[osflash] flash vs. standalone application development?

[João Saleiro]

> In the meantime I'd like to chime in that the application I'm making 
> really must work off line as well as on line, as many of our potential 
> users may not have regular internet access!
>   
Occasionally connected applications? Adobe Air
> If it's an installable, it really has to be dead-easy to install, would 
> any of the solutions you guys just mention allow the application to be 
> easily installed [Windows, OSX, Linux] AND run off line or on line? It 
>   
Adobe Air. Cross-platform, and dead-easy installation. Try installing 
Snitter: http://snook.ca/snitter/ Click on "Install Now". It will 
install the Adobe Air framework and the application without great 
complication. (At least, it works like this for me) in all cases,
> local files need to be read/written, 
Written? Forget Flash on the Flash Player. The AVM limits the access to 
the local disk for security purposes. But you can use Actionscript to 
throw browser's open/save dialogs, and bypass 50% of the problems.

> and any software + data updates 
> need to be synced between on and off line running versions [if 
> distinctly different version] - which potentially complicates things.
>   
Doesn't seem a problem. And, if you need to have all the clients 
synchronized (don't care if they're using the web on desktop-based 
version), you can go with Adobe BlazeDS (free/open-source). Or, if you 
need to go with a more robust solution, you can try LCDS.

Hope it helped. :)

João Saleiro
--
www.riapt.org
www.webfuel.pt