Andrew Shorten @ Adobe

The current alpha release of Flex Builder for Linux is due to expire on December 1st 2009, so if you are developing with this you’ll need to download the updated build (alpha 5) that we posted to the Adobe Labs website today.

The updated build of Flex Builder for Linux does not add new functionality, but does extend the timeout and has also been tested on more recent Linux distributions.

If you have any comments or suggestions on Flex Builder for Linux then please drop me an email and I’ll make sure we consider them as we continue to work on our plans for Linux support.

Following my post yesterday about my new role as a Product Manager for Flash Builder, my departure from the Platform Evangelism team opens up an opportunity for us to hire a new evangelist.

Whilst we’re not yet listing the opportunity on our jobs website, we’re definitely interested in hearing from you if you’d like to join the Platform Evangelism team in Europe.

This is a senior role within Adobe, which will involve being based in the UK, with a significant amount of travel in Europe and also further afield. You’ll interact with designers, developers, press, analysts and customers on a daily basis, will need to be a confident presenter and most likely someone who enjoys developing applications with Flex, ActionScript, Flash Professional, Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst and Adobe AIR. This is a unique opportunity in which no two days are the same and where you get to decide the impact you’ll make…

If this sounds interesting, then send an email providing a brief background on your experience to Enrique Duvos, Group Manager EMEA Platform Evangelism team (email duvos at Adobe.com).

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of being part of the Platform Evangelism team at Adobe – a smart, diverse and unique group of people who care passionately about Flash and who genuinely like helping others learn about new technology.

A big part of that role has been spending time out on the road talking about the Flash Platform and showing how to use Flex, Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder to create rich Internet applications. An equally important part of being an evangelist is listening to feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism from designers, developers, technical architects, press & analysts and channeling that information back into the product teams so that we can fix bugs, add new features and improve workflow between tools.

I’m hoping to use some of that experience, gained from talking with many of you, in my new role at Adobe, as Senior Product Manager for Flash Builder.

I’m really excited about taking on this new position – there are lots of great additions in the upcoming version of Flash Builder 4 (currently in beta), including the data centric development tools, the network monitor, support for Flash Catalyst projects and enhancements to core code editing, refactoring and debugging features. But there is a whole lot more that we can do to enhance developer productivity, enable a more fluid design/develop workflow and, with the availability of Flash Player on smart phones and the upcoming mobile version of the Flex framework, to support multi-screen application development.

Whilst the engineering team continues working hard on completing Flash Builder 4 for a release in the first half of 2010, I’ll be joining with more of a view on future versions of Flash Builder and be part of the team planning out what’s important to developers building applications on the Flash Platform.

If you are interested in some of the directions that we’re thinking about and didn’t attend MAX, I’d encourage you to watch the Flash Platform Tooling & Framework Roadmap presentation on Adobe TV.

I’ll be relocating to San Francisco with my family in the New Year and am looking forward to the many new experiences that will come from living in California. I will of course miss being in Europe (although maybe not the winter weather so much), working with all my friends on the European evangelism, PR and marketing teams and being close to the many people I’ve met at conferences, user group meetings, Flash Camps and other local events. I do hope however that I’ll be back during the year to support some of the European events/conferences and to get feedback on our plans for future versions of Flash Builder.

I’m going to do my best to continue blogging here, I’ll continue to be on Twitter and more than ever I welcome your comments and thoughts on how you’d like to see us develop Flash Builder.

Cheers,

Andrew