Comments on: In the age of AIR has Zinc zunk? http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/ Collective thoughts on the Flash Platform, iOS, Unity, and any other technology we use. Wed, 09 May 2012 04:35:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Toby Skinner http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-136871 Toby Skinner Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:47:37 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-136871 my few thoughts. I spent about 5 months working with Zinc 2.5/3.0. Zinc was the only viable option in terms of supporting both windows and (theoretcially) mac. Zinc 2.5 was buggy in very annoying ways, save a project, try to open later and it hangs for 5 minutes before corrupting the save :s Or it just dies on startup, or randomly corrupts compiles. Generally unstable and very very frustrating since I HAD TO PAY THEM. Zinc 3.0 felt a lot better, looked like it was all done in .NET, much cleaner, but they shafted you for additional money 'upgrading' your plugin licenses though. They should have given all Zinc 2.x users a free upgrade. They made us wait while they figured out what to do after Adobe revealed Air, so we all waited and got another half arsed product. Zinc 3.0 was also quite buggy, last time I used it it still wasn't producing native executables that worked for all the various osx versions. The forums were full of un-resolved bugs and it really felt like there were in trouble all the time, making us wonder if they would just dissapear. They did release a Windows-only scriptable command-line edition which I feel is probably the only really decent thing I have seen from them. I *really* wanted Zinc to be great, it has really dissapointed me and is very, very frustrating. If they manage to stabilise the product and bring out a linux command-line edition I would buy it though purely for the native compilation. Toby my few thoughts.

I spent about 5 months working with Zinc 2.5/3.0.

Zinc was the only viable option in terms of supporting both windows and (theoretcially) mac.

Zinc 2.5 was buggy in very annoying ways, save a project, try to open later and it hangs for 5 minutes before corrupting the save :s

Or it just dies on startup, or randomly corrupts compiles.

Generally unstable and very very frustrating since I HAD TO PAY THEM.

Zinc 3.0 felt a lot better, looked like it was all done in .NET, much cleaner, but they shafted you for additional money ‘upgrading’ your plugin licenses though. They should have given all Zinc 2.x users a free upgrade.

They made us wait while they figured out what to do after Adobe revealed Air, so we all waited and got another half arsed product.

Zinc 3.0 was also quite buggy, last time I used it it still wasn’t producing native executables that worked for all the various osx versions.

The forums were full of un-resolved bugs and it really felt like there were in trouble all the time, making us wonder if they would just dissapear.

They did release a Windows-only scriptable command-line edition which I feel is probably the only really decent thing I have seen from them.

I *really* wanted Zinc to be great, it has really dissapointed me and is very, very frustrating. If they manage to stabilise the product and bring out a linux command-line edition I would buy it though purely for the native compilation.

Toby

]]> By: Jake http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-133733 Jake Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:25:58 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-133733 zinc is buggy as shit. use swfstudio instead zinc is buggy as shit. use swfstudio instead

]]> By: Jake http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-133732 Jake Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:25:34 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-133732 ZINC is bull. Use SwfStudio instead. I've used both and swfstudio is definitely less buggy ZINC is bull. Use SwfStudio instead. I’ve used both and swfstudio is definitely less buggy

]]> By: Breign http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-132836 Breign Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:24:43 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-132836 while (zinc == to_expensive) just_pack_into.net(yourself); I think it is a tool made by good developers though. while (zinc == to_expensive)
just_pack_into.net(yourself);

I think it is a tool made by good developers though.

]]> By: Ian Pretorius http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-132639 Ian Pretorius Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:35:16 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-132639 zinc == unstable! I tried for over a year and a half to produce a stable product using the zinc platform and never reached that point. Access violation errors been the main issue, fps of the wrapped flash player was poor , and various other bugs. Our agency resorted to having a custom VB6 wrapper built , which is stable but also requires installation of all the supporting runtimes. I have recently started reading through the Air API and will soon venture into developing something new on this platform. zinc == unstable! I tried for over a year and a half to produce a stable product using the zinc platform and never reached that point. Access violation errors been the main issue, fps of the wrapped flash player was poor , and various other bugs. Our agency resorted to having a custom VB6 wrapper built , which is stable but also requires installation of all the supporting runtimes. I have recently started reading through the Air API and will soon venture into developing something new on this platform.

]]> By: JMC http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-132055 JMC Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:23:05 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-132055 I've used zinc a lot for creating downloadable games. Vital for this were - setting the screen resolution to 800x600, storing values in the registry, encrypting text files on the hard drive and also, creating an installer for the .exe. Would LOVE to do those with AIR, but don' think it's possible. Most important is the screen resolution issue, anybody know any other solutions for that (besides Director)? I’ve used zinc a lot for creating downloadable games. Vital for this were – setting the screen resolution to 800×600, storing values in the registry, encrypting text files on the hard drive and also, creating an installer for the .exe.

Would LOVE to do those with AIR, but don’ think it’s possible. Most important is the screen resolution issue, anybody know any other solutions for that (besides Director)?

]]> By: david doull http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-132011 david doull Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:14:24 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-132011 I've used (and still use) Northcode's SWF studio. I bought zinc and basically felt ripped off because it was so buggy. On the other hand, SWF studio has been really reliable - I've successfully sold software built with it. I'd love to use AIR but the size of the installer and the scary warning messages it displays to users when they try to install your app. make it a no go for me. I’ve used (and still use) Northcode’s SWF studio. I bought zinc and basically felt ripped off because it was so buggy. On the other hand, SWF studio has been really reliable – I’ve successfully sold software built with it.
I’d love to use AIR but the size of the installer and the scary warning messages it displays to users when they try to install your app. make it a no go for me.

]]> By: localToGlobal » Blog Archive » news review -> 49th week of 2008 http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-132009 localToGlobal » Blog Archive » news review -> 49th week of 2008 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:26:15 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-132009 [...] > dispatchEvent()â„¢ » In the age of AIR has Zinc zunk? [...] [...] > dispatchEvent()â„¢ » In the age of AIR has Zinc zunk? [...]

]]> By: Lincoln Mongillo http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131965 Lincoln Mongillo Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:19:05 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131965 We've used Zinc 2.5 successfully in the past to create a standalone exe that acts as a visualizer for data across distributed systems. It worked amazingly well in this capacity in that we were able to create a standalone that communicated directly with .NET. We had some issues with the HTTP server that comes with Zinc not being as stable as we would have liked but we were able to work around that issue. One of the main features we were able to fully exploit was the ability to call DLL's as part of a larger .NET app. We’ve used Zinc 2.5 successfully in the past to create a standalone exe that acts as a visualizer for data across distributed systems. It worked amazingly well in this capacity in that we were able to create a standalone that communicated directly with .NET. We had some issues with the HTTP server that comes with Zinc not being as stable as we would have liked but we were able to work around that issue. One of the main features we were able to fully exploit was the ability to call DLL’s as part of a larger .NET app.

]]> By: Ryan McIlmoyl http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131961 Ryan McIlmoyl Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:06:55 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131961 The Merapi project (http://www.merapiproject.net/) is an example of what Roger was talking about, a Java application that AIR can interface with over localhost. It's another application that needs to be installed and running, so no good for those who want everything in one .exe. However, for something like a kiosk, would be a good choice. The Merapi project (http://www.merapiproject.net/) is an example of what Roger was talking about, a Java application that AIR can interface with over localhost. It’s another application that needs to be installed and running, so no good for those who want everything in one .exe. However, for something like a kiosk, would be a good choice.

]]> By: JG http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131959 JG Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:31:26 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131959 I have recently been using mProjector and considered to use Zinc. Since it creates .exe files that is a feature that cannot be duplicated with AIR therefore is a far better feature since no installation is necessary. Zinc does sounds like it has its bag of issues. What about mProjector what are your thoughts on it? I have recently been using mProjector and considered to use Zinc. Since it creates .exe files that is a feature that cannot be duplicated with AIR therefore is a far better feature since no installation is necessary. Zinc does sounds like it has its bag of issues. What about mProjector what are your thoughts on it?

]]> By: John Hattan http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131957 John Hattan Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:25:45 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131957 Oh, and Zinc also works with pre-AS3 stuff. That's becoming less of an advantage, but it's there. Oh, and Zinc also works with pre-AS3 stuff. That’s becoming less of an advantage, but it’s there.

]]> By: Roger Braunstein http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131953 Roger Braunstein Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:51:34 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131953 Zinc was great for kiosks - especially when you had to interface with hardware. I had a zinc app dispensing and writing magnetic cards by communicating over the serial port! That's something you still can't do with AIR. But to be honest, the API was pretty bad and when I worked with it (this has since been fixed) EVERY call was asynchronous - without events - it just posted the result to a global variable when it was done. I wrote some cool classes to make it more tolerable but it was still kinda nightmarish. Anyway - stuff like this was also kinda obsoleted with binary sockets in AS3... people have been writing native or Java apps to access hardware and other lower-level utils and using Flash to communicate over localhost with them. If someone approached me to write something like I did for that kiosk again, I wouldn't consider any of the commercial flash shells out there, or at least not very hard. Zinc was great for kiosks – especially when you had to interface with hardware. I had a zinc app dispensing and writing magnetic cards by communicating over the serial port! That’s something you still can’t do with AIR. But to be honest, the API was pretty bad and when I worked with it (this has since been fixed) EVERY call was asynchronous – without events – it just posted the result to a global variable when it was done. I wrote some cool classes to make it more tolerable but it was still kinda nightmarish. Anyway – stuff like this was also kinda obsoleted with binary sockets in AS3… people have been writing native or Java apps to access hardware and other lower-level utils and using Flash to communicate over localhost with them. If someone approached me to write something like I did for that kiosk again, I wouldn’t consider any of the commercial flash shells out there, or at least not very hard.

]]> By: Brandon Ellis http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131943 Brandon Ellis Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:02:29 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131943 Zinc updates were like a box of CrackerJacks - every update had a surprise inside. Zinc updates were like a box of CrackerJacks – every update had a surprise inside.

]]> By: davidderaedt http://dispatchevent.org/mims/zinc-vs-ai/comment-page-1/#comment-131942 davidderaedt Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:01:21 +0000 http://dispatchevent.org/?p=492#comment-131942 @Ben AIR actually supports command line invoking, including parameters. However, you're completely right when you say it cannot call DLLs. @Ben AIR actually supports command line invoking, including parameters. However, you’re completely right when you say it cannot call DLLs.

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