Mrinal Wadhwa: Developer spotlight

What Adobe technologies are you currently using?

I use Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR all the time. Some of my projects also require me to use Adobe Flash, LiveCycle, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and some other Adobe products.

What is your most recent project you've built using Adobe technologies?

In the Demo Solutions Group at SAP, I have been building many applications that showcase how SAP customers could use Adobe technologies like Flex and Adobe AIR with the SAP platform to make solutions that truly empower enterprise users and make life really easy for them.

I am also involved in making tools that help the SAP sales team showcase SAP's capabilities. One of my recent projects was a Flex application running on the desktop in Adobe AIR, which helps the sales team compile presentations and present them in a way that clearly conveys their intended message to viewers.

One publicly available project that I have worked on is FlexBox, which is a directory of reusable Flex components scattered on the web. 

What about Adobe technology excites you, inspires you, or makes you say, "Wow that's really cool"?

Adobe's technologies inspire and excite me because, apart from being the best solutions for the problems they intend to solve, Adobe's products always succeed in striking a harmony between simplicity and visual appeal, which is something I strive for in everything I build.  

Where do you get your information about technology?

The Internet is my primary source for such information. Generally it's a blog entry, a book, or something I noticed on Digg followed by a series of Google searches.

I get most of my Adobe technologies related information via MXNA.

What are some of your favorite websites or blogs?

Creating Passionate Users by Kathy Sierra and Dan Russell is my most favorite blog ever. It's too bad that they have stopped writing but I still spend a lot of time in their archives.

Some Flex and Adobe AIR related blogs that I like are:

• Quietly Scheming by Ely Greenfield
• The Universal Desktop and RIA Mountaineer by Ryan Stewart
• Peter Ent's blog
• Christophe Coenraets' blog
• Christian Cantrell's blog
• ScaleNine by Juan Sanchez
• RIApedia by Mike Potter

Among the Indian Flex bloggers, I love to read Abdul's and Raghu's blogs.

What is your favorite or most useful electronic gadget that you own? How about one that want, but don't own?

My favorite and most useful gadget has to be my Apple MacBook Pro. I spend a very big part of my day with it.

The number-one gadget on my wish list is the iPhone. Hopefully Apple will launch it in India sometime soon.

Favorite TV show, movie or band? Why?

TV: I'm not much of a TV buff but, among the recent shows, I really liked Lost.

Movies: I love watching movies, even though work leaves me little time to do so. I'm a big Quentin Tarantino fan and I admire all his work. 

Music: I listen to a variety of music. My favorite artists include Nirvana, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, etc.

What's the one thing you'd love to see in Adobe technologies in the future?

In general, I was very impressed with Adobe's plans for the Flash platform at MAX 2007: Thermo, Hydra, 3D features in Astro, H.264 support, Adobe AIR's future, Flex 3's upcoming features, and Adobe's way of thinking for Flex 4 are all extremely exciting and, together, they nearly exhaust my wish list.

One thing that I still have on my list is to see Adobe AIR become a first-class citizen on the desktop. Adobe AIR empowers web developers and has many cool desktop integration features like file system access, Window API, system tray notification support, etc.—but there are many things that it cannot do, like control processes, interact with hardware, open a file in its default application, and so on. These features are necessities for many desktop applications.  

If you could build something you considered revolutionary, what would it be?

I don't know yet but I think I would most likely use Flex and Adobe AIR to build it, as these products are revolutionary in themselves and I strongly believe in their enabling potential.