Flex Builder Linux Dead
Filed Under (AIR, Flex, RIA) by jonr on May-1-2009

It appears that Flex Builder Linux is no longer being developed by Adobe.  I just finished the following post on InfoQ raising the issue: http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/05/flex-builder-linux-dead.

When you consider all of the steps Adobe has taken to court Java developers, who tend to care about open source, this seems like a really strange choice.  Why not just dedicate one or two resources to the project to keep up the perception that it is being worked on?  I doubt there would ever be much direct revenue for Adobe from Flex Builder Linux, but it does seem important in there overall strategy to court forward thinking developers.  I wonder if this is a direct result of the current economic situation, which is likely forcing Adobe (and most other software vendors) to put all there resource in areas with direct revenue.

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(5) Comments    Read More

Comments:
TJ Downes on May 1st, 2009 at 5:28 pm #

When I first saw this news a few days ago I was a bit disappointed. however, given the low demand for the platform I feel it is the right decision. I’d prefer to have all resources on projects that Adobe feels are worthwhile and generate revenue for them.

Simply put, we don’t develop websites for the 1% (IE 5.5, Lynx, etc) crowd because it’s just not worth it. We put that effort into making the experience better for the majority. I am happy to see Adobe doing the same.

sapphirecat on May 8th, 2009 at 5:52 am #

It seems to me that Java never really caught on on Linux, due in part to Sun’s restrictions on distributing it back in the day. Also, the more ideological camps wouldn’t touch Flex because it produces Flash, a largely proprietary and binary format that search engines (and the iPhone) can’t use.

The number of Linux users willing to get 350MB of packages (a JRE, an outdated Eclipse version, and the 178MB Flex plugin) in the right bit size and install them all by hand to develop for a format with such disadvantages must be small indeed.

max on May 16th, 2009 at 2:03 am #

Feel like i must lament this decision.

I have been working with flex for the past two years on linux and have been eagerly waiting for flexbuilder.

Programming for a platform that offers you no debugging tools is not worth it.

This may mean goodbye to flex for me…

cferthorney on May 21st, 2009 at 1:56 am #

@sapphirecat – that community is not as small as you would think. Sure it is not huge, but you don’t have to use an outdated Eclipse version with the Alpha, and I think Adobe should leave it as such. FlexBuilder works OK with Eclipse 3.5M7 on Ubuntu 9.04. It boots and behaves in the same way as FB does on other Eclipse versions on Linux :-)

http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FB-19053 is the Adobe bug for this – please vote for it.

heffer on June 1st, 2009 at 9:59 pm #

It may come down to a money decision, however, if more linux developers had a tool like FlexBuilder, Adobe would have more browsers with their Flash runtime now wouldn’t they? This would ultimately be good competition for M$ and their SilverandGoldLight brand of Flash.

Don’t take FlexLinux away Adobe!

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