In our first show, Pat and I discuss who we are, why we are doing this podcast (help startups succeed), some of the topics we hope to cover in successive podcasts and some of the larger trends that are changing the landscape for microISVs and startups.

Download Show #1 here: StartupSuccess001

Want to be on the show? Have a suggestion (besides more structure/shorter length - got that!)? Want an answer to a microISV or startup question? Let us know!

Bob Walsh is on twitter at http://twitter.com/bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.Walsh@47hats.com
Patrick Foley is on twitter at http://twitter.com/patrickfoley or you can email him at Patrick.Foley@microsoft.com

Show Notes:

URLs mentioned in this episode of the Startup Success Podcast.

• http://www.trialpay.com/
• NBC's Silverlight's 2008 Olympics Browser (also see this TechCrunch post and Microsoft's Silverlight main page.
• Adobe AIR, this gallery of AIR apps and this post at ReadWriteWeb.
• 280Slides written in Cappuccino and Objective-J
• European Software Conference, Nov. 8-9, Berlin
• Microsoft Professional Developer Conference, Oct. 27-30, Los Angeles
• The Business of Software Network
• The Business of Software Forum
• "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" (Clay Shirky)

Web2.0 heißt Interaktion! Mit dem Web in Austausch treten, Anwendungen ins Internet verlagern und das Internet dynamischer gestalten!

Und damit man diese Technologie auch offline Nutzen kann, hat Adobe sein Adobe Integrated Runtime rausgebracht! Diese Laufzeitumgebung ermöglicht es Webentwicklern - ohne das Erlernen neuer Technologien - Desktopanwendungen zu schreiben!

Nun kann sich das Installieren von Adobe AIR als etwas komplizierter erweisen: Auf der offiziellen Download-Seite heißt es: "Sorry, your platform is not supported."
Dennoch funktioniert es eigentlich ganz einfach über das Terminal:
(ACHTUNG: Die Linux-Version ist noch Alpha!!)

Installer runterladen (ca 16MB):
wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/air/linux/adobeair_linux_a1_033108.bin

Datei ausführbar machen:
chmod +x adobeair_linux_a1_033108.bin

Adobe AIR mit Rootrechten installieren:
sudo ./adobeair_linux_a1_033108.bin

Und der Rest ist selbsterklärend!

Da sich die Laufzeitumgebung nicht nahtlos in mein System eingefügt hat, musste ich mir die jeweiligen *.air-Dateien erst runterladen, und dann von der Festplatte aus installieren, aus dem Browser heraus hat es leider nicht geklappt...
Dazu klickt man einfach auf die runtergeladene Datei und damit wird der AdobeAIR-Installer geöffnet. Hier kann man sowohl den Speicherort (Vorgabe ist /opt ausgewählt werden, wie auch optional, ob ein Desktop-Shortcut angelegt, oder ob das Programm nach der Installation gestartet werden soll.
Für die Installation nach /opt fragt mich mein Ubuntu anschließend auch fein nach dem Root-Passwort.
Nach der Installation finden sich die Anwendungen auch brav im Hauptmenü!

Bisher kann ich an AIR-Applikationen folgendes empfehlen:

• Twhirl - ein Twitter-Client, der schnell und schlank läuft! Hier kann man sogar seine Favoriten ansehen! Eine deutliche Alternative zu gTwitter oder Twitux!
• RegExr Desktop - ein sehr schöner RegEx-Editor zum schreiben, lernen und testen von Regulären Ausdrücken, für Entwickler auf jeden Fall ein Must-Have!

Was ich nicht empfehlen kann ist

• Spaz, ein ziemlich schwerfälliger Twitter-Client...

Weitere AdobeAIR-Anwendungen findet man unter:
10 most usefull AdobeAir-Applications @ sizlopedia.com
und
refreshingapps.com

Informationen zur Alpha-Version von Adobe selber:
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air_linux.html

There are some great apps in there. My favorites Twhirl and Snackr (though I have to regularly shut off both or I'd never get any work done). That Google Analytics Reporting Suite is looking mighty powerful too! I'll have to try that one next.

(Oh - do you like the addition of the author pic above? It should help distinguish Louise and I when we write.)

Passpack Desktop has created quite the buzz among Adobe Air fans, but Google Gears fans have been leaving feedback too.

So when I got to the office this morning I wasn't surprised to hear that Francesco had reincorporated Google Gears into Passpack. Passpack Offline Beta 6 lives on. I was surprised though to hear that he did it all after leaving the office. I am beginning to suspect that Francesco is a vampire or just a really practical person.

The latter seems more plausible for the following reasons:

1. Adobe Air seems to be partially compatible with Linux, leaving out a few of our users
   .
2. Passpack Users
   +Google Gears Fans
   -Google Gears Version
   Unhappy Users
   .
3. You may have noticed that Brad Neuberg commented on one of our posts. It's hard to let go of old friends.

Now everyone is happy and it only took Francesco one evening to put smiles on everyone's face. Thanks Francesco. I wonder what surprise awaits us tomorrow...

We want you to be able to access your passwords at all times. Even without internet connection. The Offline Version on Google Gears was a step in that direction, but we've just found more advantages to a full-fledged Desktop application.

Thanks to Cyndy for pre-release feedback and breaking the news!

I Claim This Desktop As My Own!

Passpack Desktop is completely independent. You can use it as a password manager on its own or as a backup to your Passpack.com Account. Or all of the above. You decide.

To Sync Or Not To Sync?

It's your choice. If you want to use Passpack Desktop as a backup to your Passpack.com Account, you are going to love this. You can now get all your passwords (and info) from your online Account into your Passpack Desktop with just one click!

Sorry Google. It's Not You. It's Me.

Leaving behind something as mighty as Google Gears definitely made us think twice [faint echo of Tara weeping in the background]. But sometimes a software's gotta do, what a software's gotta do. And this time Passpack had to take a new friend aboard – Adobe Air. A pretty fair exchange in my opinion.

But Why?

Google Gears is best compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox, leaving a few browsers behind. We just don't want anyone missing out on the Passpack offline fun. Of course... that said, we immediately have to eat our own words. As it turns out, AIR on Linux, the Encrypted Local Store doesn't work (read: it won't save your passwords). So for now - It's Windows and Mac only.

But not to fret. We are trying to work Google Gears back into the Passpack brew... [not so faint sound of Tara giggling in the background].

thoughts? links? comment them below, or you can for:rudyleon them to me at del.icio.us.

After June 15, expect some more developed thoughts on this front.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application ("Rich Internet applications (RIA) are Web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications. RIAs typically transfer the processing necessary for the user interface to the Web client but keep the bulk of the data (i.e., maintaining the state of the program, the data etc) back on the application server.

RIAs typically:

• run in a Web browser, or do not require software installation
• run locally in a secure environment called a sandbox")

Le numéro 102 de Programmez! consacre une bonne partie de ses articles à Rich Internet Application.

Comme c'est un monde en pleine effervescence on ne fera qu'énumérer les techniques en cours de développement (voir Articles p.32, p.36). Les principales solutions techniques pour faire des "clients riches":

• les frameworks Javascript ("Dojo, jQuery, Prototype/Script.aculo.us, Yahoo UI")
• JavaServer Faces (JSF): p.32 H. Darmet "..avec une extension AJAX (comme a4jsf ou ICEFaces) est la solution reine de type "Ajax Hybride" dans le monde Java. Avantages: productivité (avec Seam), ubiquité, sécurité et robustesse...Prise en compte de l'existant que s'il est JSF"
• Google Web Toolkit (GWT): "...solution de type Ajax total qui favorise les aspects performance, ubiquité, robustesse et sécurité grâce à un ingénieux système de développement en Java..."
• ASP.NET AJAX ("...proche de JSF avec une extension AJAX. Solution remarquablement outillée par Visual Studio. La prise en compte d'un existant ASP.NET est très aisée.")
• Flex(Adobe) : ...est la solution de type "applet like" la plus populaire (on estime aux alentours de 97% le nombre de machines équipées du Flash Player), ce qui rend par conséquent les applications Flex relativement multi plates-formes et facilement déployables). Elle en a tous les avantages qui sont les mêmes que celles d'une architecture "Ajax total". Voir http://planete-accessibilite.com/#article_pa_2
• Silverlight / Moonlight ("...la solution "applet like" du monde .NET...Elle reprend le principe de construction déclarative de l'IHM popularisé par Flex. L'ubiquité est encore assez limitée. L'outillage avec Visual Studio reste le point fort.")
• JavaFX ("..est la solution "applet-like" du monde Java. Les avantages et limites sont ceux rencontrés par Silverlight, avec moins de crédibilité et de maturité...page 45. "...JavaFX est un produit finalement mal connu: il est présenté comme une solution RIA, mais c'est en fait une nouvelle solution pour construire des applications Swing qu'elles soient RIA ou non. L'intérêt de JavaFX est donc à la fois ailleurs et plus large...toute équipe qui développe une application graphique basée sur swing devrait s'intéresser à JavaFX...")
• OpenLaszlo est une plateforme de développement d'applications riches, en open source. Ses applications sont développées via une solution qui produit, à partir du même code source, une application en DHTML (HTML, DOM, CSS et Javascript) ou Flash.
• XUL/XULRunner ("XUL, pour XML-based User interface Language, est un langage de description d'interfaces graphiques basé sur XML créé dans le cadre du projet Mozilla. XUL se prononce zoul en anglais (pour rimer avec cool, mais aussi en hommage au demi-dieu Zoul dans le film S.O.S. Fantômes). Couplé avec le XULRunner, environnement d'exécution multiplateforme, il forme un couple permettant de créer des Rich Desktop Application")
  

Autres sources:

• http://blog.aysoon.com/post/Que-sont-les-applications-riches-RIA-Partie-1-Definition-et-usages-195
  
• http://fdeshayes.net/
• http://www.devx.com/RichInternetApps/Article/35208/1954?pf=true ("Crash Course in Next-Gen RIA: AIR, Silverlight, and JavaFX")
• Adobe AIR (formerly Adobe Apollo)
• XUL and XULRunner from the Mozilla Foundation.
• Curl 5.0 from Curl Inc. for off-line RIA
• Rebol programming language as a Java JVM alternative
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_desktop ("A web desktop or webtop is a network application system for integrating web applications into a web-based workspace It is a virtual desktop on the web, running in a web browser as software. .Web desktops often are characterized by an environment similar to that of Windows, Mac, or Linux, but are now considered to have much more functionality being dependent on the internet. Typical benefits include the ability to save work and settings over the internet rather than to the local desktop. is a network application system for integrating web applications into a web-based workspace. It is a ")
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_operating_system ("In metacomputing, WebOS and Web operating system are terms that describe network services for internet scale distributed computing, as in the WebOS Project at UC Berkeley ^[1], and the WOS Project ^[2]. In both cases the scale of the web operating system extends across the internet, like the web.")
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EyeOS ("eyeOS is an open source (GPL) web operating system. It provides a default desktop with some base applications and the ability of developing new applications with the eyeOS Toolkit, the integrated IDE, which can be installed through the ports-based eyeSoft system. This allows anyone to create their own repository for eyeOS and distribute their eyeOS Applications automatically to its users. The idea behind eyeOS is to provide a full operating system, web based, which can be accessed from everywhere, with any Internet-capable device")

One thing that's really useful to Flex 3/AIR coders is the ActionScript 3 CoreLib (AS3CoreLib). It contains MD5, JSON, and some other really useful 'routines'.

Following are guidelines on getting AS3CoreLib compiled for Flex 3 Moxie.

First of all you need a properly installed recent copy of Apache Ant, meaning the ant script needs to be on your system path (environment variable).

Download the corelib-.90.zip from the downloads section on the project site and unzip the contents into a folder, which I'll reference as <corelib-home>.

Open up the build.properties in the <corelib-home>/build folder in your favourite text editor and amend the following properties to reflect your Flex 3 setup:

• flex2sdk.bin.dir
• flex2sdk.lib.dir

For example my Flex 3 Builder is installed in "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3" . So my amended build.properties file contains the following two lines:

flex2sdk.bin.dir = C:/Program Files/Adobe/Flex Builder 3/sdks/moxie/bin
flex2sdk.lib.dir = C:/Program Files/Adobe/Flex Builder 3/sdks/moxie/frameworks/libs

Now open up a command prompt and navigate to the <corelib-home>/build folder. The Flex 3 Beta install on Windows provides a pre-configured command-prompt with environment variables setup to point to the bundled Flex 3 SDK. You can find the shortcut to this command prompt in the Adobe programme group.

At the command prompt type:

ant

which should kickstart the build process and if everyone runs ok, you should find a corelib.swc in <corelib-home>/bin.

Finally you can add corelib.swc as a library via the Build Path dialogue box in your Flex 3 project properties.

Hope it helps. Good luck.