I have been to Adobe Max in Milan just two months earlier and, comparing the two, I think FITC was more fun. The conference was smaller, but somehow the vibe was less about business and more about creativity.

Here are some videos from the conference:

And here are some pictures I took:

I will definitely try to go to one of the next FITC gatherings. The canadian edition would be cool.

In my opinion, it looks like Flash will gradually return back to it’s roots as an animation tool. Unlike today, where it has become a multimedia behemoth in which entire sites are created. Flex and a new product named Flash Catalyst (formerly Thermo) will take over the rolls of creating user interaction. I got a preview copy of Catalyst and it looks pretty good. Page elements, and their states, can be assembled visually based on an imported Illustrator or Photoshop composition. It reminds me somewhat of Dreamweaver, but instead of HTML in creates MXML (the declarative language used in Flex).

I took a preview of Flex 4 (codename Gumbo) for a spin, but it still can’t keep up with the sheer awesomeness of FDT. I think Adobe should just buy FDT, employ all the Powerflasher dudes, mash the two products together, and give it a snappy name like Adobe Insane.

In one of the general sessions held on Tuesday it was mentioned that BlazeDS should soon be compatible with the .Net framework. I was exited about BlazeDS when I first heard of the product a couple months back, but my excitement eroded away like a soaked sandcastle when I heard it required Java. Nothing against Java of course, but the company I work for uses .Net. BlazeDS may yet make it onto the company servers.

One of the Max sessions showed a sneak peak of peer-to-peer capabilities in the Flash Player on the basis of RTMFP. A peer-to-peer mesh would open up some amazing data sharing possibilities. We could build a Skynet of SWFs! Historians in two hundred years would say things like: “At first it played simple animations and cheesy banners, but then it gained consciousness ant launched a nuclear attack”. We could also just use this technology for video streaming I guess.

I had a great time at Max, and I am looking forward to continuing my work as a Flash Developer with all the great new Tools coming up.