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Blogs ยป Archive for October 6th, 2005
Flex 2.0 announced with more affordable pricing
Macromedia today announced Flex 2, a major new release of its framework for building Web applications with rich, client-side Flash interfaces. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak with Macromedia about the details of this upcoming release.
Flex 2 will include Flash Player 8.5, Flex Framework 2, Flex Builder 2, and Flex Enterprise Services 2. Although the updated software will not be ready for release until the first half of 2006, Macromedia plans to release alpha versions later this month, in conjunction with the MAX conference on October 16th.
Flash Player 8.5 will add a new ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2), supporting ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) — an updated version of the scripting language that will be compliant with the latest ECMAScript standard, including ECMAScript for XML (E4X). AVM2 will run a great deal faster than the existing AVM, and will support many advanced language features, most notably improved debugging and error reporting.
AVM2 will run alongside the existing AVM, and only Flash movies compiled for AS3 will run on this new VM. The downside of this architecture is that movies and components that use AS3 will not be interoperable with those that use AS2 (e.g. an AS3 movie …
A bit more on equity and selling a company
Two great questions came up on the recent post on equity:
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/10/03/quick-case-study-to-give-up-equity-or-not/
1. Should you test drive a potential recipient of equity as an employee first?
Absolutely. However, you can also set up an equity arrangement up front that handles this. Have their equity vest over time. So if they are entitled to 4%, you can have 1% vest after year one, and another percent each year until they vest at 4%. You can even divide up the vesting unequally — .5% after year 1, 2% cumulative after year 2, 4% cumulative after year 3.
If they don’t work out within the year, you can terminate them. (Personally, I hate this kind of arrangement. It creates paranoid workers).
I prefer your idea: Hire them first for a period and set specific performance goals. If they meet those goals, you agree to set them up as an equity participant. Avoid any negotiation on the equity terms since they will depend on the value this person demonstrates as well as the value of the company after their test period. In this case, I might suggest a 3-6 month trial to test them out, and then an equity arrangement with some up front equity to satisfy them.
2. How …
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