In a comment on another thread in our "Business of Apex" category, I mentioned the combined possibilities of putting some of your work out of sight on salesforce.com servers as Apex Code, while other work on the client-side user interface gets protected by using Flash.

I now find Bruce Eckel, whom I've known and respected as a coding guru for more than 18 years, eloquently advocating Flex -- that is to say, a family of tools and techniques that target the browser and Flash Player as runtime environment -- as an increasingly available and affordable option for delivering "cross-platform multimedia experiences and user interfaces" using a "trusted, stable and reliable" technology that's "installed on almost all machines in the world" and offers "no-brainer" setup for "very pleasing user interfaces." Bruce acknowledges a nascent consulting relationship with Adobe for the purpose of helping the company evangelize Flex, but asserts -- and I see no reason to doubt him -- that his interest in the technology came first.

Meanwhile, Adobe is launching this week a Flex promotion "canvassing the 13 most popular java sites with high frequency driving millions of impressions." Prepare to be impressed, if that's the word. But don't let the fact that they're trying to sell you something discourage you from giving it a try.