Flash vs. Ajax

In early July, I attended the Flash Forward Conference in New York, and it was interesting to see how the AJAX Movement was having an impact on the mindset of Flash Developers, and of Macromedia. (Note that I feel it is more apt to describe AJAX as a movement, because it is not really a new technology, but rather a new approach for using existing technologies.) AJAX was mentioned several times in Macromedia's Keynote Address, in their Q&A session, and in a presentation on the Flash/Javascript Integration Kit.

Obviously Macromedia wants to stay on top of trends in web development, but is there also some fear on their part that AJAX techniques could supplant Flash? As a developer who works extensively Flash, and who has started to explore the possibilities with AJAX, I thought I would share some of my own thoughts on this question in a series of posts.

From a technological standpoint, at the moment, Flash doesn't have much to fear from the AJAX Movement. Flash is still miles ahead of DHTML in terms of what it can do on the client. And Flash is likely to stay ahead due JavaScript's dependency on old browsers. For now, the sites that end up using AJAX instead of Flash will mainly feature relatively simple UIs and functionality. Sure there will be some Big Budget AJAX apps coming out, like Google Maps, but for the most part developers will decide that the headaches of working in client-side JavaScript are not worth it. And even Google Maps is a sort of exception that proves the rule. I imagine Google has business reasons for not wanting to be reliant on Macromedia/Adobe, but one has to wonder whether their image caching and loading functionality wouldn't have been smoother, and easier for them to implement in Flash.

From a P.R. standpoint, I think Macromedia has a bit more to be worried about. Flash has always had a certain stigma about it that goes back to the backlash to against annoying animated intros. One of Flash's greatest strengths -- ease of development -- is also a weakness. Because it is so easy to build UIs and animations in Flash, it allows for the Lowest Common Denominator to rise to the top. There have been several other missteps by Macromedia, which have slowed Flash's acceptance as a serious development environment:
1. The absence (until recently) of strict programming and design standards.
2. Performance issues and buggy-ness of their pre-built components.
3. Lack of complete HTML and CSS support.
4. Text rendering issues.
The future of Flash has a lot riding on the upcoming "8 Ball" release. If Macromedia can address the issues that have held back the adoption of the Flash Platform, they can stave off the assault on their dominance by AJAX. The strategy they adopted at Flash Forward of pitching Flash as a tool that can co-exist with technologies like AJAX is probably not enough. They will also have to state more boldly, and in more detail why Flash is better than the alternatives.