No. 46

August 15, 2002


Technology:

Flash Communication Server MX

I sure miss the fast pace of innovation in the excitement-filled years of the "dotcom bubble", when every week saw the announcement of new Internet products and services, some admittedly wacky, but most at least offered for free to the end users. Well, the party is over: technological innovation has become largely incremental and its rate slowed down to a crawl; free services are shutting down or are trying to move users to a fee-based model; truly cutting-edge ideas are sparse and sold at exhorbitant prices... It would be doom and gloom all over, if not for occasional sign that the Revolution is not over yet. The very recent release of the Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX is just such a sign. Strangely enough, it happened without much fanfare, although when I found out what was hidden under this uninspiring name, I was immediately electrified by the enormous "disruptive" (in the most positive sense of this term) potential of this technology.

So what is this Flash Communication Server (Flashcom for short)? It is a part of a comprehensive development environment that includes two more essential components: Flash and Dreamweaver, also from Macromedia. This trio enables building and deploying fairly sophisticated collaborative applications, including audio- and videoconferencing, online presentations, discussion boards, etc. Never before have average Web developers, who are not experienced programmers, been given such a powerful and relatively inexpensive set of tools for transforming the Web from a publishing medium into a collaborative space. This transformation was already underway, but driven mostly by commercial developers of applications like Webex, Centra, Placeware, eRoom, DocuShare, etc. While it would be premature to write off these pioneering giants, the lesser players are unlikely to survive the creative onslaught of thousands of developers equipped with these new tools, and I predict that even the leaders will soon face tremendous pressure to slash the prohibitive prices of their offerings.

The Communication Server costs $499 (for up to 10 simultaneous connections) or 4,500 for up to 500 simultaneous connections - a pittance in comparison to the minimum charge of $100/user/month for Webex, for example. Of course, one still has to take into account the cost of development time and tools (Flash and Dreamweaver at least, perhaps also ColdFusion and backend database), but a large selection of pre-built components should speed up development, and I suspect that pretty soon a library of complete applications will become available for the less technologically inclined.

So far my experiences with Flashcom have been very positive. It is easy to install, provides Web-based administration, and the included sample applications are certainly impressive. In my tests the quality of audio and video communication provided by these apps was on par with the best commercial tools. Nevertheless, some important questions remain:

1. How difficult and time consuming is it to develop these kinds of applications in-house?
2. What is the range of capabilities that can be created with the tool set? (e.g. is desktop sharing possible?)
3. How well does it scale?

Answers to these questions will determine how disruptive this technology will end up being.

Sample videoconferencing application:


Conference:

Shrinking World, Expanding Net

  • 2002 Annual Conference of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
  • Held October 5, 2002 in Cambridge, MA
  • The conference will examine the state of CPSR as a global organization, and ICTs as a global force. Presentations by Iqbal Quadir, the founder of GrameenPhone and designers of specific software components will be moderated by experts on the social implication of technical design. The meeting will close with a set of break-out groups to better understand how CPSR members can use their voices, their technical skills, and their organization to make a difference.

Online reading:

Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance
Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science
(NSF/DOC-sponsored report)

  • From the executive summary: "In the early decades of the twenty-first century, concentrated efforts can unify science based on unity in nature, thereby advancing the combination of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and new humane technologies based in cognitive science. With proper attention to ethical issues and societal needs, converging technologies could determine a tremendous improvement in human abilities, societal outcomes, the nation’s productivity, and the quality of life. (...) This report underlines several broad, long-term implications of converging technologies in key areas of human activity, including working, learning, aging, group interaction, and human evolution. If we
    make the correct decisions and investments today, many of these visions could be achieved within twenty years’ time. Moving forward simultaneously along many of these paths could achieve a golden age that would be an epochal turning point in human history."
  • For a layman's reading of this report please see the CNET.com article: "When Brains Meet Computer Brawn."

Online reading:

She said, he said:

"The newspaper is a lecture. The Web is a conversation." -- James Lileks


© 2002 Vlad Wielbut and the Alliance for Community Technology