Adobe vs. Microsoft Death Match For RIA Leadership

The Buzzwords Du Jour Are AJAX, RIA, Web 2.0... Both Adobe and Microsoft Are Involved and Trying Their Best

Jan. 12, 2006 04:30 PM

Adobe vs. Microsoft: Death Match for RIA Leadership

The buzzwords du jour are AJAX, RIA, Web 2.0 ... Both Adobe and Microsoft are involved and trying their best to get market share. Abode has Flash and Flex; and AJAX is compatible with every programming language and plays really well with CF (through ajaxCFC :) ).

Microsoft has been working on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), previously called Avalon. This presentation layer takes an xml based declarative language called XAML (pronounced zammel), that stands for eXtensible Application Markup Language.

I knew about XAML, but the interesting part is that Microsoft went big! They are also releasing a full development application set called expression. The community technology preview just came out and it looks like a take on Abobe's Creative Suite.

I suspect what unlike XUL (pronounced zul), which is Mozilla's xml declarative language, XAML will penetrate the market thanks to Microsoft's big name. It should natively work with the .NET framework and we should soon also see a version for Mac, even though Microsoft will no longer support their IE for Macs.

If you are a new developer and want to be ahead of the game, keep an eye on Flex 2.0 and XAML. There are other technologies such as laslo, xul, ror, bindows, backspace, and dojo, that should not be overlooked either.

About Rob Gonda
Rob Gonda is an industry visionary and thought leader, speaks on emerging technologies conferences nationwide, and combines unique approaches to technology and marketing strategies. As a head of Creative Technologies at Sapient, Gonda is an interactive technical “guru,” who provides the knowledge and experience required to run high-level, multi-channel interactive campaigns that reach millions of consumers. Gonda has more than 15 years of experience in web development and 360 marketing campaigns for clients such as Coca-Cola, Adobe, Guinness, Toyota, Taco Bell, NBC, and others. His areas of specialty include emerging technologies, marketing strategy, social media, digital out-of-home, mobile, behavioral targeting, and multi-channel synergy. Before joining the strategy and technology leadership teams at Sapient, Gonda was co-founder and chief technical officer at iChameleon, a Hollywood FL-based agency renown for its emerging experiences and creative technology. In addition to his agency work, Gonda the chair for the digital media council at the Advertising Research Foundation, is the former editor-in-chief of the AJAX Developer’s Journal, co-author of “Real-World AJAX: Secrets of the Masters”, a passionate blogger who authors www.takemetoyourleader.com, and contributors to various publications such as Ad Age and Ad Week. He is a frequent figure on the speaker circuit, having presented at conferences from the senate’s CIO emerging technology to SXSW and Omma. Rob’s mission is to develop forward-thinking expertise that will ensure clients are always on par with rapidly changing technologies and maintain its ethos of evolving. You can reach him at rob[at]robgonda[dot]com and read his blog is at http://takemetoyourleader.com