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Is Adobe Going After Microsoft?

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:03:13 GMT

This article in Wired argues the point that having entered the desktop application market, Adobe could have Microsoft's suite of office products in it's sights...

...And Mike Downy's response...

"We want to build a platform that lets any corporation build applications in the browser and on the desktop, and just like any of our customers, Adobe is planning to take this platform and use it to build applications as well."

This could get interesting.

MiniMAX 5 Recap

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:29:00 GMT

Last night was MiniMAX 5 here in beautiful and extremely weird Las Vegas, NV., and I thought I'd do a quick recap for those of you who wanted to come but couldn't make it. So here it is. :)

Greg Hamer opened the non-conference with an introduction of the upcoming speakers, and then presented on using ColdFusion to develop Rich Internet Apps, the options available, and covered some of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
"Never Bet on The Philadelphia Eagles." Adam Bell showed how to quickly produce 3D Flash animations using Illustrator, while wearing only his man-panties, which was perhaps the most terrifying thing I've seen in my life. Seriously, it was an enlightening presentation, even if over my head, and I learned that sometimes the best way to produce Flash animations is by using something other than Flash.
Stephanie Sullivan followed with an almost-presentation about "creating lean, creative sites with CSS" using Dreamweaver, which did not materialize because of some technical issues (hint: "I'm a Mac!", LOL). Stephane nonetheless earned her keep by setting the tone for the rest of the event by warming up the crowd. Which is probably pretty easy when you're an extremely attractive, athletic brunette surrounded by 50 geeks. To say that she had the audience's attention would be an understatement! Stephanie, you still owe us a presentation, so cough it up!
Scott Fegette from Adobe also had some technical difficulties (of which I don't think it's necessary for me to mention the nature) giving his preso on animating a green screen still using After Effects, but he recovered while Adam worked the crowd to stall (adding a boa and a red teddy to his ensemble). His presentation was worth the wait, and it was mind blowing to watch him create a beautiful, compelling, HDTV-ready animation in the space of about 10 minutes. Again, outside my realm of expertise, but still extremely cool!
Tom Green stepped up to the plate next, with his assistant ~~(whose name I forgot, sorry, I suck)~~ Tiago demonstrating how to wrap a video around a textured object using Flash and After Effects. This was very neat stuff, and it amazed me that anyone could produce these kind of special effects using any cheap-o PC from Wal-Mart or Dell with a very small investment in some special software. It seems like just a few years ago (maybe more, think 'Video Toaster') it cost thousands, if not 10s of thousands of dollars, to achieve a much, much less convincing but somewhat similar effect.
Todd Sanders wrapped up the show by cranking out a web 2.0-styled web layout using Photoshop in just a few minutes. I wish I had it recorded so I could play it back in slow-mo a few dozen times. Another amazing demo of some skills I wish I had. :)

All and all it was a very good night, definitely worth the money.

ColdFusion Best Practices

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:17:00 GMT

I will be presenting on ColdFusion Best Practices at the Houston ColdFusion Users' Group meeting on 10/18.

Ever work on someone else's code and have trouble reading it, or getting through all the includes, or fixing something simple that ends up taking way longer than it should?

I'll share with you some simple coding practices developed by the brightest minds in the CF community that will make your code easier to maintain, easier to upgrade to future versions of CF, and more compatible with other platforms. Following a few simple guidelines can make your life easier, and make you more valuable immediately and in the long run!

"quoted" vs. non quoted attributes

lowercase, UPPERCASE, PascalCase, camelCase, strHungarian case, or does it really matter?

Are extra pound signs in variables bad? Where should they go/not go?

File naming conventions

Application Structure

Code Indention - When & where to wrap

Variable Naming

CFC's, Custom Tags, cfinclude, cfmodule

As an added bonus, I will show you an easy technique that can improve the performance of certain slow-running pages by up to 100 times!

ColdFusion Developer Urgently Needed in Houston

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:47:00 GMT

ColdFusion developer needed ASAP in the Galleria area of Houston. This is a permanent, full-time position that will pay in the ~$60k range.

Required skills include ColdFusion and SQL Server, but they are growing quickly and value a diverse skill set for future need. Immediate availability is a big plus!

There is no significant travel.

They provide services in the income tax industry so there is a busy season before April 15th that will include significant overtime that will be balanced during the off season. There are bonuses available and good benefits.

Shoot me an email with your resume' attached if you're interested. My email address is my first name @ my full name (no underscored) dot com.

-Seth
(Mr. Bienek if you're nasty)