My Flash (Game) Builder 4.7 feedback

20 days ago, I finally installed Flash Builder 4.7
Since the new "features" come, apart for MacOSX users, from the new AIR / Flash player and the support for Scout, I asked myself if it was really needed.

Until you ask, here are some points about this release :

• FBuilder still not add mobile.swc by default when you create a mobile library
• FBuilder still make mistake when trying to open declaration of class existing in mobile and not mobile ("source not found")
• FBuilder is still unable to open declaration of mobile skin : "source not found for XXSkin in mobile.swc" even when mobile.swc's source attachment is valid
• Flash Builder is now sold like Flash Game Builder, following Adobe's stupid line about the future of Flash Player... (more on this on a later post)

But, 3 days ago, I discovered something... and not a minus one !

For a long time now, I'm not hitting F1 key anymore to avoid losing minutes when Adobe Community Help loads, updates, loads a wrong page and get closed to avoid "not enougth memory" back in Flash Builder...

I'm used to get Adobe LiveDocs opened on a Chrome window ...more useful and error/update proof.
I'm actually working for a client who is still using FlexBuilder 3 (yes, not auto indent nor import ordering...sadly).
In this realease, F1 key is working the way it needs to.
After a day fighting with a bug and, so, hitting a lot the F1 key, I get back to my other PC and launched FB4.7.
I don't know how, I don't know why but I hitted F1 key....and the embedded help just opened !
I took me some seconds to realize but YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !

After all this time explaining how bad was this choice on every blog and forum I could, it came back !

Getting back to my chair, I thought :
Wow! Adobe recognized then made an error and finally fixed it !
Is it their new strategy ? What happened ?
Did they finally use their minds for something not marketshare related ?

Then I started dreaming :
Perhaps they'll change the horrible GUI of the Creative Suite on the next release !
Perhaps they'll say how HTML5 is pure crap and not "the future" !
Perhaps they'll start to have a useful communication campaign !
...yes...I was dreaming .... too much emotion....

So, yes, Flash Builder 4.7 need to be installed and used, just to get Adobe LiveDoc embedded !
It's a shame to pay 50$ just to get back a feature but it's easy to explain to the guy who guard the credit card : better productivity !

While talking to him, for the same reason, ask for a second screen and for Charles HTTP proxy (just 10 times better that this unuseful network monitor)

Faith came back !

SmartTV, NetTV and others...

On a previous post, I talked about Global User eXperience (GUX) on phone, tablet, pc ....and TV.
In fact, I have almost no experience on TV so I thought it was the time for some research.

We all heard about GoogleTV and AppleTV but in fact, companies like Samsung, LG and others already made some unique connected TV back in 2009.

According Wikipedia, connected TV is now commonly called smart TV (like for smart phone?).
What I also learnt is that a smart TV could be smart by 2 ways : internal or external.
Internal means a TV with wifi/LAN and UI (Samsung TV, LG TV...)
External means a box of any kind with HDMI and Wifi/LAN (GoogleTV, AppleTV, Samsung BluRay player, LG BluRay player,...)

I first thought external box was crap. We almost all have a DSL/cable box which already do what a smartTV box could do.


I then looked for what is important for us : how develop (and monetize this development) for smartTV ? And this is where the nightmare began.

There is almost no standard.
Philips (NetTV), LG, Sharp and some others works together to try to define a standard but they only found Html5 !
Apart the way I dislike (hate ?) webapps, I was unable to find informations of what is really supported (which video tag for example, the more important tag for a TV no ?).
Samsung gives a little more information : 2011 Tv support css2, 2012 support css3.
Great ... But js engine isn't the same on all tv and...what are the exact devices of 2011 and ones of 2012 ?!
In phones, we had the same problem and the only way to solve it was (and still is) throught user-agent.
What about smartTV ?!

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Adobe made a lot of fuzz in MAX about their works with Samsung and LG.
Today, some TV supports Flash in browser, Flash (lite) standalone SWF and/or AIR for TV. Which ones ? Which versions ? It's almost impossible to get the informations.
Samsung and LG talk about Flash and AIR on their dev doc but it's almost impossible to know the exact support (version, api, ...) of a specific device.
A side note about AIR, if you ever find informations about native extension, on device side, so from manufacters...send me mail ! While there is full part on the LiveDocs and a doc full of details about native extension development for TV (for linux), nothing on Samsung nor LG side, while they are premium partners.

Then comes the OS. This time, they all agreed to use Linux 2.6....but which distro, which drivers, which options ?
Don't dream, you won't be able to make TVLinux.
What about the UI ? Proprietary.
Some use Android, but 3.x only and it is so bad on TV than LG is moving to webOS (yes, the dead OS of HP)

The only positive point is the eco system : stores are ready and packagind/delivery process are in place. Everything is ready to make money.

So, is it a good thing to develop for smartTV ?
Well, in fact, I should had started by the beginning : what are the customers ? Are they ready to view in-app ads or pay for a TV app ?
Everywhere on the net, smartTV is seen as... crap !
Buggy UI, UX from middle age, too expensive... Consumers prefers their laptop or PS3 to (not so) smart TV.

After all I read, while I was about to buy a Samsung smartTV and a LG bluray player, I'm now looking to device like the mk42.

So, to summarize :
No standard
No useable system info
No more service than a cheaper device you already had (dsl box, ps3, laptop...)
Good dedicated store
No consumers

You should urgently...wait !
...or take the bus for an undefined destination : success or fail