May 1st, 2007
Where Microsoft benefits from the Rich Internet Application developer problem
Rich Internet Application developer is kind of a loaded term. You're not just writing code, you have to know how the interactions all fit together, and even if you're not creating design-side of the user interface, you often wear many hats as you build out the UI, wire the code together and work with the other people on your team to create the RIA. It's a tough job, and until now Adobe was the only real game in town, so most of these people are Flash or Flex developers who are in high demand and short supply.
As companies evaluate the various RIA solutions, being able to find someone who you can hire and knowing they come from a wide developer ecosystem is extremely valuable.So what are companies to do? If you want to build a Rich Internet Application in house, and you go looking for Flash developers, what do you do if they aren't there? The consensus seems to be that you go to some of the rockstar design agencies and have them do the work. Unfortunately when you do that, you're beholden to them when you need to make changes or want to revamp. I think that's been a bit of the problem and one reason why Ajax took off; companies could *find* JavaScript developers.
With Microsoft entering the RIA space, we now have a huge .NET developer population to draw from. As companies evaluate the various RIA solutions, being able to find someone who you can hire and knowing they come from a wide developer ecosystem is extremely valuable. .NET developers don't automatically know XAML of course, but I'm going to bet there are a lot of .NET folks who can't wait to get their hands on this and play with it. XAML isn't a particularly difficult thing to learn for developers either.
Adobe has a better cross-platform developer story. As developers move to the Mac, Adobe gives them the tools to build RIAs. Microsoft's solution is 'run parallels' which is true, but doesn't pay heed to the fact that a lot of the influential developers don't want to. But in the short term, as more and more companies evaluate RIA technology, the cross-platform story isn't going to matter. They just need to be able to fill positions. That's one reason why I think Microsoft may see more success with Silverlight than people think. Technically, it's not better than Flash and if you know Flash, there isn't a compelling reason for you to learn Silverlight. But if you're a company who can't find Flash developers, and you're starting from scratch or upgrading from/adding on to Ajax, Silverlight will be a great solution with a big built in base.
Ryan Stewart, a Rich Internet Application developer and industry analyst, recently joined Adobe's Platform Team as a Rich Internet Application Evangelist. full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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