an already-new website.
technosearch
16|May|2007

Hmmmm.. good point.

Btw, I’ve been surfing this site here and noticed that the topics mostly are on gadgets and games. I’m wondering if there would ever be a category that will cater to useful technologies? For ex. instant messaging, virtual meetings, email, or other breakthrough innovations.
ia
17|May|2007

Well I have a feeling those topics still fit into the scope of this website, but we might have to fix our categories a bit. I’ll have to ask our boss, though!
technosearch
17|May|2007

Can I talk to your boss too?
ia
18|May|2007

Try using this: http://www.gadzooki.com/contact
Meantime, I’ll tell my boss about it.

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