After using the Beta 2 of Flex Builder 3 for some days I must say the improvement that excites me the most is the reduced build time. In the previous version it took way too long to compile the Ezmo player application and it was becoming a pain to just save a file and having automated build turned on for the project.

After installing the Beta 2 I find myself no longer complaining about slow build times. This can only mean one thing, that the build process is way faster than it used to be. Whether this is due to an upgrade in Eclipse versions or Flex Builder improvements is unsure, but it sure is a welcomed changed.

What annoys me about Flex Builder is the fact that it does not look like it is ever going to be free. I think this is a bad mistake by Adobe and it proves that they are an old company which tends to think in traditional ways when it comes to licensing. The price for Flex Builder is not very high and what Adobe is making money on is the CS3 suite and their server products. What should be the main focus for them is getting a wide adoption of the Flex Framework.
If you do not give developers some proper tools they will not use your framework, so I think they really should start giving it away. It really is simple mathematics: if one happy Flex Builder developer adopts Flex and then buys Life Cycle Data Service that sure would make for good business. Given to price tag of LCDS it would take quite a lot of Flex Builder licenses in order to even out just one LCDS license.

Adobe, make Flex Builder a free tool! Or at least create two editions like Microsoft does with their web development tools.

October 7th, 2007 | Flex