We do a lot of Flash work for our clients: online banner ads, sales tools, virtual product demos, branded website elements, and tradeshow presentations just to name a few.  Sometimes the work is a simple design with quick animation coming together to showcase a message. Other times we end up creating full fledged interactive applications that need to play nice with large back end data structures and other items on a users computer.

A major request we get, especially for a project like a Flash ROI calculator is the ability to save the data collected with the tool into a format the user and the company can keep for reference, like a PDF.  For a strict Flash application, this isn’t possible.  Flash will not allow a developer to write files to the local system.  It’s a security feature designed to protect users from unscrupulous developers, we’re talking no scruples at all.

Thankfully, MDM Zinc came along and allowed us to accomplish all of these things that Flash doesn’t feel comfortable with.  Using Zinc we were able to connect to databases, write files to disc, create screensaver and projector files, check if a computer is connected to a network, the list goes on and on.  Zinc has been on the scene a while, allowing Flash developers a broad range of functions and APIs to do what their clients needed, but only recently has Adobe stepped up to the plate to try and offer this same functionality through Adobe AIR.

Now AIR is the new thing and lots of companies are giving it a go.  Companies who never even gave Zinc a thought.  The reasons for this could be many, but the fact that AIR is a “certified” Adobe product is probably the one that stands out in front.  People don’t generally look around for third party support, if it’s not built in, it can make people feel uneasy.  At CGI, we’ve produced a few AIR applications for our clients, and LOTS of Zinc applications.  There are some clear pros and cons to each.

Adobe AIR Pros:

• It’s free
• It’s from Adobe and integrated into Flash
• The code is signed and secure
• Installs with the built in AIR installer

Zinc Pros:

• Everything is customizable, including the installer
• It can produce a “normal” native program (exe or equivalent)
• You do not need to “program for zinc” you can use an existing SWF to generate an application
• Users to do not need to install a framework for the applications to run.

Adobe AIR Cons:

• Publishing certificates must be purchased in order for the installer to recognize you as a publisher
• Code changes will often be required to convert an application to AIR
• Users must download and install the AIR framework in order to run or install AIR applications.
• You can not produce a standalone version or native application (like an exe)
• You must use the AIR installer, it can not be customized

Zinc Cons:

• Despite having easy to use APIs /plug-ins it’s not exactly “integrated”
• It’s a third party product (this isn’t a real con, but it can sway people)
• It’s not free (it’s about $349 for the newest version at the time of this writing)

It’s a close call, for sure.  Being that AIR is relatively new it’s possible that this competition will drive the price of Zinc down, which would be nice.  We’ve been using Zinc much longer and will probably continue to favor it simply because producing a standalone program is generally something that’s very important to our clients.

Often times these applications require deployment to the entire sales force of a company and the prospect of trying to get all those people to download and install the Adobe AIR framework is not as simple as it sounds.  In these scenarios the value of being able to generate standalone applications for several different operating systems without having to change the original SWF code is immeasurable.

What say you?