Adobe (leading content authoring company) announced in a recent blog post that "We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook."

To better understand what this means to the FIN Community it might be best to first review some User Experience 101 concepts. First, there are many ways users can experience information ranging from traditional desktop application, desktop web browser, mobile “native” application and mobile web browser application. Next, if we drill down into just the web browser experience, we will see that there are many ways to render information in the browser; JAVA plugin, Flash player, HTML and updated version HTML5. Getting even more granular, for web browser experience on a mobile device (smart phone, tablet, etc) Adobe is simply saying that to support the flash plugin for all future the variations of mobile browsers is simply too much overhead.

So what does this have to do with the FIN Framework and FIN products? It simply means that the mobile browser user experience rendering will evolve from being flash based to HTML5 based. It is helpful understand that products like FIN Builder are built on a technology called AIR (not Flash). And the cool thing about Adobe’s AIR development environment that to package native apps across multiple desktop and mobile device platforms, it contains BOTH Flash and HTML5 capabilities. That's why we chosen AIR as the technology to develop FIN Builder on so that you can have the best of both worlds, and so you too can easily provide options for your customers.

Thanks in advance, and come see us this year at the ASHRAE show and the Niagara Summit so we can show you just how you can do this.

Questions

Will FIN Builder allow me to provide mobile experiences to my users?

Answer: Yes. FIN Framework runs natively across multiple devices, (IOS, Android, Blackberry, TV's, etc..) and thus will allow experiences built with FIN Builder to run across devices. Natively, meaning we have more capabilities like using improved network connections (for BacNet, Sedona, cameras etc), gps, phone camera and much more.

Will FIN Builder allow me to provide HTML5 only experiences?

Answer: Yes, FIN Builder will allow you to do this, and is designed to do just that (Remember webKit is built into our tool :}, the same engine that runs in Safari, and Chrome ) . Currently this feature is not released as we can not support this, because currently all browsers don't support all features in HTML5. Although we feel that this will be very soon, as more and more companies are pushing HTML5. We want to make sure your experience is the same in Internet explorer, Chrome, and firefox. Currently this isn't possible with HTML5.

What are J2 plans concerning HTML5?

Answer: FIN Builder has been built right from the start to leverage support for both Flash and HTML5. This means that FIN Builder and FIN Framework are both ready to leverage HTML5 technology. J2 is currently monitoring HTML5 implementation across the browsers and will enable HTML5 output for FIN Builder as soon as we are confident that our rich experiences will be able to run consistently across the majority of the browsers.

How are native apps, and browser apps different, and can you explain more on these topics.

What is a Mobile Native App: A mobile native app is an app that runs natively on a device, which typically means you download this in the app store. Whether it be in Itunes, or the Android Market, or Blackberry APP market. Native apps give you more access and less restrictions which also let's us provide a better experience. Features like: improved network connections (for BacNet, Sedona, cameras etc), access to the local database on the phone, let's us use the Phones API for things like sending an email, or uploading a picture. etc....

Can I leverage what I make with FIN Builder for Native APPs: Yes, the FIN Framework is designed and built to be able to run across most platforms natively. So when I make a Dashboard or Air Handler I can also use those same graphics on mobile devices natively.

Can I have native APPs on a PC and a MAC: Yes, the Framework is also designed to be able to run native apps on PCs as well. This means the same app you run on your mobile phone or tablet can also run floating on your desktop on a mac or PC.

What is the main difference between a native app, and a browser app: The main difference is you are limited to what you can do in the browser based on the browser's sandbox (limited network connectivity, and limited API), and on a native app you a just limited to the what you can do with the devices native API.

What devices will I be able to use with the FIN Framework:

Answer: Ipad, Iphone, Ipod Touch, Samsung smart TV, Google TV, Blackberry Playbook, Android Devices, are some of the devices that will work with the FIN Framework