Update: In the comments Sam reminded me that Sun’s JavaFX is a player in the RIA space. I meant to include Sun it but forgot. I’ve updated the post below.
Almost every day I’m reminded that very few people understand that Microsoft’s Silverlight plugin competes directly with the Flash Player, not Adobe AIR – or the fact that Silverlight is no where near the same thing as Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). So I thought I’d try to add some high-level clarity on which technologies compete with which technologies. I’ll start with the programming languages.
Primary Languages
Adobe: ActionScript 3.0, MXML (Adobe AIR also supports JavaScript and HTML)
Microsoft: C#, XAML (you can also use other languages in conjunction with their Dynamic Language Runtime ‘DLR’)
Sun: Java
Ajax: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML
Frameworks, Libraries, and APIs
Adobe: Flex framework
Microsoft: .NET
Sun: J2EE, JavaFX
Ajax: Too many to name here. Prototype, Dojo, JQuery, YUI, are among the most popular.
Browser-based Rich Client Runtime (plugin)
Adobe: Flash Player
Microsoft: Silverlight (formerly codenamed WPF/e)
Sun: Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
*Google: Google Gears (a browser plugin that allows browser-based web apps to run offline, whis is something kind of in the middle between Flash Player and Adobe AIR)
Desktop Runtime (note: Microsoft’s WPF isn’t exactly a “desktop runtime” but that’s the only generic way I can describe it. It’s more of an integral component of Windows)
Adobe: Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
Microsoft: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Sun: Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
Development Environment
Adobe: Flex Builder (Eclipse-based)
Microsoft: Visual Studio
Sun: Eclipse, NetBeans, JBuilder, etc. (not Sun products)
Ajax: Text editors, Eclipse, Aptana (Eclipse plugin), Dreamweaver
You can argue that some of these things compete indirectly but I’m comparing these based on capabilities and what they’re used for. I hope this helps clarify things for some of you.
Thanks Mike!
What about mProjector from Screentime Media? It uses Flash and compiles it to run outside of a browser. Would this be in competition with AIR or Flex?
Hey Mike, you seemed to have missed out Sun’s JavaFX in the RIA race. It is an equally speeding up paticipant in the RIA space! But I agree that except for the Apollo run-time download barrier, Apollo scores top in terms of quickness of development and consequently speedy time to market..
@Sam
You’re right. I meant to include that and completely forgot. I’ll update the post now. Thanks!
@sjw
I suppose mProjector would be considered an “alternative” to AIR for some projects. I didn’t include it because I was really trying to focus on the big guys – Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun.
Yeah, I think this is pretty fair, in general.
I’d just make two points of clarification from our side. I’m a little surprised at the comment that Silverlight is “nowhere near the same thing as WPF” – they share an awful lot in common: the same XAML (WPF is a superset), the same .NET-based code-behind model, etc. Our design goal has been to offer a continuum from the web to the desktop, and it’s pretty easy to move code up from Silverlight to WPF.
Secondly, Silverlight also supports JavaScript and Visual Basic, as well as the dynamic languages you mention.
Hope you don’t mind me adding the Microsoft perspective. Have fun on the road, Mike!
Best wishes,
Tim Sneath
Group Manager, Client Platform Evangelism
Microsoft Corp.
Under the “Desktop Runtime” category, I think this would be more appropriate:
Microsoft: Common Language Runtime (CLR for WPF and CoreCLR for Silverlight)
You’re too funny :-)
No AJAX? No Javascript?
How can you have any claim to completeness on a post about “Clarity on which technologies compete in the RIA space” and just not even include the #1 RIA Technology? Heck you’re from Adobe. Didn’t you guys create Spry? And isn’t the new AJAX functionality in ColdFusion 8 one of its important new features?
Yes, I too worry about Silverlight, but AJAX/Javascript remains the reigning contender. (Except for video of course, then Flash/Flex/AIR wins! :-)
g
@Tim Sneath: well, you obviously know more about WPF/Silverlight than I do but in my opinion MS wants people to think Silverlight is very similar to WPF (like calling it WPF/e originally) because WPF has all the cool stuff in it, like components, 3D, etc. But the reality is that, though they use the same languages and share implementations of the CLR, they are otherwise nowhere near the same thing. Silverlight offers a very small subset of WPF features. This confusion was the inspiration for my post because I’ve encountered so many people who think WPF and Silverlight are the same thing, resulting in them overestimating Silverlight’s capabilities.
@greg h:
I suppose my title is a bit misleading. My intent was to clarify the competition between Adobe, MSFT, and Sun in the RIA space. There’s not really an Ajax equivalent for many of these items.
Shouldn’t Flash also be listed under “Development Environments” for Adobe? I know Adobe is trying to steer developers towards Flex but you don’t need to ignore Flash completely. :-)
I also understand that MDM Zinc isn’t really a desktop runtime, but the truth is that for AS3 based development it is in competition with AIR regardless of what Adobe or MDM say. As a developer I am now finding myself weighing up the pros and cons of AIR and Zinc before starting work on any AS3 based desktop application.
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Clarity on which technologies compete in the RIA space, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.