Posted on September 2, 2009 - by Eric
The ABC of Future Adobe Flash
Over the years, Flash has evolved into a tool for three professions, namely the; animators, user interface designers and developers. It has been proven that this was a huge boon to adoption rates and critical mass of Flash but now, it creates a real danger of turning the platform into a jack of all trades but a master of none. With the recent outburst of contempt and frustration from developers in the scene, its appearing that the inevitable has reached us. In the effort to please everybody, Flash is now (slowly) pleasing no one.
After reading bits and pieces of news about cool new things over at Adobe Labs, it dawned on me what Adobe is trying to do with Flash. Its preparing a cure to its schizophrenia by splitting Flash into three products.
- Flash
- Flash Catalyst
- Flash Builder 4
Not much is known about Flash CS5 but I am willing to bet it will move deeper into 2d / 3d animation since Catalyst and Builder will have the other areas covered. This will allow Adobe to innovate and cater to each types of users more quickly without frustrating others. Adobe is a smart company, I do believe these developments are part of the movement to protect their territories. It took a long time to come since they have to be cognizant of all the different entities that are gonna be affected of any drastic solutions. Once these 3 products are released they can now work on countering Toon Boom, Unity3d, Silverlight, google Opengl, Html5, .net, etc more effectively.
Alchemy will be built into Flash builder, Air will be more integrated making multiple deployment from one source much easier. Catalyst will be fleshed out yearly until it becomes an indispensable tool for interface builders. Flash will catch up to Toon Boom, Swish3d, Anime studio, etc. in features.
Here is one more ammunition for my hypothesis. Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst have the FB, FC logos. Will the next version of Flash be called (FA) Flash Animator? Imagine, the marketing angle of The ABC of Flash – FA, FB and FC.
Crazy hypothesis? Well, I feel good about my iTablet predictions back in May so I may be close with this one too and I always love to say i told you so.
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September 2, 2009
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Ryan Henson Creighton said:
Of course! Why charge for only one program when you can charge for three? It’s the Adobe Way.
- Ryan
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September 2, 2009
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Eric said:
There is always FlashDevelop for developers. So for game developers like us. We will still only ‘need’ Flash CS5
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September 4, 2009
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Migg said:
I like your hypothesis but there is still something that puzzle me.
While the Game and Web development market are bigggg (not to say huge) and I’m not counting in the potential of desktop applications using AIR. The animation market is small, very small.
Why would Adobe bother about such a nich market ? The feedback I heard from studios doing Flash style animation is that CS4 is the worst version for doing animation and this is why most of them keep MX.
My 2 cents.
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September 4, 2009
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Eric said:
Your last paragraph kind of answered your question. Animation was the foundational focus of Flash so they would want to have this product reclaim its original market. A niche market is still significant revenue for any company to pursue. Remember its not just the about the animator pool but academes, young artist, protecting the brand and expanding the reach of the brand. By having a stronger animation product Adobe will be able to plug a hole in its monopoly in the creative industry.