JDJ published a brief overview of the RIA technologies by Coach Wei. And I thought to myself, “If he could do it, I can do it too “.

So, boys and girls from the Java camp start playing in the Adobe Flex 2 sandbox.

Bobby, what do you have to say?

Your Wall Street daddy said that Flash is just a toy for playing movies and animation? Tell you daddy that major banks and brokerage companies are already paying for licenses for a product that “s still in Beta and will be released in two weeks. Ask him to give you another example when his bank pre-paid for any beta software.

What “s wrong, Jessica? Mom did not give you the money for Flex Builder? Ask your mom if she remembers this ABBA song: “Money, money, money must by funny in the RIA world rdquo;. No worries, just use Notepad or vi.

I “ve asked these adults from Adobe to give away Flex Builder for free to good kids like yourself. They still have a couple of weeks to think about it… Your mom ain’t gonna pay for no stinkin’ software? Well, use Open Laszlo then. Lots and lots of kids have downloaded this product.

Hey, kids from the .Net camp hellip;do not cry hellip;your chancellors are working hard on a similar thingy called WPF. So next year you “ll also join the new and exciting world of rich internet applications.

Yes, Veronika, you’ve got it right: they all go in the same direction: XML-based declarative programming of GUI that stands on the shoulders of a rich components framework and runs in a virtual machine.

And you, Java Swingers hellip;you are still too young to do this hellip;Yes, it “s powerful but not easy. Yes, they work on data binding. Will wait? Fine, you may not trust me, but how do you explain that uncle Bruce has included in his Java bestseller a chapter on how to create GUI using Flex?

And who are these sad kids in red swim trunks? Come on guys, leave this wooden AJAX toy alone… Come over here hellip; Remember what aunt Emma Lazarus wrote to AJAX developers? Missed this class? No, she was not an AJAX developer herself, she was a Flex 2 guru… OK, I “ll remind you :

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door! “