Andrew Shorten @ Adobe

At Flash on the Beach in Brighton this week I spoke with a number of Flash designers and developers, asking what they wanted to see for the Flash Platform in the future – here is what they had to say (3 minute video):

I also asked everyone I spoke to about the importance of the Flash Community and events like Flash on the Beach – here’s what they said on that topic (4 minute video):

Thanks to everyone who went on camera to provide their opinion and thanks to John Davey for another excellent Flash on the Beach conference.

If you’ve got anything to add on these topics then please leave your thoughts in the comments!

At Flash on the Beach in Brighton this week I spoke with a number of Flash designers and developers, asking their thoughts on how Flash Catalyst might impact their workflow for producing rich Internet applications – here is what they had to say (3 minute video):

Following on from the inagural meeting of the Adobe RIA usergroup at Skills Matter in London last month, details of the next two sessions have been published.

The first is an Introduction to BlazeDS and LCDS, taking place next Wednesday (23rd), which will include information about LCDS 3 and the data modeler plug-in for Flash Builder 4. More information about the event and registration details are here.

Then on October 21st, Borre Wessel from Lab49, will present a session covering the development of the Morgan Stanley Matrix application – included will be a discussion on the patterns and practices that made Matrix possible, the challenges faced along the way and guidance for those embarking on a large-scale Flex project. More information about the event and registration details are here.

I hope to see you at one or both of these meetings.

For those based in or around London, I wanted to provide a quick update on the Adobe Flash Platform user groups that are available and encourage you to find out more about each of the groups and the events they are running…

One of the longest established groups, the London Flash Platform User Group (LFPUG) isn’t an official Adobe user group (so you won’t find it on groups.adobe.com), but it does offer a unique mix of presentations in an informal setting and attracts a good crowd every month. Meetings take place regularly on the last Thursday of the month near Farringdon – the next meeting is on July 30th, with presentations on UML for AS3 and the Mate Framework.

Next up is the Flex London User Group (FLUG) – with a large membership registered on MeetUp and a history of organizing several successful Flex Camp events, the FLUG is currently undergoing a change in leadership and the newly-formed team is starting to put ideas together for more regular meetings. Without any meetings currently scheduled, I’d recommend that you sign up to the MeetUp site so as to receive information on upcoming events as they are confirmed. If you’re interested in helping out with presentations or can contribute in other ways, then please do let me know I can put you in touch with the user group managers.

Finally, there is a new Adobe RIA User Group, which has been setup by Skills Matter to provide information on Flex, AIR and LiveCycle to more of an enterprise developer audience. I’ll be presenting an ‘Introduction to Flex 4′ at the inaugural meeting on August 19th, with my colleague Ben Forsaith presenting an ‘Introduction to BlazeDS and LiveCycle Data Services 3′ at the follow-up meeting in September. For more information about these meetings and to register visit the event website.

User groups are a great place to meet like-minded developers, watch technical presentations and get information on the latest tools, technologies and frameworks – if you’re developing with Flash in some way I’d strongly recommend you join one. If you’re not based in London, but would like to attend or start your own user group, then you can find more information at the Adobe Groups website.

Morgan Stanley have launched a comprehensive online trading tool called “Matrix” which allows their customers to get closer to the trading floor than ever before; the application enables them to view live pricing, get informed opinions for market professionals, review historical market data and make derivatives and foreign exchange trades in real-time, directly from their browser.

This impressive rich Internet application (RIA), which has a strong focus on the quality of the user experience, was built using Adobe’s Flash Platform technologies, and integrates real-time data, with the delivery of audio, video, reports and rich interactive charts to provide a next-generation trading platform for Morgan Stanley’s customers.

The sheer quantity of data presented within the application, combined with the performance and responsiveness of the user interface, is impressive and really demonstrates the potential that rich Internet applications offer. This certainly has to be one of the most ambitious and successfully executed applications built using Flex and raises the bar as to what can be achieved within the browser.

For more information on the project and a virtual walkthrough of the application visit Morgan Stanley’s website: http://www.morganstanley.com/matrixinfo/

More pictures below: